En mis 4 semanas aquí en España, en El Puerto de Santa Maria, me quedé con una familia de acogida muy amigable que me recibió muy bien.
Todos los días de la semana por las tardes tenía clases de español con María José, que me ayudaba mucho, especialmente a hablar. Siempre era muy divertido.
Los fines de semana hice viajes culturales con mi familia de acogida a Sevilla y a Cádiz y también pude disfrutar de la playa.
Por la mañana tenía mi Work-Experience, en el que escribía blogs, hacía fotos de grupos, las clasificaba y las subía y los viernes por la tarde ayudaba en las clases de inglés de los niños pequeños. También pinté frascos para colocarlos en las clases como portaplumas. Fue muy interesante.
Aprendí muchos buenos hábitos para trabajar y ser más independiente, incluso escribi un mission statement y usaba “power statements” para enfocarme a desarrollar profesionalmente en las cosas que más me hacia falta. Tres “power statements” que voy a llevar conmigo para seguir haciendo en mi vida después de Spark son:
“I wont let doubt stop me”.
“I will set my self goals and reflect on them”.
“I will always find at least one positive thing in every situation“.
In the first days, when you have not quite started your Spanish Classes at Spark, communicating can be a little hard. During my Work- and Study- Experience, I have gathered 15 amazing phrases to help you out in basic conversations with your host family.
15 most Helpful Phrases:
| En español | En inglés |
| ¡Buenos días/tardes/noches! | Good morning/evening/night! |
| ¿Cómo estás? ¿Qué tal? | How are you? |
| Estoy bien ¡Gracias! | I am fine, thanks! |
| ¡Perdone! / Disculpe! | Excuse me! |
| ¡Lo siento! | I’m sorry. |
| Hace mucho calor. | It is very warm. |
| ¡De nada! | You’re welcome! |
| ¡Puede repetirlo! | Can you repeat that? |
| No sé | I don’t know |
| ¿Entiende? | Do you understand? |
| No entiendo | I don’t understand |
| ¿Qué has hecho hoy? ¿Qué hiciste hoy? | What did you do today? |
| Vale / bien | Okay/Fine |
| Tengo hambre | I am hungry |
| ¡Hasta luego! | See you later! |
With these sentences in mind you will surely have an easier beginning for your little adventure in Spain!
What I am going to achieve during my time at Spark:
In my four weeks doing the work and study programme , learning work skills and practising Spanish language, I will become confident in speaking Spanish and having accomplished a good job.
I will achieve my goal to improve my Spanish every day, even if it takes me out of my comfort zone, by speaking to my host family daily and talking to people I might not know, no matter if it will only be the cashier. I will maintain regular use of Spanish and English as those will help me in my future life.
By doing my tasks organised and with motivation I want to prepare myself for future jobs and help Spark in terms of decoration and eg. helping with classes through my English.
Through organising and planning these tasks mostly by myself, I will learn to become independent and overall more organised.
When returning home I will be proud of the things I’ve accomplished, being a more confident, organised and well prepared person as well as being overall more positive and motivated.
Luise Köhler
10 Power Statements I will use on this process are:
| 1. I will ask and learn instead of saying “can’t” 2. I will be responsible for my own destiny 3. I won’t fear failure, as through failure I will learn 4. I will set myself goals and reflect on them continuosly 5. I will establish and stick to good working habits 6. I will do my responsibilities with motivation 7. I will spend my time wisely 8. I won’t put myself into any category 9. I will find positivity in every situation 10.I will always push myself to be better |
Mi experiencia en Spark – Kajsa Lenz
En mis tres semanas aquí en el Puerto de Santa María, me quedé con una famila de acogida. Allí, me dí cuenta que la gente española es la más amable, pero con mucha energía. La madre era tan cariñosa y la hija también, que era muy atenta. Me encantó mi estancia con esa familia.
Además, todos los días tuve algunas clases de español con Esther, dónde aprendí un montón de español. Al principio, solo podía hablar en español con pocito fluidez, sin embargo ahora, despues de las clases, me siento mucho más seguro de hablar en español. (Gracias Esther!!). Lo practicé durante mi work experience también, por ejemplo comprar nueva pintura, que mejoró mucho mi español.
Casi todos los días, despues de las clases habían actividades culturales que los disfruté mucho. Fuimos a Ronda, San Lúcar y otras ciudades preciosas en Andalucía. Eso despertó mi conciencia cultural y era lo más divertido.
dav
Finalmente, despues de las clases normalmente hice mi work experience, dónde pinté dos paredes y también reparé algunas mesas que eran averiadas anteriormente. Eso mejoró mi independencia y por lo tanto, ahora soy mucho más autónoma ya que tuve que encontrar soluciones para algunos problemas, como la condición de la pared.
