Teguise Ayuntamiento are starting a new four month Spanish course for foreigners living in Lanzarote.

The classes will start on the 1st February at the former Escuela de Hostelería on Calle Rafael Alberti in Tahíche, students will be divided into small groups of basic and intermediate levels. These courses includes three to four hours per week over four months until 28th May 2012.

The project is aimed primarily at adults to help them integrate into the local community. Beginners will learn the basics with an emphasis on local culture, where as intermediates will have more practical help such as writing a CV, describing health issues to a doctor, paperwork at the council etc.

Basic classes are  read more »

‘What do we need?’, said Robin as we collected the shopping bags.

‘If we’re going to the Hiperdino, we need Bimbo, Skip and Tulipan’, I replied. It’s amazing how quickly we’ve absorbed Spanish brand names into our lives. The Hiperdino is a chain of supermarkets. Bimbo is a brand of bread, Skip is a washing powder and Tulipan (Spanish for tulip) is a low fat spread.

There are some useful words and amusing pronunciations. The Spanish pronounce the chocolate spread Nutella as  read more »

According to the press, the siesta is dying out in Spain as businesses have to stay open for as long as possible to try and make money. There are even reports that the tradition in many hot European countries to close down for the whole of August may be finishing too. It appears the global recession is really making people question traditional ways of living and doing business.

In a busy tourist resort like Playa Blanca, many shops stay open all day and every day. I love coming back from a restaurant or night out and being able to call into a supermarket to do some shopping at 22.00 or even  read more »

How many times have you looked to translate a word that you’ve heard in conversation or read in Lanzarote and not found it in your dictionary or translator?

I know I have lots of times! I’ve found  read more »

Corpus Christi, the Catholic celebration of the Eucharist, is marked in Lanzarote by the creation of intricate and brightly coloured alfombras de sal or salt carpets.

Sea salt dyed in bright colours is used in huge quantities to make the carpets. The carpets depict events or organisations or simply local views. They are laid in the plazas near to the church and are walked over, and ultimately destroyed, by the Sunday Corpus Christi procession.

In Teguise, the old capital of Lanzarote, best known for its Sunday market, they made the carpets yesterday,  read more »

Many Lanzarote residents know of Janet Harper as someone who has helped them to grasp the Spanish language in Lanzarote.

Janet offers private lessons in the comfort of your own home, so that you can learn at a time to suit you, comfortably and at your own pace. Also,  read more »

Batucada is the sound of carnival in Lanzarote, you just can’t help but move your feet to the beat!

The rhythm of batucada originates from the Brazilian sound of samba. A large group is required to play the wide variety of percussion instruments which include some or all of the following:

Apito – whistle, usually played by the leader to instruct the group  read more »

The third Intercambio group for Lanzarote will start from this Wednesday 2nd March 2011 and the following first Wednesday each month after. 

Intercambio is proving a really popular way for people in Lanzarote to practice their language skills whilst making new friends. The aim of the session is to find a native speaker in the language that you are learning, spend 30 minutes talking in that language and then swap for 30 minutes of the other language so that both sides get an equal time of practice. There are lots of Spanish who would like to improve their English as well as Brits wanting to improve their Spanish.

We’ve been along to some of these sessions and found them good fun as well as being practical, you get to know some of the local colloquialisms and a gentle correction if you’re not saying something quite right. You don’t have to live here, if you’re just visiting but would like to join in please do!

There is no charge for Intercambio  read more »