Ultimate Vacation Spots

posted by Travel Cat on Feb 15

Michel Thomas Language Program – “No Books, No Writing – Just Confidence” (CD).

If you have a job driving around, sitting in the same place for a period of time or if you have a lot of time free wherever you are – then you should really consider this CD course.

There are no text books to buy or read, no notes to take, no grammer to repeat over and over – just easy listening and some humour!

I chose the Spanish course from his selection although that isn’t his only language course available.

The Course:
Based on things he learnt through his time in the 2nd World War, Michel Thomas sets about teaching the language in a way that you won’t find with other such language courses.

I was looking for a course that didn’t repeat all the ‘normal’ stuff over again – and I found it here.

The creator of these courses is multi-lingual although he still holds a noticable accent to his voice – however, that offers a certain quality to the recordings. His voice is very soft, gentle, understanding and very characterful – it holds you through the course, and helps you through.

He tells you at the very beginning that the responsibility of learning the language which you have chosen is totally with him. It is not your job to learn this language through hard work and endless effort; it is his job to teach you the language in such a way that you remember it easily.

However, rather than teaching you the nouns and getting you to add them to a set sentance: for example ‘I would like to buy a…” and then teach you coffee/tea/orange juice/water/train ticket/hat/room for the night, he teaches you the verbs which are more important to speaking the language.

You can use the words ‘here’, there’, ‘it’ and ‘this’ for most things, and by learning ‘I do’ and ‘I do not’ can help you string a whole conversation together.

For example, rather than teaching you just to say ‘ I would like a coffee with milk and no sugar’, he can teach you to say ‘I would like to buy one of those please, with that, but I would not like that – and I would like one of those as well’. Something which could be used in almost any situation – not just coffee shop ordering!

He has opened up the whole world of the language by teaching you how the verbs conjugate and where to put the pronoun. Now I know that sounds a bit grammatical, but it just means that he teaches you the rules for the word endings and in which order they need to be.

For example: you learn a verb – say: to buy (comprar), and he teaches you (through examples) to say ‘I am buying’ (compro), ‘he is buying’ (compra) and ‘we are buying’ (compramos). Then with the same rule you can substitute any other similar verb with the same ending, so ‘cortar’ becomes corto, corta and cortamos and ‘ganar’ becomes gano, gana and ganamos. Easy!

And the way that in English we say ‘I am not buying it’ he teaches you to put the words in a different order to be understood abroad, which in this instance will be the confusing translation of ‘No it I am buying’! But through encouragement and repetition with his 2 students – it all fits together perfectly.

And I often found myself laughing at the students attempt to get it right when I had already shouted out the right answer! However, there were occassions when I shouted out the answer with pride, only to have got it completely wrong! Good job it is only me in the car!

The Results:
I have really enjoyed this course and found myself replaying the CD’s for the fun of it rather than because I hadn’t understood it.

Michel Thomas has a very interesting voice and accent, and his mannerisms really help you to pace yourself over the course and to remember key points – like using the correct stresses and pronouncing each letter clearly.

It was lovely to hear his students learning with him in the recordings and they seemed to learn from the course as easily as I did. I have already got my hands on a set of his Advanced CD Course to continue off from where the first course finished!

posted by Travel Cat on Feb 8

Do you want a free all inclusive vacation in Spain – for just talking?

Would you believe it – I know a place that does exactly that: in exchange for you talking all day to a bunch of strangers about absolutely anything – you get a great weeks vacation in the countryside with board and lodgings included!

The reason becomes clear when you investigate their reasons – they are an English Language institute, and they want their students to hear real English spoken by real English speakers.

They aren’t all noisy youngsters though – these students are sent on these courses by their workplace or to improve their specialist language skills and learn specific ‘jargon’ related to their industry.

Language Skills:
As long as you are a native English speaker and experienced or qualified in a professional or educational industry – you can apply to ‘work’ on the project.

Basically, your skills in the industry are far more important than your second language teaching skills!

