Posts

The verdict – can Ollie surf?

We did it! We promised that Cactus Ambassador Ollie Phillips would try surfing in Spain, and here is the proof!

A welcome visit to the beach after 40°+ temperatures in Seville (more on that later) saw Ollie swap rugby boots for surfboard and take a few lessons with Escuela de Surf Cadiz (Cadiz Surf School).

The lessons took place on Playa de la Cortadura, one of Cadiz city’s beautiful blue flag beaches. Known for its small waves and warm water, Playa de la Cortadura is perfect for learning to surf – and water lovers can also try paddle boarding and body boarding through the surf school.

So how did Ollie fair? For his first time surfing, and with lessons in both Spanish and English, we were impressed!

Ollie-surfing-youtube-videoOllie managed to get to his feet and catch a few waves with expert guidance from his surf instructor…before taking a dip in the sea!

Check out the video of Ollie surfing on YouTube

 

Ollie-surfingWell done Ollie! Keep posted for our next instalment of what it’s like to learn Spanish in Seville.

And while you’re waiting, why not check out his flamenco moves

¡Hasta luego!

Cactus offers Spanish and surf courses in Cadiz through CLIC, and Ollie also brushed up his Spanish in Seville at their excellent school in central Seville.

 

 

 

 

So you want to see Ollie dancing flamenco?

Last week we asked you what you wanted to see Cactus Ambassador Ollie Phillips doing in Spain…and the overwhelming response was to see Ollie Phillips dancing flamenco!

We listened to your feedback and whilst Ollie was in Spain earlier this week he not only danced flamenco, but he did so at the highly prestigious Museo del Baile Flamenco in Seville.

museodelbaileflamencoThis 18th century Museum of Flamenco Dance, founded by respected flamenco dancer Cristina Hoyos, is a flamenco dance institution housed in a traditional Andalucian palace. Cristina is one of the most important flamenco dancers in Spain and she has worked with the legends of flamenco, many of whom are honoured in the museum. For those interested in learning about flamenco’s roots and appreciating the beauty of the art of flamenco, this is the place to come.

And so to Ollie.

Ollie was invited to join dancers on stage at one of their evening performances, in front of an audience of some 100 flamenco fans. Undeterred by no previous dance experience – and no doubt helped by the natural agility that comes with being a professional sportsman – Ollie gallantly copied the experts and proceeded to dance flamenco to everyone’s delight.

So here we are folks – the proof:

ollie-phillips-flamenco

Keep posted for the complete video of Ollie’s trip to Seville and Cadiz which will be released shortly – including footage of him dancing flamenco on stage!

clic_logoOllie travelled to Spain to study Spanish with Cactus partner CLIC in Seville. Cactus offers Spanish courses in Seville and in many locations across Spain and Latin America.

 

 

Ollie Phillips Spain – what do you want him to do?

Ollie Phillips Spain – Is Spain ready?

So we’ve told you that Cactus Ambassador Ollie Phillips is jetting off to Spain this weekend

Now we want YOU to tell us what you want to see him doing!

Reply in the Comments box with your choice of the following:

I would like to see Ollie Phillips in Spain…

  1. Dancing flamenco
  2. Kite surfing
  3. Making a paella
  4. Ordering sangria and tapas in Spanish
  5. Pretending to bullfight
  6. Playing Spanish guitar

…and we will do our best to make it happen!!

But quick – he goes on Sunday 5th July, so get your votes in now!

Ollie Phillips Spain: Ollie is going to learn Spanish in Seville and try Spanish and Kitesurfing in Cadiz. Cactus offers Spanish courses in Seville, Cadiz and across Spain, many of which offer the great opportunity to combine Spanish lessons with activities such as surfing, tennis, flamenco and cooking.

Spanish course Barcelona – a first-hand review

Spanish Course Barcelona: Creative Web Manager John Biddulph takes a break from PHP and Javascript to learn a different language – Spanish in Barcelona

I took a Spanish beginner course in Barcelona last October, and my first day was very organised and welcoming. I met five other students in my group of different nationalities and ages.

