Are you a high school student? What school would you prefer?

Any idea about French Educational System?

Great shoots you got there!

I love the sceneries.

Thank you guys for your tips!

I would surely enjoy my trip since I now have ideas where and what to do while in the place.

I’m currently on a trip around Europe and in between the site seeing and airport transfers, trying to keep a little record of my travels – who I meet, what I see, etc. etc.  I have taken loads of photos but I know everything will merge into one gigantic city experience by the time I get them developed and so thought I could write down my impressions to make it all a little more coherent.  So here goes…  So far I’ve been from London, through Paris and Montpellier (where I met a great group of American people learning French) and now am in Madrid.  Anymore and I am going to begin to forget it all and so it is here I choose as my starting place to write.  The city is BIG.  Everything.  I love it but to be honest, am looking forward to the relative tranquillity of my next stop in Salamanca.  I’m staying in one of the hostels Madrid and like in Montpellier, it is something which has made the stop over special – a great chance for meeting people!  There are a lot of Spanish in the city who have come for various events (being the capital, it has so much to offer in terms of music and entertainment) but the majority have a decent level of English from school or a language course abroad (in the bed next to me, there’s a girl who’s just finished one of the “cursos ingles Nueva York” and speaks English better than I do!  But it’s not all Spanish people – like any other capital city, Madrid is very cosmopolitan.  There’s a young group of Italian students who are so much fun – we’ve taken it upon ourselves to see as much of the Madrid nightlife as possible in the next few days (Club Low is our favourite so far) and a French guy here to prepare for a “Sejour linguistique en Bolivia“.  He talks of nothing but South America, I would love to be able to extend my travels and go to visit him once he’s settled – if it is half as good as he describes, I’ll have a ball! After Spain (of which I still have to see Salamanca, Barcelona and the beaches of Cadiz), it’s up to Berlin and from there, Holland.  I am reasonably flexible though and so if anyone has any tips (I am interested in Euro cities with plenty to do), then please let me know!

Who hasn’t thought about moving away from their home country and living in a place on a completely different part of the world? Indeed, most of us have, but only few of us know that this idea is not as difficult to achieve as one may think For example, teaching english in a country overseas is a very simple way to have a living abroad without the need for any major qualifications. Anyone can do it and the only requirement to do is taking part in a tefl course that provides a tefl certificate upon completion. This certificate certifies you as an authorized teacher for English as a foreign language and therefore allows you to spend some time abroad, in any country where English is not the first language. Of course, if you find you like living in that country so much that you have the desire to stay there, this is of course possible. After all, you can keep on teaching due to the TEFL certificate. ITTO now offers guaranteed paid job placements in Mexico, South Korea and Prague for all those who have successfully completed a TEFL TESOL course with them. This is an ideal opportunity to gain some instant work experience, and again the decision of where to undertake this, is yours!

Naturally, living abroad gives you the added advantage of experiencing the language and culture of that country. Like language courses abroad (Curso francés) you quickly get a feel for the language and local customs. It is therefore not only a solution to having a satisfying job, but also a great way to experience a completely different way of life.

You're right tadpol...

I hope. I can do it...

I’m writing this down so I WILL DO IT: My New Year’s resolution is to learn French in France!  I took all sorts of other language classes in school – German, Spanish and even Russian but it was just the French which stuck with me (I have the suspicion it stems from my love of their Bordeaux wine!).  Despite having had classes previously, I’d still only class myself as a beginner – the grammar is actually probably more advanced but what really troubles me is the speaking of the French!  That’s why I am so eager to get to France itself, to immerse myself in their language and force myself to speak it.  As I said, my grammar’s really quite good but what use is it to be able to write down the various conjugations of verbs and not even be able to hold a conversation about the weather!  Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to you in a month or so, having made the trip across the Channel and back again, fluent in French!  As well as personal growth, there is a point to all this language learning – my next plan (maybe resolution 2009…) is to take a TESOL course and give me the opportunity of working abroad – then I can choose from not just France – but practically anywhere in the world!

Good day to all. Mostly to my fellow members of this forum. I'm very new to this type of forum, but hope it being useful in the time of need? Mostly in my studies. And I would like to share my experience here. See yah.