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

The Role of Music in Second Language Learning

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

A recent blog post made me wonder why language teachers like to get lyrical…
Having attended various language courses across the world, from Cuba to Italy to Argentina, it’s always interested me how local language teachers are so keen to incorporate singing into their lessons. There hasn’t been one course where I haven’t had to listen [...]

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Tags: argentina, cuba, efl, italy, second language learning, singing, tefl, vietnam

Where’s the best place to learn Spanish in Latin America?

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

Alex Wolfson, Latin America specialist at Cactus, ponders an inherently difficult question

Every day the Cactus Language Team receives many phone calls from our clients and potential clients. Most already know where they would like to take a language course because of a particular affection for a city, the desire to visit a specific place and [...]

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Tags: argentina, bolivia, chile, colombia, costa rica, cuba, dominican republic, latin america, mexico, panama, peru, spanish, spanish language course

Spanish Language Guide (2b): Latin American Culture

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Spanish

Sarah Gooding, Editor at Cactus, picks out the best of Latin American culture
Latin America culture is as vast as the countries that make up this sizzling, Latin land. Whether you go to the pampas of Argentina, the snowy peaks of Peru or the paradisical coastline of Honduras, the cultures you experience will vary enormously.

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Tags: argentina, aztecs, bolivia, brazil, chile, colombia, cuba, ecuador, frida kahlo, gabriel garcia marquez, incas, latin america, mario vargas llosa, maya, peru, salsa, samba, tango

Spanish Language Guide: History, Usage & Variations of Spanish in the World

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Spanish

Sarah Gooding, Editor at Cactus, takes a look at the Spanish language
Spanish in the World Today
With some 400 million native speakers worldwide, and another 100 million speaking it as a second language, there can be no doubting the importance of Spanish as a global language.
In native speaker terms, only Mandarin Chinese has more speakers, yet [...]

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Tags: argentina, basque, castellano, catalan, colombia, cuba, galician, latin america, mexico, romance language, spain, spanish, valencian