GENERAL SPANISH COURSES

The Comillas Foundation offers Spanish courses organised in six levels (A1-A2-B1-B2-C1-C2), following the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and suited to the Cervantes Institute curriculum (PCIC).

The courses have a duration of 20 weekly hours distributed in four hours every day with an intermediate pause of half an hour. In case there is only one student enrolled in the course, lessons will be reduced to 15 hours per week and it will be taught as one to one lessons.

Lessons combine teaching of linguistic aspects with sociocultural elements as a tool of language acquisition, as well as the integration of skills through a wide range of activities. Highlighting interactive out of classroom activities as a cultural gymkhana or a local market. 

Before the beginning of every course the pupils will make a language level test in our virtual platform, so that they could begin the classes in a suitable group.

In addition, before the beginning of the course they complete an Analysis of needs, that help the teachers to know about the interests, preferences and needs of every pupil in order to prepare an adapted program to them.

Elementary Spanish: A1-A2

A1 Level

A1 level allows to overcome the first step in learning Spanish. After the course, the student will be able to ask and answer questions about himself, about where he lives or about the people he knows. The student will be able to construct simple sentences about daily topics and will be able to answer questions of this type when they are formulated to him. The student who completes this initial level will be able to:

• To understand and to use daily expressions of very frequent use and simple phrases destined to satisfy immediate needs.
• Introduce yourself and others, ask for something and give basic personal information about your home or the people you know.
• Communicate in an elementary way as long as the caller speaks slowly and clearly.

A2 Level

Designed so that by the end of the course the student has the capacity to use a simple but efficient language, both orally and written, in daily situations with predictable content.

 By the end of this course students will be able to understand, interact and express themselves in a basic, but adequate way

By completing this level the student will be capable of:

• Understanding simple sentences and expressions especially about themselves, their family, shopping, places of interest, professions, etc.
• Communicate to carry out simple, daily tasks that do not require more then just simple and direct exchanges of information about commonly understood matters.
• To describe, in simple terms, aspects about their past and surroundings, along with matters concerning their immediate needs.

Intermediate Spanish: B1-B2

B1 Level

The intermediate level is designed so that upon the completion of the course students have the skills to use the language appropriately, reasonably flexible, precisely and correctly as a method of communication and personal expression, both in class and in a wide range of situations, including in virtual spaces, concerning specific or abstract topics.  Furthermore, the student will be able to expand their knowledge of socio-cultural aspects related to these situations, along with those regarding their own professional field, and how to use social formulas, formal or informal communication, and the appropriate handling of these situations.

Therefore, by completing this level the student will be able to:

• To understand the main points of clear, standard language texts as long as they concern daily or common matters, whether for work, study or leisure.
• To communicate effectively in most situations that may arise on a trip through Spanish speaking areas
• Produce simple and coherent texts on known matters or topics of interest.
• Describe experiences, events, desires and aspirations, along with briefly justifying their points-of-view or explaining their plans.

B2 Level

The program is designed so that upon the completion of the course students have the skills to use the language fluidly and naturally in a wide range of situations, being able to understand and produce complex texts on general subject matters  or within their speciality. The student will also have a wide range of linguistic resources, not too idiomatic, that the language user may adapt to the language’s own changes in communicative channel and situation.

By completing level B2 the student will be able to:

• To understand the main ideas of complex texts on concrete or abstract matters, even technical in nature, as long as it is in their speciality field.
• Speak with native speakers at a sufficiently fluid and natural degree, so that communication is done without too much effort by the speakers.
• Produce clear and detailed texts on a variety of topics, along with defending a point a view on general matters, positioning oneself in favour or against different options.

Advanced and proficiency levels: C1 – C2

C1 Level

By completing this level students control an extensive linguistic repertoire that enables them to have a fluent and spontaneous communication. This way students will be able to select the most suitable expression to communicate and only difficult subjects will interfere in the natural fluency of their speech.

In addition, students will be able to create a clear, fluent and well-structured discourse and they will control organizational structures and cohesion mechanisms.  

By completing this level, students will be able to:

• Understand a wide variety of extensive and quite exigent texts finding in them implicit meanings.
• Express fluent and spontaneously, without an evident effort to find the adequate expression.
• Use Spanish in a flexible and effective way with social, academic and professional purposes.

​C2 Level

The C2 program enables students to reach the highest level of the CEFR. It doesn’t mean a native speaker competence but a high degree of accuracy and ease in communicating in Spanish. This way, students who finish a C2 course will be able to express subtle meanings in an accurate manner, they will have a good control of idiomatic and colloquial expressions and will know how to solve linguistic difficulties without the conversation partner realizing. 

By passing the C2 level, students will be able to:

• Understand almost everything they hear or read.
• Reconstruct information and arguments arriving from different resources, oral and written, and presenting them in a coherent and summarized manner.
• Express fluently and with a degree of precision that allows them to distinguish subtle shades of meaning.

CLASSROOM WITOUT WALLS

Our students have the chance of combine the Spanish lessons with activities offered by the program Classrooms without Walls

ACREDITATION

Students will receive a certificate of achievement issued by the Comillas Foundation.