Spanishin Can Piferrer

Peter just got a job with a Dutch company that produces food items for no name brands. Peter is a marketing expert and was hired because he speaks some Spanish. The company is planning to expand substantially in South Europe during the next few years.  Peter gets in touch with Barnsdale Spain.

He has formed a team of twelve employees who will be in charge of the expansion in Spain. Four of them, including Peter, speak a reasonable amount of Spanish already.

The Barnsdale Business Language Training team in Spain suggests the following:

• Peter and his co-workers will stay at Can Piferrer for two weeks; a beautiful hobby farm, recently completely renovated and equipped with all amenities. 
  
• There will be two groups for the language courses in Business Spanish: one for the beginners and one for Peter and his three colleagues who also speak Spanish. For the beginners’ group, existing course material will be used, supplemented with authentic material that is related to the retail industry in Spain.
  
• Barnsdale Spain will find a company advisor who knows the Spanish retail industry, to come and speak to Peter and his team, one day. The language used for this will be partially Spanish (for the advanced people) and partially in English (for the whole group). 
  
• Barnsdale Spain will organize three visits to companies that are representative of the retail sector.
  
• Of course, there will also be time for several group-strengthening activities: walking, cycling, to the beach (15 km) and to Girona (12 km). The bravest among them will take a trip in the hot air balloon at Globus Costa Brava, which lifts off near Can Piferrer.
  

Gabiis going to live and work in Barcelona for three weeks

Gabi will soon be graduating from the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg. After a well-deserved vacation, she will start a new job at a large German travel bureau. Gabi loves Spain, the country she will be dealing with on daily basis in her new job. Her Spanish is pretty good, especially her reading and writing, but she still feels a little unsure when she has to converse in Spanish.

Gabi decides to call Barnsdale Business Language Training. In consultation with the Barnsdale team in Spain, she decides to come to Barcelona for three weeks:

• Gabi will first take the relatively economical, intensive two-week course in General Spanish, with a small group of advanced students a the Barndale office in Barcelona. 
  
• Right after that, she will have a private class for a week (every day from 9:00 to 1:30, with a half-hour break), for more detailed instruction. This means that together with the Spanish teacher at Barnsdale Barcelona, she will simulate situations that she will come across in her future work environment: interviews, meetings, phone calls, interpreting from German or English to Spanish and vice versa, writing emails, reports, etc.
  
• Gabi will live with a host family for three weeks. That means that she will be able to practise everything she is learning in the classes right away, whether she sits down for dinner with the host family, watches the Spanish News with the host family, or discusses the events of the day with the host and hostess.
  
• Of course, Gabi will also take the opportunity to explore Barcelona and its surroundings, with a view of her future activities in the tourist industry.

Chloe and Nigelare taking Goodwill Catalan in Girona

Chloe and Nigel own a wine business. During the last ten years they've been selling more and more Catalan wines, particularly rosé and cava (‘Catalonian champagne’). They found out about the courses in Goodwill Catalan at Barnsdale Business Language Training in Spain on the internet.

They decide to treat themselves to an enjoyable work vacation in one of Europe’s most beautiful cities: Girona. Chloe and Nigel book a room in a stylish four-star hotel in the centre of Girona, through Barnsdale Business Language Training.

•  Every morning they will get four hours of Goodwill Catalan at the Barnsdale office in Girona
  
  • Pronunciation: finally they will know how to pronounce all the names of the fantastic wines they sell, in Catalan.
    
  • A short course in Catalonian etiquette. In addition to the language aspects (for example, how to introduce yourself in Catalan), attention is given to Catalonian idiosyncrasies in social intercourse. 
    
  • They work with a range of texts and visual materials in elementary Catalan, about Catalonian history, society, customs, etc.
    
• They visit three Catalonian wine houses. Their Catalan teacher accompanies them to the first two. They try the third visit on their own. At first they are a bit nervous, of course, but it feels great once they've done it and realize they didn't do badly at all! And the beaming face of the Catalonian wine farmer is the most valuable thing of all.

Olivierdoes a language immersion in the Ebro delta

Olivier works for a multi-national firm in the pharmaceutical sector in Paris. He has to communicate in English every day: meetings, phone calls, reports, email, etc. He doesn’t do badly, but his English could be better. On the internet he read about the immersion training in Business English at Barnsdale Business Language Training. He still has two weeks of vacation time and decides to get in touch with Barnsdale Spain. The team at Barnsdale Business Language Training in Spain advises him to take the immersion training in Business English in Tarragona.

• Olivier will stay at Paul and Gill’s guest house for twelve days.
  
• In the mornings he gets a lesson in Business English from Delia. After class he has lunch with his teacher.
  
• After lunch, Olivier relaxes in the sun at the beach of l’Ampolla for an hour, right behind Delia’s language school.
  
• In the afternoons, Olivier does the homework that Delia has assigned to him. At the end of the afternoon he takes a walk through the almond and olive groves around Paul and Gill’s house. He has dinner with them, while enjoying a nice glass of Spanish wine and a good conversation in English.
  
• After twelve days Olivier returns to Paris. He has had a wonderful vacation and his English has greatly improved.