We offer beginner and advanced courses as well as theme seminars dealing with certain topics as mentioned below. All our teachers are skilled linguists and have been teaching Spanish as a foreign language for many years. Some of them teach as well at the university of Havana.

We generally offer individual lessons, which is the most effective way to learn a lot in little time. You will have to do a little test in order to find out your level and then your lessons will be adapted to your personal level.

Lessons generally take part Mondays to Fridays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (except recognised subsidised holidays, these courses take part from 9 a.m. to 5:20 p.m.)

a) Basic course
All levels. Beginning at any time (preferably on a Monday)
Minimum: 20 lesson hours (1 lesson hour is 45 minutes.) maximum: unlimited
Extension weeks can also be booked in the office of the tour operator avenTOURa in Havana

Exceptionally, we can also offer less lessons per week. Please tell us if you are interested in it.

The basic course we also offer in Santiago de Cuba!                                                                     Please send us an e-mail for further details.

b) Theme seminar
In the theme seminar the students learn about Cuban literature, history, Cuban culture, etc. We also offer courses as itemised Spanish, grammar courses and more. Courses can be booked at 20 or more lesson hours a week.
Theme seminars can be combined individually.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF COURSES

Basic course (beginner & advanced level)
Theme seminar (advanced level)
recognised subsidised holidays

TEXT BOOKS

The teachers use the following text books: CAMINOS and VEN, as these books are one of the best teaching tools on the market. Due to the special situation in Cuba we recommend to bring your own text book if you prefer another teaching tool.

THEME SEMINAR: “avanzado” or “superior”

Itemised Spanish (4 lesson hours)
This seminar offers you a special itemised vocabulary according to your wishes and needs. (for example commercial Spanish). The particularities in the Cuban Spanish are also taught. We work with commercial and technical texts.

The Subjunctive (12 lesson hours)
One of the biggest problems in learning the Spanish language is the Subjunctive. This course focuses on the verbal difference between the Indicative and the Subjunctive.

Cuban History (20 lesson hours)
The students learn about Cuban history step by step. Columbus’ discovery, the colonisation through to the Spanish crown, the first independence battles at the end of the 19 century and the discussion of the independence of Cuba and the “neo-colonial” republic, the different steps of the socialism after the successful revolution and last but not least the Cuba of Today.

Cuban Literature (20 lesson hours)
Cuban literature before and after the revolution in novels, essays, poetry and in the theatre. Alejo Carpentier, Eliseo Diego, Dulce María Loynaz, Nicolás Guillén and Onelio Jorge Cardoso.

Course as a preparation for the exam of the D.E.L.E. Cervantes Institute.          (75 lesson hours)
For the internationally recognised exam of the Spanish Cervantes Institute. Students can choose between the preparation for the level “básico” or the level “superior”.

El habla popular en Cuba (10 lesson hours)
Focusing on the colloquial language in Cuba (and the peculiarity in the phonetics) and the difference to other Spanish-speaking countries. The colloquial language of every day life in Cuba will be taught as well.

RECOGNISED SUBSIDISED HOLIDAYS

Beginner Course (80 lesson hours)
Contents: progression of the text book VEN 1, the colloquial language of every day life in Cuba, Cuban music, lyrics of a song and different activities. We invite Cuban women who will tell us about their life. There will also be some outdoor activities in old Havana where the students fill in a questionaire. At the end of the course we watch a Cuban film and discuss it.

Advanced Course (80 lesson hours)
This course will be held as a seminar and different subjects will be discussed. The students learn about the peculiarities in Cuban Spanish, the phonetics, and the typical idioms. They get to know about Cuba’s history, literature and the present situation in Cuba. Havana offers a great deal regarding cultural activities which we will involve in the course in order to practice what we have learned.