PROGRAMA DE INMERSIÓN LINGÜÍSTICA, CULTURAL Y DE TURISMO
GRANADA LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL IMMERSION PROGRAMME
Are you learning Spanish?, Would you like to practice everything you have learnt in an interactive and fun way in a very small group with an ELE teacher?
Have you ever thought about living a different experience while speaking the language you are learning and interacting with the locals?
A few months ago, due to the circumstances of the Covid pandemic, I thought of combining my passion as a tour guide with something I also love: showing our language and culture to foreign students of SPANISH.
Together with my colleague Carmen, we have created a Spanish Immersion Programme in Granada. Carmen is an English teacher and I am an ELE teacher (Spanish for foreign students, approved by the Cervantes Institute) and an accredited tour guide in Andalusia.
We know that some students find it difficult to practice the language or to integrate into the city, especially, if they only come here for a short time.
Other students want to have a language immersion experience and prefer the security and support of a small group with their teacher to break the ice.
If you want to practice and improve your Spanish for a week, visiting our artistic heritage in a much more didactic and participative way, living with Spanish families or in other types of accommodation, getting to know our gastronomy and culture from the inside, cooking paella and travelling around our province and speaking with locals, then this is an excellent way to enjoy Granada en Español.
Because we would love you to get to know our city in a different way, we have created this programme for you.
The novelty of the programme is that all the activities take place outside the classroom and are totally participative, so you will be using Spanish 24 hours a day, apart from when you sleep :)))).
The groups have 4-6 participants and the programme is aimed at intermediate to advanced learners (B1, B2, or C1).
For one week you will enjoy Spanish to the fullest with an official Granada guide and Spanish teachers, with lots of activities in the city and the province.
We will start sending you materials in the month leading up to your visit. These materials will give you useful background information about our beautiful city, the region, the sites, and the programme itself.
I hope you will be interested, because I sincerely believe that you can learn in a fun way, outside the classroom, combining learning with curiosity and participation.
Mayte Sánchez
APPROACH TO LANGUAGE IMMERSION
Each day of your Language Immersion Tour is built around a different theme that ties together daily language learning, cultural activities and interactions with locals.
During one month before the inmersion we will work on remote the cultural context and relevant vocabulary that students will need to navigate each experiential activity. Through it all, your Language Immersion Program Director will be with you, supporting your students’ language learning and highlighting each breakthrough moment.
DAY 1: SUNDAY
ARRIVE TO GRANADA
Welcome to Granada, a city plenty of history , legends and a lot of charming. You’re greeted by your Language Immersion Program Director at your place of accomodation.
You will get a walking tour around the historic city center and a little introduction of Granada.
DAY 2: MONDAY
GRANADA :
Historical Topic: Alhambra Tour / Carmen de los Mártires /Jewish quarter /Tapas Route
Morning:– Visit to the Alhambra, a magnificent palatin city wich was originally built over an ancient fortress in the IX century .Later it was converted into a royal palace in the golden epoc by Yusuf I and Muhamad V, Sultans of kingdom of Granada. The theme of the Alhambra is “palaces on water,” We will talk about geometrical patterns , muqarnas, arabesque tiles.(Decoration)
Students will learn throught role play about the most famous characters
of the Nasrid time. The main functions of each palace, the customs and way of life inside the Alhambra The students will also be able to participate in the explanations and contribute with their knowledge on this subject in spanish.
Freetime ( free meal)
Evening:-SENSATIONS: Activity in Carmen de los Mártires ,Realejo, Bosque de la Alhambra.
Ruta de tapas .(included in the programme).Students will have the first contact with the gastronomy and one of the most common ways of socialising in the city talking with locals.
DAY 3: TUESDAY
THE CITY:
Historical Topic: Cathedral and Royal Chapel / City centre / Hamman/ Albaycín (viewpoints)/ Dinner in Arab Restaurant
Morning :City Centre , Cathedral and Royal Chapel
Today’s theme: architecture and history .During the morning session we will visit the historical centre of the city, we will visit the only remaining Muslim Alhondiga in the Iberian Peninsula, the Alcaicería, where the silk market was located, and finally we will enter the Renaissance Cathedral of Granada. We will visit the Royal Chapel where the bodies of the Catholic Monarchs of Granada are buried, one of the largest and most impressive in Spain, and the Royal Chapel of the Catholic Kings of Granada.
