The University of Extremadura is organizing a two-week spring course, in April, (just before the Oral B exams for Cambridge Part IA(B) and PIB(A) candidates) coordinated and taught by Anna Rufat, former Affilitated Lecturer in Spanish at the University of Cambridge.
This course is focused on language skills and translation. It is useful preparation for Use of Spanish Part 1A(A), Part 1A(B) and 1B(A) as well as for the Part IB(B) language papers.
The University is located in Cáceres, 2 hours west of Madrid, North of Seville and close to the Portuguese border. Cáceres is a World Heritage Site, surrounded by National Parks and relatively untouched by tourism. It is somewhere for those who wish to experience a more authentic side of Spanish life and culture.
The course will run: 4th April – 14th April
Price: approx. 700- 750 EUROS. This includes 40 hours of teaching, teaching materials, visits, trips, use of University facilities (library, swimming pools, sport centres, internet), accommodation and journey from and to the airport (if all of you come as a group). A certificate of achievement is issued at the completion of the course.
If you are interested, please send an email to Francisco Jiménez (responsible fo the course): diriele@unex.es
Comments from Cambridge University Students who have taken part on this course previously.
Emma Lloyd-Jones. I would definitely recommend the course – all of us had a fantastic time, and came away feeling as though our Spanish had improved. Anna (who taught here in Cambridge up until last year) knows the Cambridge system inside out: we did an entire term’s worth of translation in two weeks, which was really good preparation for the Part IB Translation into Spanish paper. It’s not all work, though. We had plenty of time to explore, party and enjoy the end of the summer. Cáceres is beautiful, particularly the walled old town and the surrounding countryside. The undisputed highlight of our stay was being interviewed for a report on the local news – and making the front page of the local paper – simply by virtue of being Spanish-speaking foreigners. Not a bad end to the summer vacation…
James Walke, Caius College. Cáceres is a great town to go to if you want to improve your Spanish for loads of reasons: Number one is that the people are so friendly and willing to help – from being welcomed into the homes of your host family to touring the region with the course teachers you’re getting a lot of immersion in the life and language. The town itself has a beautiful “ciudad antigua” with amazing architecture and history whilst not being overtly tourist-orientated; this place is a million miles from Benidorm and Marbella – I was quite weirded out when in the airport going home someone spoke to me in English. You’ll never be bored in Cáceres, the course organisers work so hard to make every second count and arrange visits and excursions around the town and in the surrounding countryside to show you the cultural vibrance of Extremadura. One thing I can say is that I didn’t have much faith in my Spanish before going to Cáceres – now I’m going to Madrid for my year abroad. ¡Que lo paséis bomba!”
Leanne Sheen, Girton College. Having done a two week course here during the long vacation following my first year, I would definitely recommend it. The course was a lot cheaper than other courses I had looked at and it was fully adapted to the needs of a Cambridge student. The content and pace of the course was well pitched to ensure that we understood everything fully without getting bored. Our classes were balanced with excursions to various places both in Cáceres and the region of Extremadura, all of which were interesting and accompanied by detailed explanations of what we were seeing. In the evenings we took the chance to unwind and visit some of Cáceres’s bars or we returned to our accommodation in a family or a hotel, depending on your preference. All in all the course was a great experience in a cheap and vibrant city!
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