What will I achieve in a 1-week course?

Attending 4 hours of classes every day for a week is great for anyone who needs to learn the basics of a foreign language very intensively. It is also ideal for anyone who needs a refresher course in a foreign language that they have previously learnt, as the courses are available in a range of levels, not just beginner.

Currently, Chinese (Mandarin), Croatian, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish are all available in this format.

These courses are not intended to provide in-depth coverage of complicated grammar and vocabulary; they are designed to simply cover all the basics that you need in order to get by. They aim to fulfill the same kind of purpose as CD–based or online holiday preparation type-courses, but being face-to-face are much more beneficial and enjoyable.

One of the main attractions of the week-long courses is that students benefit from a face-to-face tutor who they can go to with any specific questions or queries, rather than being left to their own devices. Students also get to meet new, like-minded people. Class sizes are small, which ensures that your tutor always has enough time to dedicate to you and your learning, and tutors are all qualified, and either native speakers, or native-speaker level. An intensive course offers similar benefits to a full immersion course and you will see results fast.

Classes are intended to be fun, interactive and stimulating to ensure the maximum possible gain in terms of language acquisition.

What’s good about a one-week intensive course? A Cactus Spanish teacher tells us:

”La verdad es que fue una pasada. Los alumnos increíbles, muy activos y con muchas ganas, yo pensé que el jueves y el viernes estarían demasiado casados, pero para nada. Al ser pocos pudimos practicar mucha lectura y conversación para pronunciación y la verdad es que verlos el lunes al empezar a verlos el viernes, había una diferencia abismal. No pensé que en una semana pudieran avanzar tanto. Todo perfecto y creo que los alumnos muy contentos también o por lo menos eso me dijeron a mí.”

English translation:

”It was great! Incredible, really active, keen students. I thought that on Thursday and Friday they would be really tired, but no way. As it was a small group we were able to do a lot of speaking, reading and pronunciation practice. Amazing to see the change in the students between Monday and Friday. I never thought they would advance so much. Everything was perfect and I think the students were really happy – at least that’s what they told me.”

And comments from his students back this up:

“I have been doing weekly Spanish evening classes (with another tuition provider) since October which are good but I hear very little Spanish spoken. This intensive course at Cactus has increased my confidence enormously both in speaking and in listening/comprehension (though I still have a long way to go as Spanish is spoken so quickly!).”

“Lots of opportunities to listen to spoken Spanish – on tape or from the teacher – which is EXACTLY what I want!”

For full listings of our week-long courses, information on how to book and to test your level, please visit the Language Courses UK website.