– Master art-related terms and learn about one of Spain’s most renowned epoc , the arrival of the Catholic Monarchs in the kingdom of Granada, in an interactive language lesson.
Evening: Sensations-Activities
This afternoon the students will have the opportunity to feel like real sultans, they will enjoy a unique experience in a Hamman or Arab bath based on the ancient baths of the Nasrid period. Later we will take a photographic tour of the most emblematic viewpoints of the Albaicín and we will finish by savouring the cuisine of one of the best Arab restaurants in the city.
DAY 4: WEDNESDAY
ALPUJARRAS:
Las Alpujarras are a group of municipalities that extend between the Sierra Nevada National Park and the Mediterranean Sea in Granada, Andalucia.
These towns take refuge under the towering Mulhacen and Veleta Mountains. The whitewashed façades, the flat slate or stone roofs and their narrow streets transform them into a unique landscape full of springs and legends that, over the centuries, has attracted travelers from around the world.
Today we will travel to the beautiful and much admired area of the Alpujarras, known above all for its mountains, its waters and its ham.
We will visit some of the most emblematic villages of the area such as Lanjarón, Bubión, Pampaneira, Capileira and Trevelez.
We will get to know their culture, customs and gastronomy (we will taste their wine, ham and Alpujarreño dishes).
Through a session that will last all day, we will know: typical vocabulary of the area, we will be able to talk with the locals of the Alpujarras.
DAY 5: THURSDAY
TRADITIONS :
Gastronomy and folklore
Morning: We will be immersed in our gastronomic and folklore customs.
Today’s Theme: Spanish Culinary andTraditions— Spanish food has influences from many different regions and cultures, as you’ll taste for yourself today.
Together with the teacher, the students will go shopping in the city market and then they will be able to cook a typical recipe of our cuisine.
This is an interactive activity where all the students will participate in the cooking of a meal in a Spanish family’s house.
Evening: Flamenco Experience
In the afternoon the students will have an experience with one of the most important parts of our culture: Flamenco music and dance.
DAY 6: FRIDAY
ALBAYCIN AND SACROMONTE :
Culture, landscape and traditions
Morning: we will make a tour around the Arab quarter of the Albaicín and Sacromonte visiting some places that remain today and are witnesses of the Islamic footprint in our city, we will see a typical Nazarí house, the only Arab baths of the 11th century that remain in Granada, we will pass by El Maristán, the Aljibes, the New Mosque, the Arch of the Weights, Sacromonte, the museum of the caves and Carmen de la Victoria.
Freetime (free meal).
Evening: Activity session and tea shop experience./ Exchanges with locals
During the evening we will have a meeting with locals and students will have the opportunity to have a language exchange with granadinos while eating tapas and beer.
Includes only one drink.
DAY 7: SATURDAY
FREETIME AND FAREWELL:
Today the students have the possibility to have some free time for shopping or an excursion to the surrounding area.
If there is a local fair or festival during the students’ stay, this day will be used for activities related to the festival.
In the afternoon we will say goodbye with a short debriefing and survey of the programme.
DAY 8: SUNDAY
DEPART FOR HOME:
Your tour may be coming to an end, but your lifelong love of the Spanish language and Granada is only beginning.
This is an indicative timetable of the activities that will take place during the immersion programme and may be changed due to weather conditions or other circumstances beyond our control.
Each day, before doing all the activities, the tutor of the programme will have a meeting with the group of students to briefly explain each activity to be done that day, the vocabulary, solve doubts or any other problem that the students may have.
*All the activities and visits we are going to carry out are aimed at students of Spanish from B1 level upwards.
Students will participate in all the proposed activities and we will start preparing the immersion online for a month beforehand, these classes will be included in the price of the programme.
ACCOMMODATION
There are various types of accommodation and students can choose the one they prefer. Staying with Spanish families, in hostels or in flats. *For the time being accommodation will only be in a hostel or flat.
LODGING
Meals are not included in the price of the programme, except those indicated in the programme as an activity. Students staying with host families are entitled to one meal per day in the house.
INCLUDED IN THE PROGRAMME
All the classes - activities and visits that we are going to do. Entrance fees to the monuments included in the programme. Meals included in the programme activities. Accommodation. Transport for excursions. Tourist insurance.
NOT INCLUDED IN THE PROGRAMME
-All extra expenses incurred by the student.
-All extra drinks not included in the menus.
-Transport to and from Granada.
-Transport in the city.
-Meals not included in the programme.