Blogging Spanish : online

Special member offer: no enrollment fee!

Stacey — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:46:00 GMT

don Quijote is offering an exclusive discount for our members:

When you book a Spanish course with us, we´ll waive your enrollment fee saving you 65€/$US!!!
It’s our way of saying thank you for being a member!

This offer is valid for Spanish courses in the following don Quijote schools in Spain and México: Barcelona, Madrid, Salamanca, Granada, Valencia, Tenerife or Guanajuato.

To benefit from this special discount you must log into your member account and book your course online.

Contact your Course Counsellor now for information about our courses.
(Remember to request the member’s offer)

Book this offer online now! (Must sign in first!)

Conditions:
- Offer not cumulative. Cannot be combined with any other offer.
- Offer available upon request.
- Offer expires 27 November 2009.

Discover our newest homepage!

Stacey — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:23:00 GMT

If a few weeks ago we told you we were working hard renovating the www.donquijote.org homepage, then this week, it's your turn to check out our best web yet! don Quijote's sleek new pages offer informative streamlined content in dual-language (English...(read more)

Cervantes Institute to teach Spanish to Starbucks workers

Stacey — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:31:00 GMT

(To read in Spanish, click here ) Spain's Cervantes Institute will teach Spanish to some 100,000 Starbucks workers throughout the United States. By virtue of an agreement signed Tuesday 26 May of 2009, those 100,000 workers will be able to learn Spanish...(read more)

Discover our Spanish and Latin Culture section!

Stacey — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 14:56:00 GMT

We are proud to announce the updating and translating of our Spanish and Latin culture section...
You can now read all of the English texts in Spanish and vice versa!

You’ll also find vocabulary and verbs in the Spanish texts, for easier language comprehension.

Discover our improved Culture section and begin your cultural reading with Spanish writers, Spanish painters or the magnificent Spanish sites!
New articles are added and updated each week!

Make your reading experience a learning experience with don Quijote:
Let us know what you're interested in reading by leaving us a comment!

Help write a book about Salamanca!

Stacey — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:54:00 GMT

Tina Christopulos is an American writer in the process of writing her first book: a fictional story about a study abroad program taking place in Salamanca and the characters’ experiences in this wonderful city as foreigners – but she is in need of some real-life accounts from real students!

If you would like to participate in the research, read on how…
As an ex study abroad student with firsthand experience, YOU can provide Tina with accurate “this-is-how-it-really-is-to study in Salamanca” about the study abroad experience for foreigners.

Because her entire work will be fictional, she will not write about an existing study abroad program or mention any particular schools. However, she is particularly interested in Salamanca’s places of interest, such as plazas, monuments, and hangouts… places in the city or excursions where you, as a student who lived in Salamanca, went to!

Tina wants to give her characters and her story a realistic feel of the city – the places, experiences lived, the encounters and behaviors of the locals seen from the foreign student’s point of view, the students’ thoughts and sensations and most of all, the student’s perception, adjustment and discovery of a new culture. With this book, Tina hopes anyone who has studied abroad (or is planning to), especially American teenagers, could relate to her book and fondly reminisce in their memories… or look forward to making their own memories in their upcoming trip!

If her novel is published, she will give her thanks in the “Acknowledgements Section” everyone who aided her with research.

Below is a list of background questions that interested participants would need to answer.
Email your list to tina_christopulos@yahoo.com and use “Salamanca Book Research Questions” as your email Subject (otherwise, the email will get deleted).

QUESTIONNAIRE:
1. How is the student atmosphere/life in Salamanca different in the summer from the fall and winter? (My study experience was in fall, but my character will be studying in the summer). Where (which countries) do many of the summer foreign students in Salamanca come from?

2. Do many students rent cell phones? Where would they go for internet access?

3. Where would they buy school supplies? Would it be the type of store where you can browse and choose what you need, or do you have to go up to a person at the counter and specify what you want?

4. What aspects of life in Salamanca do your American students tend to find most surprising?

5. What are common linguistic or cultural misunderstandings?

6. What is/are the typical socio-economic background(s) for host families (types of jobs they have, types of places they live, etc)? Would a typical Salmantinian family have internet access in their home?

