Cactus Language Blog

Sarkozy takes English lessons

Posted by Lucy under Cactus Languages Abroad

It’s been whirlwind week for Anglo-French relations with Nicolas Sarkozy’s much anticipated state visit to the UK. He wooed the British parliament yesterday with a speech in his native language, praising Britain and proposing joint action on key issues such as global warming, nuclear energy and immigration.
Ahead of the visit, Sarkozy had been taking intensive English lessons so [...]

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Tags: carla bruni, english lessons, languages, sarkozy, speech

Community languages sidelined

Posted by Lucy under Cactus Languages Abroad

Rowenna Davis has written an interesting article in The Guardian today about the national shortfall in teachers of community languages. It’s an issue that has been in the news repeatedly in recent weeks but one for which there doesn’t appear to be an easy solution.
Ofsted reported last year that only 35 people in the UK were training to [...]

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Tags: community languages, shortfall, the guardian

Cactus Opinion: Spanish & Surfing course in Jaco Beach

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Cactus Staff Opinion, Learning a language, Spanish

Language Holiday Advisor Alex Wolfson reports on his Spanish & Surfing course in Jaco, Costa Rica (Feb 08)

Ever since I heard that Cactus worked with a school which offered a Spanish and Surfing course with the Spanish lessons on flexitime, to guarantee the surf classes took place at the optimum level of time, I wanted to take [...]

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Tags: costa rica, language course, language holiday, spanish, surfing

France bans English phrases!

Posted by Lucy under Cactus Languages Abroad

Sacrebleu! France has launched its annual drive this week to stop hundreds of English words from invading the native tongue. Terms such as “email”, “supermodel” and “low-cost airline” should be banned from the language, according to French culture ministy chiefs.
And it doesn’t stop there. French linguists at The Academie Francaise - the body that monitors and protects their [...]

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Tags: academie francaise, france bans english, podcasting

Learning Spanish and catching waves in Costa Rica…

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language, Spanish

Student Jonathan Edwards reports back on his Spanish & Surfing Course in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica (Feb 08)

Costa Rica is fascinating mix of the modern and the undeveloped. It’s a country in its adolescence, growing quicker than it perhaps knows how to cope with, but with an optimism and self-confidence that makes it an exciting [...]

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Tags: costa rica, language course, spanish, surfing

Cactus TEFL launch free podcasts

Posted by Sarah under Cactus TEFL, Press Release

Cactus TEFL, the teacher training arm of Cactus, has just launched its first podcasts on www.cactustefl.com.
Ideal for those who want to find out more about TEFL but don’t have time to surf the net, these new podcasts give valuable information and advice on a range of TEFL-related subjects. Find out how to make the transition [...]

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Tags: english, podcast, teachers, tefl

Spanish Resources

Posted by admin under Spanish

Please comment on resources you find online that are useful to other people learning Spanish.

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Tags: learning, resources, spain, spanish

French Resources

Posted by tristan under French

Please comment on resources you find online that are useful to other people learning French.

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Tags: france, french, learning, resources

Language barrier scuppers walker

Posted by Lucy under Cactus Languages Abroad

So it appears as if Mark Boyle has had to abandon his epic trip from Britain to Gandhi’s birthplace because of a lack of language skills. Mark set out on foot less than a month ago on a pilgrimage that was supposed to take well over two years. With no money, Mark was aiming to rely on strangers for food and lodging to [...]

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Tags: bbc, french lessons, mark boyle