Mi primer pintura es una corazón que contiene todas las cosas típicas de España. La segunda pintura es una puesta del sol con una ciudad por la noche, en la azotea.
vida nocturna
la vida española 
antes de pintar 
Hay tres power statements que me ayudaron mucho y que voy a usar en mi futuro despues de spark también:
- I won’t fear failure as without failing I won’t learn.
- I will set goals and reflect on them continuously.
- I will be accountable for my own destiny.
Hola, me llamo Emma y soy de Munich. Desde el 20 de Mayo hasta el 7 de Junio hice unas prácticas con clases de español incluidas en Spark, una academia de idiomas situada en El Puerto de Santa Maria. Tomé la decisión de venir aquí para mejorar me español y ganar algo de experiencia laboral.
Mi rutina consistía en: Por las mañanas me dedicaba al diseño del interior de la escuela, como por ejemplo la decoración de las habitaciones, etc. A continuación, asistía a mis clases de español por una hora y media. Por la tarde lo pasaba con mi familia de acogida, hablando español con ellos.
En la primera semana tuve que escribir tres “por qué” estoy aquí y también escribir sobre mis propósitos, intenciones y objetivos para esas tres semanas.
Durante la segunda semana, comencé a printer las paredes de la habitación que previamente habia diseñado. También pinté algunas de las aulas donde se impartem las clases.
Por último, en la tercera semana terminé de decorar las habitaciones y pinté las partes que estaban estropeadas.
En general aprendí como manejar diferentes situaciones y también mejoré me español.
Emma Hohberg
During my work and study internship at Spark Languages, I will become confident and competent in learning and using Spanish by making the most of the culture and people that I am surrounded by.
I will also develop a can do attitude towards any tasks that I am expected to carry out, in order to improve my independence skills and my value as an employee and colleague.
I will approach my work with a positive outlook in order to do the best I can especially with any challenges I face.
I will push myself to improve my communication skills in order to help the rest of the Spark team in whatever way I can.
I will make myself aware of my mistakes and use them in a constructive way so that I can learn and progress.
Aoife McHugh
Hola, today I will tell you a few reasons why staying with a Spanish Host family is a good decision!
First of all, during your time in Spain, you’re a part of this family so you will definitely notice the different way of living and get to know the culture in a much more personal way!
“What are the benefits of living with a Host family?”
- You’re never alone! You always have somebody around you and maybe you get a Host sister or Host brother at your age who would love to do something with you!
- Your Host family will show you many places in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Cadiz or Sevilla just as mine did – and it was wonderful!
- You always have the opportunity of practising your spanish skills – and not only that – you will learn words and phrases which are only known in Spain
- Just as I said you will get to know the Spanish way of living for example eating habits! Spanish people eat a little bit late but the Spanish cuisine will make you always Hungry – Tapas, Paella.. ¿Tienes hambre?
….Last but not least..
5. You will have a really close relationship with your host family that will hopefully stay for years – and let’s be honest – it’s really nice to know someone or a family from an other Country!
I hope you have enjoyed reading my Blog entry and hopefully you will love your host family just as I do!
During my three-weeks Work and Study Programme at Spark, I want to work on being more independent regarding to work and learning Spanish.
My Mission statement is about how I will accomplish my goals during this weeks.
I will take every task that I get serious and try my best, even if something doesn’t work how it should – I will ask my colleagues and learn from my mistakes.
I will be open to improve my Spanish skills by speaking with my staff and other Spanish speaking people without being scared – if I do not try, I will never learn.
I would like to be open and friendly with everybody I meet here during my time in Spark- I will take my chance to introduce myself and hopefully make new friendships.
I chose this opportunity to get a view of a different culture, a different workplace and learn from this experience as much as I can.
Finally, I want to be able speaking Spanish properly, being less bashful regarding to work/class and will hope to improve my self confidence.
I know that if I achieve all that I have listed above , then I will really enjoy my time here in Spain.
Stephanie Stojadinovic
Hello everybody!
During my three-week work and study Spanish experience in Spain, I didn’t just want to get some work experience but also wanted to combine that with getting to know the Spanish culture. Therefore, I decided to stay with a host family, which turned out to be a wonderful decision!
