Mission:
SWI aims to provide high quality and effective Spanish language instruction and a deeper understanding of the Colombian culture, through cross-cultural education, personalized attention and dynamic teaching methods in a professional and friendly environment.
Objectives:
To provide High quality programmes in order to offer an optimum preparation for people interested in learning Spanish as a second language.
To facilitate a greater understanding among people of diverse cultural backgrounds and reveal the richness of South American culture, mainly Colombian.
To support continuous professional development of our teaching and administrative staff.
To contribute to the Colombian community and maintain a strong «social conscience» by providing students with the opportunity to take up voluntary jobs in several areas.
Give students the communication tools according their needs, in order to develop interpretative (reading and listening) and expressive (writing and talking) abilities. This way they can make an appropriate use of the language in communication situations in daily life.
METHODOLOGY:
Our academic program is governed by the guidelines of Plan Curricular del Instituto Cervantes and the recommendations and suggestions from the European Reference Frame, which guide us to have as methodological support The Communicative Approach of the Language and The Communicative Approach By Means of Tasks.
Characteristics that are fulfilled by our manual NUEVO VEN, the textbook used in our institution, created by EDELSA Grupo Didascalia, S.A. and reviewed by El Centro de Estudios Hispánicos y el Departamento de Lenguas Aplicadas Antonio Nebrija University which guarantees that fulfills the criteria of Learning Foreign Languages generally and of Español Lengua Extrangera (E.L.E.) with the purpose of guaranteeing the maximum students adaptability, being based on the following methodological aspects:
– Education centered in the significative use of the language with a purpose, an intention and in a certain context.
– Linguistic samples most authentic possible offering the standard Spanish of Spain and America.
– Inductive learning with the intention of stimulate the student to participates in active form in the learning process, favoring who discovers phenomena of the language and guiding him/her in the generation of rules on his operation
LEVELS
– Basic: At the end of this level the students will be able to understand and to produce opinions about their needs, social life and feelings. Also they will understand basic information of mass media and will be able to write short notes and descriptions.
– Intermediate: At the end of this level the students will be in the capacity to understand simple conversations, take information from mass media, and recognize personal attitudes and the different form or moods from the people by telephone. Also they will be able to write short letters, information and understand the information of simple texts and real documents
– Advanced: At the end of this level the students will be in capacity to understand detailed information in a conversation, maintain and develop their own ideas. Their speech will be logical but with some errors, also they will understand written information detailed, literary texts. In addition they will be able to write formal and informal letters, and reports.
DURATION
The educational load and the number of hours anticipated average to acquire the targets of each level is as follows:
– Average number of hours by level … 80 lessons (50 minutes each)
Having as guide the number of hours in a course from Instituto Cervantes as reference.
TYPE OF COURSES
– Personal classes (1 TO 1) or in group, developed in the institute at the time that suits them best.
– Intensive immersion courses in Spanish for 20 or 30 hours a week, emphasizing the punctual needs of students, with a duration of one, two weeks or more. These courses can be made into tourist sites as Villa de LeÃva, PaÃpa, Zipaquirá, Cartagena or in the institute
ASSESTMENT
Students will be evaluated in an initial interview to determine their Spanish level. Through the course the teacher will make periodic assessments to identify strengths and weaknesses, also will be a final test at the end of each level which their skills will be measured in: reading comprehension, writing, listening comprehension, grammar, vocabulary and oral expression.
Social Program:
SWI provides an extensive programme of leisure and cultural activities throughout the year. Activities are many and varied and, while some are free, a small additional payment is required for certain events.
SWI organizes a range of afternoon and evening activities accompanied by staff members. Activities include: pub nights, video evenings and parties, visits to theatres, concerts, restaurants, as well as other events such as festivals, sporting events and dance clubs. These activities encourage students to socialize in Spanish. Our students can become members of SWI meeteing Point which is a club where activities are organized with locals, so at SWI you will have a first hand experience of our culture, and a great opportunity to make friends and practice Spanish in a real context.
Accommodation;
The accommodation service is an essential component of our students stay with us. We carefully select host families. They all meet high quality standards established by national accreditation bodies. As an alternative to staying with a host family, we offer residential accommodation with students from around the world in private flats or hostals.
Before arriving in Bogotá, each student receives a short description of the type of accommodation. If it is a host family it includes details of the various interests of the family members and information about the house and its location. We suggest that students complete all the accommodation arrangements several weeks before arriving.
Host Families
The students have the opportunity to live with Colombian host families, where they can not only practice the Spanish language in a real context but will also have the chance to taste the Colombian culture. Students wil be provide with two meals per day ( breakfast and dinner).
Meal times with the host family are valuable opportunities for students Spanish. Different homestay meal arrangements are available. The School’s standards for student meals are covered in our contract with landlords. The most frequently-requested meal arrangement is Half Board, which means breakfast and dinner at the homestay every day. Some students choose Breakfast Only or. Self-Catering, which means students must purchase and prepare their meals.
Independent Accommodation
SWI can place students where there is no a Colombian family, and students live alone or with other students and share common amenities. This type of self-catering accommodation involves sharing a house and amenities without the landlord living on the premises. Some of the rooms are single but there is the possibility to share a room with a number of other independent students.