The times of my classes were just great, starting at 2pm in a spacious air conditioned classroom. There was one day when I was unwell and was unable to go in, so I contacted Cactus who were very helpful and contacted the school for me.

My teacher, Isobel, was lovely. She was very helpful and we all had fun reading and acting from our activity book and also had time for a few language games.

Being a complete beginner to Spanish, I would advise taking a short evening course beforehand to learn the very basics. This means that you can learn some proper Spanish on your course and practise using it out and about in the city.

Barcelona is an amazing city – there are plenty of nice places to go sightseeing and some great tapas bars and cafes for food and drink. It’s easy to get to and it was a great starting point for me learning Spanish. I can’t wait to go back again!

Cactus offers Spanish courses in Barcelona and in many locations across Spain and Latin America.

Learn some Spanish before you go with our Spanish evening courses in London, Brighton, Manchester and other major locations across the UK. Courses start in January, April, July and September in over 20 languages and at many levels.

Ollie Phillips in Spain – Sneak Preview

Cactus Ambassador Ollie Phillips is all set to go to Spain to make us want to learn Spanish…

You’ve seen Ollie tell us why he learnt French in France as a player for Parisian team Stade Français – now he’s learning Spanish and is all set to go to Spain to get the rest of us in the mood, too!

Next month Ollie will jet off to Seville with Cactus – a vibrant city of flamenco, tapas and fiestas – before heading to the coast to try Spanish & Surfing in Cadiz. We’ll be making a video to show what this beautiful part of Spain has to offer and to highlight the many benefits of learning Spanish in a country where it’s spoken.

About Ollie

ollie_phillipsA professional sportman who has travelled the world playing rugby, sailing in the Clipper Round The Wave Race, commentating for Eurosport and Sky (in French) and delivering workshops to global brands, Ollie has first-hand experience of the importance of language in international communication and understanding.

He has come on board as Cactus Ambassador as he is passionate about sharing his experience to inspire Britain’s younger learners in particular to learn a second language – opening the door to infinite career and other opportunities.

Cactus runs language courses in over 120 destinations abroad, as well as private and corporate language training, evening courses in the UK and TEFL courses worldwide.

 

What is doing a TESOL/CELTA course really like? An Insider’s Perspective

Cactus Managing Director Fay Drewry gives us a first-hand account of life as a TEFL trainee in Barcelona

Having decided I wanted to do my TEFL course in Barcelona and try living and working there for a year – hopefully to improve my Spanish – I set about trying to work out which course I should do and at which school. I had never been to Barcelona but I knew instinctively that it would be a city I would love…a city with a beach, and sun, and Gaudi, and chicos guapos…what more could I want?  I spent quite a bit of time trawling through various websites trying to compare TEFL courses and locations and prices, until I came across CactusTEFL.com. Finally a website that explained everything I needed to know, allowed me to compare courses and start dates, plus they were on the end of the phone to help me with my application – great! So I applied, did the pre-interview task, had a Skype interview with the school, and before I knew it I was accepted onto the course. So far so good, and I even managed to book myself onto a part-time Spanish language course, just to make sure I wasn’t just speaking English all the time!

My course expectations

Having always been fairly academic (good A level results, good degree) I didn’t think that doing a 4 week teaching course to become an English language teacher would cause me too many problems. This was not entirely the case. Initially I questioned if I really needed to spend a significant amount of money on learning how to teach a language I already spoke fluently. How hard could it be? A lot harder than I thought, as it turned out.

So I arrived in Barcelona courtesy of Easyjet, and for the duration of the 4 week course I stayed with a family in a nice part of the city. They were lovely. Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to spend much time with them. Mainly because I spent the majority of my ‘free’ time holed up in my room frantically trying to work out the stages of lesson planning, creating materials with no idea of whether they would actually work in class, and writing assignments that at 4am in the morning didn’t make a lot of sense to me either.  This was essentially, the beginning, middle and end of the course. A learning curve like no other I had ever experienced. It wasn’t that the information was complicated or intellectualised – most of it, in fact, was common sense. There was just A LOT of it.

