10 Spanish Words That Defy The Gender Rule

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

Don’t get caught out by these common ‘trip-up’ words…
In Spanish, as in other Romance languages, words are classified as either masculine or feminine. And it’s usually the case that a masculine word will end in ‘-o‘ while a feminine word will end in ‘-a‘. But, as is always the case when learning a language, there [...]

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Tags: gender rules, spanish

Cactus Opinion: Learning Spanish in Cuba

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad

Sarah Wilson, Cactus TEFL Advisor, tells us how she learnt Spanish in Cuba…

Havana, Cuba, September 2002. I‘m met by strangers at José Martí airport and I’m driven, in what looks like a wreck of a 1950s vehicle, to the Cuban equivalent of the Royal Academy of Music and Art, ISA, el Instituto Superior de Artes. [...]

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Tags: cuba, havana, spanish

Cactus Celebrates Olympic Success

Posted by Lucy under Cactus Languages Abroad

So after weeks of being glued to the telly, cheering on the UK’s finest athletes in dozens of random sports (who knew you could get so addicted to fencing??), the Olympic Games have finally ended. As a nation we now turn with barely disguised panic to the prospect of London 2012, when it will be our turn to host what is undoubtedly the world’s greatest sporting event.

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Tags: olympics, sporting heroes

Cactus Opinion: Dreaming of Italian in Rome

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

Alex Wolfson, Cactus Language Holiday Advisor, tells us why he’d like to visit Rome…

Bryan Adams was at Number 1 with his song from Robin Hood and the Soviet Union had just collapsed when I visited Italy for the only time in my life so far, and I cannot help but feel that I visited Rome [...]

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Tags: italian, italy, rome

Top 5 City Breaks this Autumn

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

Put some brightness in your diary this autumn…
August has just been pronounced the worst on record, we’re almost in autumn without even seeing a summer, and the evenings are starting to draw in. Anyone living in the UK has ample reason to be jumping on a plane right now - and it seems that, despite [...]

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Tags: barcelona, berlin, cava week, city break, english, french, italian, new york, nice, rome, spanish, thanksgiving

Spice Up Your Holiday with some Language & Activity!

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language

Learning a language isn’t just about sitting in a classroom…

It’s a well-known fact that one of the quickest ways to improve a language is to just get out there and speak it - and not worry about making mistakes! By immersing yourself in the sights and sounds of a place, you’ll find yourself in situations [...]

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Tags: cooking, fashion design, language and activity, salsa, surfing, wine tasting, yoga

Gap Year Survival: Learn the Lingo!

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Cactus TEFL, Language Courses New York, Language Courses UK, Learning a language

Why learning some of a language can make the world of difference on your gap year
Flights, travel insurance, mosquito net, rehydration salts…heading off on a gap year requires a degree of planning and foresight to keep you safe, happy and healthy during your trip. Yet learning the language is often last on the list, [...]

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Tags: career break, evening language course, gap year, language course abroad

Learn French & Eat Chocolate…Can It Be True?

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

Anyone who’s been putting off that French course now has the perfect reason to book un petit séjour in Paris this autumn. No need to tell your friends back home the minor detail that it may coincide with Salon du Chocolat, 5 days of pure chocolate heaven - no, they can just be impressed with [...]

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Tags: french, french courses, november, october, paris, salon du chocolat

Get Ready for Oktoberfest in Munich!

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

Ther perfect excuse to learn German and drink beer…
It may come as a surprise that the world’s biggest beer festival, Munich’s Oktoberfest, was born out of celebration for a royal wedding back in the early 19th century. Yet it was the drinking and partying that drew most attention at the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig [...]

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Tags: german course munich, german courses germany, munich, october, oktoberfest, september

GCSE results reveal new low for languages

Posted by Lucy under Cactus Languages Abroad

GCSE results hit another record high this year but it’s bad news for modern languages. The number of students studying has continued to nosedive since the Government abolished the requirement for all teenagers to study a foreign language beyond the age of 14 in 2004.
There have been falls year-on-year ever since the policy was introduced, from 547,189 [...]

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Tags: gcse results, languages