Infact you don’t really need to teach at all – as the program is designed to get you to communicate with the students in all areas of life; eating lunch, group discussions, running events, tours and performances, etc.

You just have to chat to them as you would your usual friends.

However, you have the edge they need in their jobs – so you will be asked to run a workshop or do a short presentation on your main area of expertise to challenge the students into listening to a different set of language parameters.

Whether it is Retail, Industry, Metal Working or Medicine – all is welcome and all is important!

What You Gain:
Firstly a private room in a delightful location in the Spanish coutryside, all meals and some free time and included tours of the area.

Yes, you might have to eat with the students – but you will no doubt learn from them as well as what they gain from you.

You get to improve your people skills, make some friends and also improve your CV.

And you can even take your kids to the group courses – so a holiday for everyone – for free!

And before and after the course, you are welcome to take a vacation of your own. Seeing as you are already in Spain – why not head for the mountains, the coast, or the history – there is plenty of all 3 in Spain!

The House Rules:
The only rule is that you don’t speak a word of Spanish while you are there!

These students (or their companies) have paid for these courses, so that they are completely immersed in the English language – so even speaking simple words of their native tongue can break down their learning.

Even greeting them with an ‘Hola’ can reduce their acceptance of the many ways that English-speakers greet each other. Hello, hi, watcha, alright, oy and hey will all be lost as you try to remember to say Hola to them all.

And once you have said one word in Spanish, you may feel confident to add to it – or more importantly, they may reply in Spanish too – which will be very much frowned upon!

So, if you fancy a challenge – or an interesting week in your longer vacation – then maybe you should look at their website, and see if you fancy giving it a go!

posted by Travel Cat on Jan 5

Join me in learning a new language online for the New Year!

The BBC are offering free online language courses for the new year on their website – so why not take advantage of it!

It’s easy to use online courses as you get visual stimulation with constantly updated and easy to watch videos and activities as opposed to the flat scripts of a language coursebook!

So rather than read to yourself from the text – you can click ‘next’ and hear the words spoken by a native speaker one line at a time rather than on a dodgy tape that you have to keep pausing all the time!

They also offer ‘email tips’ to be sent to your email to help you make the most of the course – and a certificate on completion.

Now what could be easier?

The Course:
Now obviously I have only just started the course – so am on Week 1 out of 12 – but it is great fun.

I have chosen a language that is completely new to me to see how effective it is for a beginner – and so far it is really straight forward – making me feel quite confident after only the first 2 topics.

I must admit it isn’t that easy to find the courses to get started in the first place – and this is in my native language – but once you are started, it lets you pick the activities in order or hop to the bits you like best.

It even has little tests along the way to confirm your learning – or to let you know you need to go back over the chapter again.

You first listen to a conversation, then recognise the order of what is being said (like the hello’s before the goodbye’s) then you get to guess at the words being used for direct translations.

I have looked a hotel reservations, booking rooms and basic directions already and feel quite confident!

It’s quite fun if you do it with other people, as you can all work together to find the right answers – and as the course can be accessed from anywhere, you can go back over it on your own afterwards to check those finer details!

It also recommends other courses, more advanced courses and many other languages including Mandarin, Turkish, Greek and Japanese – although you have to learn a different alphabet for them so could be harder!

So, what are you waiting for – 2011 has already started!

posted by Travel Cat on Dec 7

It’s not difficult these days to find a job in the location of your dreams!

Why continue working in a job you don’t really like – waiting for those few weeks off you get each year!  Why not look at getting a job you do like in a place that you can only dream of?

There are a whole host of jobs out there that include accommodation – but are on the other side of the world!

Whatever you fancy taking a stab at – whether professionally or just for the fun of it – I’m sure there is somewhere out there which could cater for it!

And the great thing about these types of jobs is that they are often on a set timescale without appraisals or 4 weeks notice - so you don’t need to work overboard on these things – unless you want to of course!  You just have to give it your best for the length of the season or chosen timescale – and then you know you can head back home – or on to another job!