In at the deep end – the course in detail

There were 18 people on my course, but there were 2 courses running simultaneously, so there were about 35 of us all together. English, Scottish, American, Irish, Canadian, and Dutch. A great mix of people from 18 to 55, with a range of motivations, backgrounds and reasons for doing the course.  Teaching in front of my other 17 classmates started on the second day of the course. Not embarrassing at all.  We had to teach our fellow trainees for 5 minutes about something we knew or were good at – having just left PwC as a trainee accountant (the most boring year of my life) I decided to teach everyone how to complete a balance sheet. Not that this had a lot to do with teaching English but it did get us up, writing on the board, in front of a group of people.  From there on in the rest of the course flew by – everyday filled with so much information to take on board, so many different things to think about, so much to understand. Classroom management, lesson planning, setting of lesson aims, achieving lesson aims, checking meaning of target language, ensuring free practice of target language, error correction, varying interaction patterns, catering for different learner styles – not to mention making the materials for all the activities from scratch. It was a surprise that all 35 of us made it through to the end of the course without having a nervous breakdown (only joking – ish).

Throughout the course everyone teaches for a total of 6 hours. Each time was a pretty nerve racking experience – but with each teaching practice the feedback from the tutor helped me to identify which areas I was getting right and which points I needed to work on. This made me feel like I was actually progressing and improving, and allowed me to focus on just a couple of things at a time – rather than trying to get everything right, which was basically impossible. We all had mid-course and end of course tutorials with our tutors, which made us aware of exactly how we were getting on and if we were on track to pass the course. This was an extremely positive aspect of the course – as there were no nasty surprises at the end with someone thinking they were doing great when actually they were going to fail.

So, I got to the end of the course in one piece and passed! What a relief. The lessons learnt were invaluable and there is no way, after having done the TESOL, that I would ever want to stand in front of anyone and try and teach them English without having done the course.

14 years after doing my Trinity TESOL I’m now the Managing Director of CactusTEFL…but that’s another story…

Cactus TEFL is an admissions and advice service for quality teacher training courses worldwide. Cactus works with the majority of well-known course providers to offer CELTA, Trinity CertTESOL, equivalent and online courses in over 90 locations across 36 countries. Cactus TEFL also offers free post-course careers advice and support, as well as access to our very own TEFL jobs board and job alerts.

Cactus Language is a leading provider of language courses in over 120 locations abroad.

10 top locations to learn Spanish this summer

If you want a little more from your holiday this summer, a language course is the perfect option. Not only can it be booked last minute, but you can get all the sand, sea, culture and history that you’d expect from a regular holiday. Spanish is our most popular language and with Spanish courses in Spain and across Latin America, there is a language course for every taste!

We’ve asked our language holiday advisors for their recommendations as to the best places to go this summer in Spain and Latin America. And who better to ask – they are the ones who have visited and taken courses in our many destinations.

It’s not too late to book – just take your pick, and get it in the diary!

Location Why Go?
1. Bocas del Toro, Panama Caribbean beaches and islands; excellent diving and surfing; laid-back, rustic vibe; close to the Costa Rican border; on the backpacker trail but still relatively unknown
2. Cartagena, Colombia Magnificent colonial city; Caribbean charm; friendly, warm locals; Colombian Spanish has a reputation for being particularly clear
3. Ibiza, Spain Exhilarating nightlife; spectacular natural scenery and beaches; ancient hill towns; mild climate year-round
4. Jaco Beach, Costa Rica Laid-back surfing and beach culture; relaxed but lively nightlife; courses include Spanish & surfing
5. Playa del Carmen, Mexico Beautiful beach; choice of watersports; lively nightlife; proximity to ancient Maya & Aztec sites
6. San Sebastián, Spain Golden beaches & excellent surfing; famous for its delicious pintxos (tapas); popular summer teen & children’s programmes
7. Santiago de Chile, Chile Southern Hemisphere skiing; vineyards and wine tasting; European in feel; leafy parks
8. Santiago de Compostela, Spain Off the beaten track; classic walking trails; history & culture; traditional bars and excellent tapas
9. Sosúa, Dominican Republic Watersports, especially diving & kitesurfing; attractive climate; cheap destination once there; whale watching in winter
10. Valencia, Spain Vibrant summer location; beaches and watersports including Spanish & kite surfing, impressive City of Arts and Sciences; the place to eat paella

More about Spanish courses in Spain

Skype Me™!