7. What kind of adjustment issues (serious and silly) do you typically see for students with host families?

8. What are some of the ways that students spend their free time?

9. What kind of orientation do the students receive?

10. I have not visited Salamanca since the year 2000, so my memories are outdated. How do you feel Salamanca ’s character has or has not changed since then?

11. What are common colloquial expressions, positive and negative (for being upset or happy), these days? How do people say something’s “cool” or “tacky?”

12. Are intercambios still popular? Where are typical places to post an intercambio request?

13. Any major, obvious differences you’ve noted in terms of style/dress/habits between American teens and Salmantinian teens?

14. Is there anything else you’d like to share about the study-abroad experience for Americans in Salamanca?

don Quijote is now in Facebook

Stacey — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:34:00 GMT

Social networking sites are setting the pace when it comes to making it easier for companies to get closer to their fans on the web. We’ve caught on to the trend and are proud to announce don Quijote has launched its own Facebook page!

don Quijote Facebook is the perfect way for you to stay up-to-date with the latest information, photos and anything related to don Quijote schools.

Share with future students your own study abroad experience, pictures and stories, or simply write to let us know what you think! Come on over and share with the world (and with us!) how you've learned Spanish! Don’t forget it's also an easy way for you to keep in touch with your don Quijote classmates, too.

Become a fan of don Quijote today!

Check out our official webpage!

Order a FREE brochure!

Jumpstart your in-country learning – with 4 months free access to our online Spanish course!

Stacey — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:55:00 GMT

We believe from la cabeza to los pies that you will best learn Spanish by living Spanish. Okay, and you’ll have a lot more fun, too.

At don Quijote, you’ll always speak Spanish from your very first class… and now, for a limited time we’re delighted to invite you to speak Spanish before that first in-county class – with free access to our online Spanish course.

When you enroll in any don Quijote Spanish courses in Spain or Latin America - at any of our 7 schools or 28 partner schools -we’ll give you 4 months full access to our online course, a 160 euro value – for FREE!

Go ahead! Get a head-start on your beginner’s course!
Brush up your existing skills before your arrival!
Get a leg up on the placement test!

With multimedia dialogues, learning games, and practical lessons followed by exercises and quizzes, our online course (covering beginner’s level Spanish) is the perfect way to step up your in-country experience – and prepare yourself to truly live Spanish from your first day in Spain or Latin America.

So, ready to live Spanish?
Just book any Spanish course of 12 weeks or longer and start your course between September 1 and December 31, 2008.

Contact your course counselors to start planning your 2008 in-country course today – and claim your free online course!

Conditions:
- Offer may not be combined with any other offer.
- Offer available upon request and subject to availability.
- Immediate access to the online course as soon as enrollment and payment of your in-country course are complete.
- Cancellation: In the case that you cancel your in-country course after having received your personal online access code, you will be charged the full price of the online course (€160).
- Offer expires December 31, 2008.

Free Spanish literary text online

Stacey — Fri, 16 May 2008 12:20:00 GMT

Spanish Reading aficionados and lovers of anything Spanish: listen up!

You’ve probably heard at one point of your life about the literary novel ‘Don Quijote de La Mancha’ by Miguel de Cervantes. Or perhaps heard that it is the first novel ever published in the history of the world? Or that it is the 2nd most published book in the world etc. The important thing is, you’ve heard about it many times, yet you’ve never gotten around to reading it.

Well, guess what? don Quijote.org (the school) is proud to have available online a collection of works to read, print, or download in PDF format. These works include Cervantes’ satirical novel as well as some of the widely known Spanish literary novels, poetry, plays and mini-biographies. All for free!

We also have available an informative mini-guide of the History of Spanish literature (in Spanish), made especially for our Spanish students. Anyone interested in the background history of the Spanish literary world can get an inside glance at each era and how time has influenced the literary writing styles of each author. This seems to come in quite handy for a Spanish student who knows too well this is what makes up the bulk of their university studies.

Challenge yourself and learn more about the evolution of Spanish language!

And if you’re still interested in knowing more about the famous Don Quijote, then visit our Don Quijote Virtual Museum where you will find everything there is to know about this fictional character and how he’s influenced the world.