Skiing In Canada:
Why not consider a whole season out in the Rockies as a gap year from uni?  Imagine the experience you could gain from running a resort, catering for thousands or managing a ski course for kids….  The choices are endless – and of course they come with all your bills and food on top of a great snow chalet in the mountains! 

Orchid Tours In Guatemala:
Why not settle down for some botanical beauty and work in an exotic flower garden?  Not only will you learn all about some amazing native plantlife – you will be working outside in the sunshine – and no doubt see plenty of hummingbirds and butterflies all in a days work!

Teaching In China:
There are always vacancies for willing workers to teach English to school children around the world – but in China you could end up working for a specialist business or medical speaker.  You can get very handsomely paid to teach the medical terms, business jargon or technology data to a degree level or professional qualification standard.  They don’t want to know the translation for ’where is the bus station?’ they need things like: ‘…that differentiate after gastrulation into mesothelium, endothelium, and myocardium’!

Singing On A Cruise Ship!
I know it sounds a bit ‘cliche’ but there are hundreds of jobs on boats out there – and they don’t all include singing.  All skills from catering, hospitality, retail, dry cleaning, casinos and much more – all on board a lovely boat – with cabin and food included.  Just imagine the places you could end up visiting!

And, Running An Eco B&B In Africa
So, you think you can handle giraffes eating your trees and crocodiles swimming in your pool? As well as the guests?  Well, you will certainly need some managerial experience and maybe the grasp of a second language to win this job – but I’m sure it beats working in a shoe shop!

As you can see, there is a huge variety of seasonal jobs out there just waiting for you to apply!  You just need to get-up-and-go in the first place – or maybe you want to save your company some money over the quieter winter months and fancy a change of scenery.

Knowing that you are only away for 3 months – or some other set period of time – and knowing that you still have your old job to come back to could make the whole experience even more rewarding!

So, what are you waiting for?

posted by Travel Cat on Oct 20

Pimsleur Language Programs – “Speak Spanish with easy-to-use audio lessons (CD).

If you ever wanted to take a language course where you could complete it without too much stress and loads of different exercises – then this is the one for you!  There is no text book to refer to or different accents to contend with – just simple words and phrases repeated over and over.

I chose the Latin American Spanish series for the whole of Central and South America rather than just ‘true’ Spanish from Europe

The Course: 
Based on the idea that the use of memory is the best way to learn a language,  the creator of these courses sets about repetition of common words and phrases at a very basic level – bit not so repetitive that you get bored stiff!

It builds up on each lesson to the next and introduces every single new word slowly and patiently, rather than sticking a whole sentence on you.  And it doesn’t go over the same old points that every other basic language course goes over every time you take up a new language again.  You will not need to repeat your name to random other people – or tell them where you live!

The number of times on different courses where I have learnt to tell people where I am from, what type of house I live in and how to find the Town Hall drives me mad!  It’s so frustrating to go over the same things over and over – but this course took away that ‘here we go again’ thought – possibly as there is no accompanying book to thumb through first and see those conversations in advance!

There is a conversation in Spanish at the start of each CD between a male and female Spanish speaker which you may just be able to follow – however bit by bit you repeat and learn the words and phrases that they had used but in different forms rather than just working towards repeating their conversation.

It breaks up longer words into sounds rather then expecting you to learn to whole word from the off.  And although you do pick up all the words relatively easy, there are a lot of similar conversations on each CD: but saying that, it gives you great practice in speaking out loud!

The Results: 
If you haven’t tried a language before then this would be a perfect start – you would comfortably be able to complete the course and come away with a basic grasp of pronunciation and a few basic conversation points – like ‘I don’t speak Spanish’ and ‘I am from America, not England’ as well as a few getting around things like ‘Where is the bathroom’ or ‘Where is the Hotel So-And-So?’

And if you have a basic grasp of the above type of points – then it is still worth a go as you will get to use them in conversations with real language speakers, and like me, found an easier way to remember the difference between ‘I know’ and ‘I understand’ which I always said the wrong way around before.