Cactus offers Spanish courses in 12 countries worldwide. Courses are available from one week upwards, for all ages and levels, and can be combined with a range of activities from sport and cookery to music and art.

Junior language camps – a wise choice for the summer

Learn a language, make friends of the same age, enjoy fun activities and excursions – and pass those exams!

If your child is learning a language, a summer language camp will give them the holiday of a lifetime and put them one step ahead when they return to school in September.

These camps  offer a fantastic opportunity for students aged 5-18 years to learn their chosen language in a safe and fun environment, where small group language classes are accompanied by exciting activities and excursions, comfortable accommodation in a host family or residence and 24-hour supervision.

Why book a language camp?

segovia_children

  • Hand-picked selection of locations to study French, Spanish, Italian, German and English
  • Stimulating programme of social, sporting and cultural activities
  • Courses geared to different ages between 5-18 years
  • International environment guaranteeing new friends of the same age from all over the world
  • Great way to boost confidence and improve language skills naturally
  • Excellent preparation for GCSE and A Level exams
  • Increased employability and opportunities upon leaving school (see how studying abroad can make you smarter)
  • Courses for parents available in the same location

Where do we offer language camps?

san_sebastian

Spanish language camps:

Spain: Seville / Denia / San Sebastian / Segovia

Costa Rica: Heredia

French language camps:

France: Montpellier / Cannes / Antibes

Canada: Quebec City

German language camps:

Germany: Berlin / Lindenberg / Augsburg

* Summer programmes for young adults aged 16-20 years are also available in Berlin and Vienna.

Italian language camps:

Italy: Salerno

English language camps:

USJuniors

England: London / Cambridge / Canterbury / Nottingham / Southampton / Brighton / Manchester / Liverpool / Cheltenham / Bournemouth / Ascot

Ireland: Dublin

Scotland: Edinburgh

USA: Long Island, New York / Brooklyn, New York

 

Most courses are available from one week upwards during the summer months. We are also experienced in arranging school trips abroad, in these and other locations.

Contact us or call us on 00 44 (0) 1273 830 960 for further information and a quote.

For full information on junior language camps please visit the Cactus Language website.

Top 5 Spring festivals in Spain

Fiesta time is upon us! If there’s anywhere that knows how to throw a good party, it’s Spain. These festivals are the perfect pick-me-up after the long winter months, and a great incentive to learn a little Spanish too!

1. Moros y Cristianos, Alicante: 21st-24th April 2015

alicante1

Of the 150 or so locations in Spain to celebrate Moros y Cristianos, there is no beating the celebrations that take place in Alcoy, Alicante. The festival dates back to the 16th century and commemorates the Battle of Alcoy in 1276, when the Christian army of Saint George helped defeat the Moorish troops lead by Al-Azraq. In homage to St George, the people of Alcoy made him their patron saint and vowed to hold a festival in his honour each year…and what a festival it is. With 28 armies in mock battle, intricately-made costumes on show, a spectacular procession and breathtaking firework displays, the streets are full and the atmosphere is electric in this fitting tribute to the battle that expelled the Moors from Spain.

Spanish courses in Alicante

2. La Feria de Abril, Seville: 21st-26th April 2015

sevilla_image

Little may need to be said about what is arguably Spain’s biggest fiesta. The solemnity of Semana Santa the week preceding Easter is cast aside as the vibrant Andalucian city of Seville erupts into the much-anticipated April Fair, a week-long party of flamenco dancing, horse shows, bullfighting and more. This is Spanish fiesta at its best. The only problem is what to see and how to reserve enough energy to stay up all night and join the locals at what they do best – party, party, party!

