Cactus Language Blog

Gap Year Survival: Learn the Lingo!

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Cactus TEFL, Language Courses New York, Language Courses UK, Learning a language

Why learning some of a language can make the world of difference on your gap year

Flights, travel insurance, mosquito net, rehydration salts…heading off on a gap year requires a degree of planning and foresight to keep you safe, happy and healthy during your trip. Yet learning the language is often last on the list, if at all, and it is this that can get you out of many a sticky situation to say nothing of enhancing your general experience and enabling you get ‘under the skin’ of a place.

Read the full article

Tags:career break, evening language course, gap year, language course abroad

10 Good Reasons to TEFL

Posted by Sarah under Cactus TEFL, English, Learning a language

Laura Harrison, Cactus TEFL Advisor, gives us the expert opinion…

1. Travel

TEFL gives you a perfect way to see the world and fund your travel. Some people start teaching in one place, fall in love with it, and stay for a long time. Others however prefer to change location every year, and by so doing literally work their way around the world.

Read the full article

Tags:Cactus TEFL, EFL, English Language Awareness, teaching English, tefl, TEFL course, TESOL

Learn French & Eat Chocolate…Can It Be True?

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, French, Learning a language

Anyone who’s been putting off that French course now has the perfect reason to book un petit séjour in Paris this autumn. No need to tell your friends back home the minor detail that it may coincide with Salon du Chocolat, 5 days of pure chocolate heaven - no, they can just be impressed with your desire for self-improvement and hopefully not notice your fuller waistline.

Read the full article

Tags:French, French courses, November, October, Paris, Salon du Chocolat

Get Ready for Oktoberfest in Munich!

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, German, Learning a language

Ther perfect excuse to learn German and drink beer…

It may come as a surprise that the world’s biggest beer festival, Munich’s Oktoberfest, was born out of celebration for a royal wedding back in the early 19th century. Yet it was the drinking and partying that drew most attention at the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig (later to become King Ludwig I) to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 12th 1810, and it was this that launched ‘Oktoberfest’ as we know it.

Read the full article

Tags:German course Munich, German courses Germany, Munich, October, Oktoberfest, September

GCSE results reveal new low for languages

Posted by Lucy under Cactus Languages Abroad

GCSE results hit another record high this year but it’s bad news for modern languages.  The number of students studying has continued to nosedive since the Government abolished the requirement for all teenagers to study a foreign language beyond the age of 14 in 2004.

There have been falls year-on-year ever since the policy was introduced, from 547,189 pupils in 2003 to just 382,228 this year.  There is also a widening north-south divide, with more than three-quarters of pupils in some northern areas dropping languages.

It’s inevitable that there will soon be a knock-on effect for employers, as they struggle to find employees with the necessary language skills to fill many roles.  The Government urgently needs to reinstate languages as a core requirement for GCSEs if the UK doesn’t want to get completely left behind its multi-lingual economic competitors.

Read the full article

Tags:GCSE results, Languages

Day of the Dead in Mexico: A Time to Celebrate

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language, Spanish

A unique and heart-warming tradition to look forward to in November

The Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, is not the morbid event it may at first appear: to the contrary, it is an uplifting fiesta, celebrated mainly in Mexico, to remember and pay tribute to friends and relatives who have died. It is believed that the souls of the deceased are believed to return to earth on this day, which falls on 2nd November each year, in conjunction with the Catholic holy festival of All Saints’ Day (Día de Todos los Santos) on 1st November.

Read the full article

Tags:Day of the Dead, Dia de los Muertos, Mexico, Morelia, November, Oaxaca, Spanish courses Mexico

School Trips for the New School Year

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Cactus School Groups Abroad, Learning a language

How does a school trip abroad benefit students learning a language?

With students fresh from holidays and the new school year due to start in a few weeks, this is the perfect time for parents and teachers to start thinking about school trips abroad for the next academic year.

For students studying a language there can be no better opportunity to bring the language to life than speaking it in the country where it’s spoken. A language trip abroad is a valuable chance to put into practice all those years of language learning, outside the confines of the traditional classroom, and give real purpose to the language they have learnt so far. Students will receive instant reward and gratification as they make themselves understood and have real-life conversations in their target language, something that can only encourage and motivate further.

Read the full article

Tags:Cactus School Groups Abroad, GCSEs, language trip abroad, October, school groups, school trip abroad, September

McClaren picks up bizarre Dutch accent

Posted by Lucy under Cactus Languages Abroad

He was no good as England Manager but Steve McClaren seems to think he has found a way to ingratiate himself with his new Dutch team, FC Twente. In a truly cringeworthy and baffling interview on Dutch television, he adopts a Dutch accent and talks in pidgin English, making jokes and gesturing as if he is a Dutchman.

Arsenal becomes “Arrshenal”, and the Champions League fixture against them “is big newsh now in Englisch media”. It’s a strange move given that everyone in Holland speaks flawless English, including the interviewer, who sounds like they work for Radio Four.

McClaren speaks Dutch

Read the full article

Tags:Dutch accent, McClaren

Language Holidays for the Over 50s

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, English, French, German, Italian, Learning a language, Spanish

Why learn a language later in life?

With an increasingly ‘older’ population, and people living for longer, it is not surprising that the over 50s and retirees are now enjoying, and demanding more, of their free time. Many now have the time, money and freedom to indulge in existing passions and explore new interests, whether at home or further afield. And whether it’s the cause or effect of foreign travel, learning a language is one skill that an increasing number of over 50s are turning towards.

Read the full article

Tags:language learning over 50s, Learning a language, learning later in life, young at heart

10 French False Friends to Watch Out For!

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, French, Learning a language

A few French words that aren’t all they seem…

Learning a language is as much about stringing together a perfect sentence as it is about being able to laugh and pick yourself up when you make a mistake. False friends, or faux amis, are one such route to finding yourself in the latter situation - but what exactly are they, and how can you avoid them?

Read the full article

Tags:false friends, French