Thursday, January 27, 2011
Barcelona beaches
In our guide to Barcelona we've just finished a section about the beaches in barcelona. There is a map which indicates the location of all the beaches and we have reviews of each beach as well as some general information about the beaches in general.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Barcelona Guide
Visting Barcelona, Spain? We are currently working on a new guide to Barcelona: The Barcelona Guide .
Its designed for visitors to the city but has useful information if you are thinking about coming to Barcelona for a longer period. The guide is written by long-term residents of Barcelona and looks at all the tourist sights such as La Pedrera and the Sagrada Familia, has information on safety and crime in Barcelona, how to get to and from Barcelona airport; and has a run-down on the different areas of Barcelona: the Barrio Gotico, Eixample, Raval, Born etc.
Its designed for visitors to the city but has useful information if you are thinking about coming to Barcelona for a longer period. The guide is written by long-term residents of Barcelona and looks at all the tourist sights such as La Pedrera and the Sagrada Familia, has information on safety and crime in Barcelona, how to get to and from Barcelona airport; and has a run-down on the different areas of Barcelona: the Barrio Gotico, Eixample, Raval, Born etc.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Barcelona guide 2010
Ok, this blog has been somewhat of a disaster so far, but the plan for 2010 is to start moving again and to turn the blog into a useful source of up-to-date information on hotels in barcelona and other things of interest to business and leisure visitors. In my next post I'll be looking at a couple of the new luxury hotels Barcelona has to offer.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
I’ve spent much of the last week working on the latest reincarnation of Perceptible.org. Having started life as a web for showing the work of artists in Barcelona it’s now been turned into a guide to hotels in Barcelona, as well as offering general tourist information. The idea is to have reviews of the main luxury hotels in Barcelona, with particular emphasis on their location (central, in the sticks, near Barcelona conference centres etc) and the type of guest they’ll suit (trendy, classic, cool etc) . So far we’ve just got basic info on the five star hotels in Barcelona but the site should grow over the next few months. Watch this space.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
TEFL in Spain. Survival Tips
Working as a TEFL teacher in Spain can be a pretty arduous experience so it’s best to be prepared. Many teachers choose to do individual English classes (clases particulares) with private students as these seem a nice way of avoiding nasty language schools and their dubious treatment of staff.
However, as cosy and relaxed as private classes are, beware there are certain types of students that you’re better off avoiding:
The “I need flexibility” student.
Many English students will come to you because they just can’t fit their oh-so-busy lives around the rigid timetables that language schools offer. This is a pity, both for them and for you, because if they are not able to attend an academia regularly they certainly won’t be too reliable with their private classes either. Quickly developing a detector for this type of student will save you, the TEFL teacher, time and money.
The “pass the buck” student.
As a TEFL teacher your job is to help the student learn, but clearly it takes two to tango and at the end of the day the lion’s share of the work of learning English must be done by the student (apologies for the idiom frenzy in this last sentence). Unfortunately some students do private classes as an alternative to other forms of study and expect to learn English by simply turning up to class a couple of times a week. Naturally, if after 6 months they are not fluent, it’s the fault of the teacher.
If you see that your students aren’t doing any studying/reading/film-watching etc outside classes, have a quiet word, and direct them to some specific resource. Use this resource as the basis for future classes. If they still aren’t doing anything, read them the riot act and consider your options. Here is also a great opportunity to use the popular “I’m not doing this for my benefit” line.
Working as a TEFL teacher in Spain can be a pretty arduous experience so it’s best to be prepared. Many teachers choose to do individual English classes (clases particulares) with private students as these seem a nice way of avoiding nasty language schools and their dubious treatment of staff.
However, as cosy and relaxed as private classes are, beware there are certain types of students that you’re better off avoiding:
The “I need flexibility” student.
Many English students will come to you because they just can’t fit their oh-so-busy lives around the rigid timetables that language schools offer. This is a pity, both for them and for you, because if they are not able to attend an academia regularly they certainly won’t be too reliable with their private classes either. Quickly developing a detector for this type of student will save you, the TEFL teacher, time and money.
The “pass the buck” student.
As a TEFL teacher your job is to help the student learn, but clearly it takes two to tango and at the end of the day the lion’s share of the work of learning English must be done by the student (apologies for the idiom frenzy in this last sentence). Unfortunately some students do private classes as an alternative to other forms of study and expect to learn English by simply turning up to class a couple of times a week. Naturally, if after 6 months they are not fluent, it’s the fault of the teacher.
If you see that your students aren’t doing any studying/reading/film-watching etc outside classes, have a quiet word, and direct them to some specific resource. Use this resource as the basis for future classes. If they still aren’t doing anything, read them the riot act and consider your options. Here is also a great opportunity to use the popular “I’m not doing this for my benefit” line.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Barcelona Guide
Barcelona, such a beautiful place!
This is the first post in a blog that probably no one will read. But eh! As Kevin Costner once said: "If you build it, they will come". So, I shall at least persevere until tiredness and boredom get the better of me.
The aim is quite simple..to talk rot about Barcelona, TEFL, English teaching, web design and Spain in general, in a blatant attempt to promote my own web sites: among which you'll find a map and guide to Barcelona, a site for learning English, a site for teachers of English in Barcelona and my own web design and marketing site.
But more on this at a future date.
This is the first post in a blog that probably no one will read. But eh! As Kevin Costner once said: "If you build it, they will come". So, I shall at least persevere until tiredness and boredom get the better of me.
The aim is quite simple..to talk rot about Barcelona, TEFL, English teaching, web design and Spain in general, in a blatant attempt to promote my own web sites: among which you'll find a map and guide to Barcelona, a site for learning English, a site for teachers of English in Barcelona and my own web design and marketing site.
But more on this at a future date.
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