Spanish courses in Seville

3. Patios de Cordoba: 4th-17th May 2015

patios-cordoba

Exploring a city’s streets is one thing, but knocking on somebody’s door and entering through heavy wooden doors that are kept closed for 50 weeks of the year is a real privilege. And this is what Patios de Cordoba grants you – the chance to enter into the cool shade of private homes and feast your eyes on their patios which have been lovingly adorned throughout the year with all manner of flowers, plants and decorations. Lemon trees, geraniums, roses, carnations, fountains – the list is endless, but the colour and scent won’t fail to impress, and nor will the chance to enter hidden corners of Andalucia away from the rush of modern life.

Spanish courses in Cordoba

4. Horse Fair, Jerez: 10th-17th May 2015

seville_andalucia

You don’t have to be a horse lover to enjoy Spain’s best horse fair, the Feria de Caballo in Jerez. Taking place in its famous sherry-producing town, Jerez de la Frontera, could be incentive enough. Or maybe you’ll be won over by the sight of impeccably-dressed locals riding through the streets and ladies dressed in bright flamenco dresses, ready to wow the crowds with their Sevillanas dance displays. But most of all you can’t help but be impressed by the supreme skill and care taken to train and groom the horses that star in this annual show. If there is one performance not to miss, it’s the Dancing Andalusian Horses – a true equestrian ballet, fully choreographed, accompanied by traditional Spanish music and costume. You’ll swear you didn’t know horses could do that type of thing…

Spanish courses in Seville

Spanish courses in Marbella

5. San Isidro, Madrid: 15th May 2015

madrid

If you want to experience the most quintessential of Spanish traditions then head for Madrid during its San Isidro festival. Not only is this the world’s most important bullfighting festival, it is also an excuse for flamboyant Spanish fiesta in the form of music, dancing, fairs and what is known as a romeria, or pilgrimage, to the shrine of Madrid’s patron saint, San Isidro. Las Ventas bullring plays host to the much-anticipated bullfights, concerts are held in the beautiful Plaza Mayor to concerts, and Vistillas Park is transformed into an open-air dance hall. Book tickets to specific events in advance, or just turn up and soak up the exhilarating atmosphere.

Spanish courses in Madrid

Cactus offers Spanish courses in many locations across Spain as well in countries throughout Central and South America.

Where are the Best Language Schools in the World?

Good value and quality tuition in the world’s best locations…these are the best language schools in the world

Cactus’ recent appearance on the Guardian website in an article entitled “Top language learning holidays – in pictures” coincides perfectly with our brand new Top 10 Schools page.

Designed to give inspiration for the best places to learn a language, these schools are not just our most popular; they also offer great value and quality teaching in some of the most exciting locations across the globe. Whether you fancy learning Portuguese in Brazil or French on the glittering Côte d’Azur, you can be sure that our Top 10 schools offer the best and cheapest ways to study a language.

Currently topping our Top 10 list is Babylon Idiomas Seville, a small and friendly school located in the heart of Seville’s flamenco neighbourhood of Macarena. This makes an excellent choice when it comes to learning Spanish in Spain, or perhaps you’d prefer to combine your lessons with sailing or kite surfing at Taronja Valencia (number 6)?

Whatever your preference, there is something for everyone in our Top 10 Schools…our clients are a savvy bunch, and if these are the places they book time after time, they must be on to something.

Cactus offers language courses in over 25 languages and 120 destinations worldwide for adults, juniors and professionals. We have over 15 years’ experience providing study abroad courses, and you can book in the knowledge that you will receive the highest levels of customer service as well as a price match guarantee.

Use our website to browse language courses by location or language, or feel free to call us to chat through the options on 0845 130 4775 (UK local rate).

* Above image is of Brooklyn which appears at number 2 of our top 10.