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Learning a second language is not just about memorizing vocabulary and grammar rules; it's about immersing yourself in a new world and embracing a different culture. The journey to fluency can be challenging but definitely incredibly rewarding. Here are several strategies that have helped me learn Spanish faster and more efficiently.
1. Immerse Yourself in the Language Through Music and Films
After a week here having adjusted to the island and gotten settled in with my family, my second class in the Galapagos begun. I was extremely excited since I knew we would get to go scuba diving in this class and back to Kicker Rock! After exploring the town, my friends and I had also discovered a surf shop that we were planning on taking lessons at during our time there. All of us were starting to get comfortable with the dynamics of the island and starting to feel like apart of our new families but we still had a lot to learn.
This post is a little late for a welcome to the islands post but I’ve been having too much fun and been too busy exploring everything San Cristobal has to offer. Luckily my track, the marine ecology track, got to come to Galapagos a week earlier than all the other tracks due to the research component of our class. We arrived at the SCY airport on a Sunday and headed to our hotel for a week before we got to meet our families the next Sunday.
Ángela has more than 20 years of experience with study abroad programs and Chilean education system. She has designed and implemented a multitude of curricula, syllabi and teaching materials for the Santiago Center and Chilean Universities. She holds a B.A. in Public Administration from the Universidad de Chile, a Master’s in Public Management, Government and Public Policy and completed the postgraduate program in Higher Education and Methodologies, at Universidad de Talca. Ángela has also worked as Public Policy Instructor at Universidad de Chile and currently she is a Consultant at the Department of Political Science at Universidad de Talca.
Ángela has championed advising students in getting the right balance in their academic load. Thanks to her contacts in diverse fields, IES Abroad Santiago has over 100 organizations from public, private and non-profit fields in partnership with our Internship and Service-Learning Programs.
Federico Della Bella works as Strategy and Marketing Advisor and Lecturer, with a specific focus of application of advanced analytics and machine learning to marketing and customer experience. He is a Strategy and Marketing Contract Lecturer and/or Faculty Member in several universities, business schools, and academies (Politecnico di Milano, MIP, the Business School of Politecnico di Milano, PoliDesign, and IES Abroad). Partner at P4IDigital360, Practice Leader of Data Driven Customer Experience Practice. He is also the Cofounder of an innovative startup in digital retail. Federico graduated in Telecommunications Engineering at Politecnico di Milano where he earned an MBA at MIP. (School of Management Master’ Degree).
Laura is a highly accomplished teacher with an undergraduate degree from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and two master’s degrees, one in Didactics of Language and Literature from the University of Barcelona and another in Education and New Technologies from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.
Since 2004, she has been a key member of our Barcelona Center community, teaching a variety of courses from Language to Cinema with her impactful style. Beyond teaching, Laura fosters a supportive learning community and provides faculty training in new technologies, enhancing IES Abroad Barcelona’s overall learning experience.
Semana Santa was the trip I was most looking forward to during my study abroad experience; however we definitely bit off more than we could chew. Our trip consisted of Italy starting at the top and ending at the bottom. We were going to hit Milan, Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, and Sorrento in seven days. You heard me right, eight cities in seven days. So let's dive into this mess of a trip as well as dos and don'ts about Italy.
Dos