Living with a Spanish family has lots of advantages, for example always having someone around you, who you could spend time with. When I arrived, I didn’t know anybody, so I was really glad to have such a nice host family and especially, having a host sister, who is my age. So instead of sitting at home all day on my first day, we went to the beach and by doing that, I also got familiar with El Puerto de Santa María.
Another great thing is experiencing real “Spanish” life for the three weeks I’m here. The food, the routines and the complete lifestyle are totally different to what I was used to, back home. Personally, I don’t think there’s a better way of experiencing and getting to know a foreign culture. Also, due to my host family being locals, they show me around and I get to see lots of places without being worried about getting lost or missing out some nice places!
The probably best thing about living with a Spanish family is that it’s an easy way of improving your Spanish, because you are speaking and hearing it basically all the time, you are with them! Besides that, you’re also picking up phrases without really learning the vocabulary, like you would in school.
These points are basically the first that came to my mind, when thinking about the great advantages you have, whilst staying with a spanish family!
Hope this post inspired you to think about going abroad!
Mark Boyle: MISSION STATEMENT on my work and study programme in Spain
During these first few initial days at Spark I have really began to consciously think about what I would like to get out of this six month work placement, and what goals I need to set in order to achieve this. I have set several professional and personal goals which I feel will benefit both me and spark languages as they will enable me to become a more effective and proficient worker and person. Just one of my goals is that I will improve my level of competence in Spanish. This will not only improve my ability to talk to Spanish-speaking customers but it will also benefit me personally as it will give me the ability to talk and interact with some local Spanish speakers.
While working here I will also create good work habits which will allow me to become an adept worker in almost any work environment. Although I may face some challenges on this placement I will work through those challenges with an optimistic attitude and will work with passion and excitement. While I still may make mistakes I will improve the quality of my work by learning from any mistakes which I may have made and ensuring not to repeat them. I will also make sure that I am accountable for any of my actions rather than blaming any others for my own mistakes I will take accountability for anything that I may have done wrong. I also need to always ask and learn if I face problems which I cannot solve rather than saying I can’t do it.
I will also value the skills and wisdom of my other colleagues that I am working with and I will learn as much from them as I can. If I can use these effective habits I feel I will certainly have a very successful placement. By the end of this placement I will be happy if I know that I have genuinely made an effort at everything I have done, be it work or personal goals. It is very important to me that I learn as much as I can while on this placement and that I am able to contribute to Spark in a positive way.
Mark Boyle.
SparkSpanish con Loreena – Todas mis experiencias en Spark
Este vídeo es contiene todos los vídeos de mi vlog “SparkSpanish con Loreena” y otros vídeos divertidos. Muestro todas mis experiencias de tres semanas en Spark y con mi familia española. He disfrutado mi tiempo aquí que puedes ver en este vídeo también. Son tres semanas inolvidables para mí.
Loreena Rech
Hola, me llamo Loreena Rech, tengo 17 años y soy de Alemania.Participé en el work and Study programme aquí en Spark, estudiando el español y haciendo vídeos para apoyar Spark. Ahora quiero mostrar que hacía en detalle durante mis prácticas.
De las 10 hasta las 2 de la mañana tenía clases de español con mi profesora fantástica, Gema. Con mis compañeros de clase mejoraba mi español enormemente y tenía mucha alegría.
Después de un recreo de aproximadamente una hora comenzaba con mi trabajo. Mi primera tarea fue un vídeo blog cada día. Contaba mis experiencias y mostraba todo que aprendí. Mis vivencias eran variadas y siempre divertidas.
además hice un vídeo del edificio de Spark. es como un paseo por las diferentes partes de SparkSpanish. Así estudiantes futuros pueden ver lo que ofrece el establecimiento Spark.
Al fin de mis tres semanas aquí hice un vídeo con todas mis experiencias y vivencias en Spark. Espero que mis vídeos ayuden a Spark a encontrar nuevos estudiantes que disfruten su tiempo aquí como yo.
Mi primer día en Spark tuvimos las bebidas de bienvenida que estaban muy buenas. Un jueves participé en una clase de flamenco que fue también parte del programa cultural de Spark. A mí me gustaba mucho.
He aprendido muchísimo durante mis tres semanas en Spark. No solo he mejorado mi español sino también he aprendido a entenderme yo misma mejor. Puedo decir que he conseguido mi objetivo y que estoy orgullosa de mi trabajo y mi desarrollo.
Quiero agradecer a mi profesora, mi jefe y mis compañeros de clase por el tiempo fantástico aquí y nunca voy a olvidar esta experiencia.
Loreena Rech
