Are you interested in the Spanish cinema and language?

It’s that time of year again; the annual London Spanish Film Festival is back for its sixth edition. The festival is a unique opportunity to see the most talked about Spanish cinema here in London, with the chance to meet award-winning directors.

The festival takes place from 24 September to 7 October at ciné lumière in South Kensington. The packed programme features 30 films and documentaries from all over Spain – including Catalunia and the Basque country. For more information, please visit the festival’s website www.londonspanishfilmfestival.com/

If you have a passion for the Spanish language, the festival is a good opportunity to practise your language skills! You might also want to consider one of IH London’s evening Spanish courses starting from 4 October www.ihlondon.com/learn-spanish-17/

As one of the festival’s sponsors, IH London is delighted to be screening three of the festival’s film for FREE at our school.

Here is the programme of our free viewings:

Mónica del Raval, by Frances Betriu
Monday 27 September, 7pm

Shorts Selection
Wednesday 29 September, 7pm

La mujer sin piano, by Javier Rebollo
Monday 4 October, 7pm

Book your FREE ticket in advance to avoid disappointment via our website www.ihlondon.com/learn-a-language/london-spanish-film-festival,216,ART.html#Book

Doors open at 6pm and films start at 7pm. You are welcome to look around the school or have a drink in our café beforehand.

We look forward to seeing you all here!

Exploring the World

Students in Felicity's Lower Intermediate A English Class reveal their top three worldwide destinations, with hints and tips on what to see and do....

England

London
London is a very interesting and exciting city. It's full of museums, one of them is Madame Tussauds. You must see it because it's really special and interesting. I'd recommend visiting Hyde Park, it's the biggest park in London.

It's really worth seeing.

Personally, I'd go to Portobello Road Market, but I wouldn't recommend it at the weekend because it's too crowded.

You should stay in London for about five days and after that you should go to Canterbury.

It's a small medieval city. It's famous for its important cathedral called Christ Church designed in a traditional English-Gothic style. You should definitely visit the cloister of the cathedral, it's fantastic! The church bell (Bel Harry) is really worth seeing. There is a castle in the city, but it's very far from the cathedral.

Spain

Valencia
Valencia is a city in the east of Spain, it's a wonderful city and it has fantastic weather. Valencia is a small city so I think that you can explore it in 3 days.

On the first day I recommend visiting the City of Arts and Science. These are the most important buildings in Valencia, they are on the Turia River, they are some of the most beautiful buildings in Valencia.

On the second day you must see the city centre it's got great shopping and you should visit "El Barrio del Carmen", it's the old part of Valencia and it's very interesting.

On the third day personally, I'd go to the beach if you want a relaxing day and at lunchtime you should eat "Paella Valenciana", it's a traditional dish from Valencia.

I wouldn't recommend going to "Cabanyal" it's famous for thieves, it's the most dangerous part of Valencia.

Asturias

Asturias is a magical place if you want to relax, it's in the north of Spain.

On the first day you should definitely visit the Art museum, it's really nice and it's got typical Asturian art and craftmanship.

After that you must eat "Fabada Asturiana" it's the most famous dish in Asturias.

On the second day I recommend going to the natural parcs in Asturias, the scenery is stunning, it's a magical place to go with your boyfriend/girlfriend.

Japan

Okinawa

Okinawa is located in the south end of JAPAN. There are beautiful beaches and blue sea.

Personally,I'd like to go to TYURAUMI Aquarium which has the largest water tank of the world.

There are three big sharks and many fish, more than 20,000. It is so beautiful and fantastic!You will definitely be impressed. I'd recommended to have your holiday in OKINAWA.

Osaka

OSAKA is a big city in japan. OSAKA has a lot of local specialities. A typical example is baked octopus,and a meat and vegetable pancake. I'm sure you will take to these local foods.

The people of OSAKA have a cheerful and witty personality. There are many Japanese comedians who are called OWARAIGWININ. You can see their performance on stage.

FREE Beginners' Language Taster Lessons!

Come and find out what it's like to learn a language over a glass of wine!

Join IH London on Monday 29 March from 6.30 - 8.30pm for a FREE taster class in Arabic , Chinese Mandarin , German or Spanish . Find out more about studying a language at IH London, take a tour of the school, and enjoy a free lesson by one of our brilliant teachers.

Registration is essential and there are only a few days left to do it!

Book your place at the taster evening

FREE Language Taster Lessons!

IH London is pleased to announce that it is hosting a FREE language taster evening! Whether you're already a student here or just thinking about studying, why not enjoy a glass of wine and some nibbles whilst trying a brand new language? On Monday 29 March from 6.30 - 8.30pm we'll have taster classes in Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, German and Spanish.

Tell your friends and come along!

This is a free event but places are limited so please register online to make sure you get a place. I look forward to meeting you!

Hello from Modern Languages

Hi bloggers!

I'm Claire the UK Sales and Marketing Manager at International House London. I've just started blogging so thought I'd write a 'hello' message.

There are lots of languages being spoken around the school and not just from our overseas students. You can learn 7 languages at International House London, which includes Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish, as well as train to become a teacher of French, German, Italian or Spanish.

I currently study Spanish in the evening and have proudly progressed my way through the levels for the last year (from Elementary Continuation to Intermediate Continuation). I enjoy learning Spanish as it's such a useful language and the classes are really fun and dynamic. There is also the Modern Languages Social Programme to take advantage of, keeping you up to date on the latest foreign and cultural events in and around London.

London is a great place to speak another language and there are always opportunities to practise. Did you know that there are 312 languages spoken in London? This makes it easy to pick up a language exchange partner. International House London has its very own Language Exchange Programme which is where I found my partner to practice espanol with.

We are coming to the end of term now for the current evening programmes, but I'm looking forward to taking the next course in April.

Introducing IH London

Hi everyone,

Welcome to International House London's first foray into the unfamiliar world of blogging. I'm Sarah, the Online Marketing Manager at IH London. We're a teacher training and language school in central London, a few minutes' walk from Covent Garden.

International House London has been around for about 50 years, so we're pretty well established. We teach English to students from around the world; train English language teachers and modern European language teachers; run evening classes in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic; run cultural training programmes; teach professional English to business people; and run foundation courses for overseas students wanting to go to a British university.

I'll be using this blog to talk more about International House London - what sort of courses we offer, what it's like to be a student here, our teaching methods, and of course the social scene!

I'll end with a reminder about our modern languages evening classes. The next and final intake for 2009 is next week. You can take a 'survival' course over 5 weeks - where we teach complete beginners the basics of a language. Or you can take an 'academic' course over 11 weeks, which covers vocab and grammar in more detail. Academic courses start at beginner level, and go up to advanced speakers. Classes are small - generally 5 or 6 in a group, so you get lots of personal attention.

At the moment we have 10% off any of our language courses starting next week. You just need to use the code MLAP4 when booking online through our website.

The nights are drawing in and it's becoming a bit too chilly to spend evenings in the park after work. The perfect time to start learning a new language, or to brush up on a language you learnt at school or university. I for one will be starting an elementary German course next week. Hope to see you there!