Upcoming Events!

This week's activities

Hola amigos,

We wanted to let you know what activities are available at Íbero this week. E-mail us with questions! info@iberospanish.com. Juan Ignacio, our activities coordinator, will be leading activities and answering all your questions about the city.

Monday, June 22 we´re starting the week with an Argentine film at Íbero, in one of our classrooms. We’ll put the subtitles in English or Spanish, depending on the level of those who want to watch. Come to Íbero at 2 p.m. – we have a huge library of movies to choose from.

Tuesday, June 23 we have a conversation workshop with Juan Ignacio. He´ll be meeting the students at Bar Estilo San Telmo, and students can ask for mate, a traditional Argentine drink. Juan Ignacio will explain why mate is so important to Argentines. Meet at the bar at 4 p.m. The address is Perú 259, and the bar is in San Telmo.

Wednesday, June 24 we´re going to a new place – La Peña del Colorado. The peña is in the neighborhood Palermo, and the restaurant offers some of Argentina’s most traditional foods, including humitas en chala, empanadas tucumanas and locro. Meet at the restaurant at 8 p.m. The address is Güemes 3657. Come hungry!

Friday, June 26 Juan Ignacio will be leading another conversation workshop, this time in the morning, so that students with afternoon classes can attend. Meet Juan at Bar Estilo San Telmo at 10.30 am. The bar is in San Telmo.

On Saturday, June 27 we´re going to Buenos Aires’ Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, one of the most important musuems in the city. The musuem is located on Avenida del Libertador. Meet Juan Ignacio and other students at 2 p.m. on the corner of Avenida Las Heras and Avenida Peuyrredón. Art lovers are sure to have a blast!

Un saludo grande,

The Íbero Staff.

Another roundup of activities ...

Hola amigos!

We’re writing with an update of what we did last week at Íbero. For those of you who are considering studying with us, this post will give you a good idea of what it’s like to be a student at Íbero.

Remember that you can come to our activities with your friends, boyfriends, girlfriends or fellow travelers. The activities are free, you’ll only pay for your museum entrance, bus ticket, empanadas etc.

Tuesday afternoon we had a conversation workshop in a restaurant-bar, La Cumaná, in the neighborhood of Recoleta. We ordered mate, and Juan Ignacio told us all about the Argentine tradition of drinking mate. Cumaná is known for its empanadas, so we decided to try a very special kind of empanadas – sweet ones. We tried the sweet potato, the dulce de leche, the cayote and the membrillo, and Juan Ignacio explained the name of each item. We’re definitely planning to return to this spot and try more of what Cumaná has to offer. Next on our to-do list: Trying the locro (look this up – it´s a great Argentine food popular in the north).

Wednesday we went to the neighborhood of Abasto to visit the home of Carlos Gardel, perhaps the country’s most famous and most important tango singer. A guide explained Gardel´s life (in Spanish, of course, so we could practice) as we went through the house. We also listened to several of Gardel’s songs, and Juan Ignacio explained the names of the best-known tangos. He also told us about the tango “El día que me quieras,” one of Gardel’s most famous songs, as well as one of his movies.

On Saturday, Juan Ignacio led several students to the neighborhood of La Boca. There we saw beautiful old buildings that have since been converted into museums. Juan Ignacio told us about the history of the barrio as well as the age of immigration in Argentina. He also explained a little about the reason the homes in La Boca are painted with so many colors. We also saw a ton of people dancing tango or folklore in the streets, and several students bought souvenirs, including paintings, mates and items related to tango.

We hope that everyone enjoyed last week’s activities! Don’t forget that if you have any questions about our school or about our activities, you can send us an email at info@iberospanish.com.

Un saludo grande,

The Íbero Staff

Volunteering in Buenos Aires

Hola chicos,

A lot of students ask us about volunteering in Buenos Aires.

We work with a great organization, L.I.F.E. Argentina, which connects our students to various volunteer opportunities in the city. The costs are extremely low (you'll need to pay for transportation and purchase a t-shirt) and the rewards are high. Most volunteers work with kids in various barrios of Buenos Aires.

To set up your volunteer work, you should check out the organization's Web site here:

http://www.lifeargentina.org/

Then, you can e-mail the organization to set up a training session and get started. Sometimes they are low on staff though, so if you are looking for a quick reponse, we recommend directly calling the L.I.F.E. office. Volunteers there speak English. You can call them from a local number at 4806 0640.

Hope that helps! If you have questions, or want to set up classes at Íbero, e-mail us at info@iberospanish.com. We'll arrange classes around your volunteering schedule. If you are interested in hearing about the experience of previous volunteers, e-mail us and we'll put you in touch with former participants.

Un saludo grande,

The Íbero Staff

Who´s who at Íbero? Introducing a few more of our fabulous Íbero staff members.

Hola chicos,

Today we're posting profiles of a few more Íbero staff members.

Enjoy!

Íbero founders and directors

Juan Astudillo Pereira, Manager
Juan was born in Talca, Chile, and has lived in Buenos Aires since he was 7, giving him origins in both countries. He studied Administration, Finance and Digital and Design Production. As co-founder of Íbero, he has dedicated himself to the direction, administration and production of publicity for the school; his main focus is in the creation of new formats of audio-visual materials for instruction.

Florencia Bozzano, Director
Florencia was born in La Plata and grew up in Ranchos, a province of Buenos Aires. She is a certified University Professor of Translation and Scientific & Literary Translator of English-Spanish. She has completed research and specialized investigations at universities in Argentina, the United States and England. While directing the school she has also dedicated herself to the superior instruction of Spanish for foreigners and to the writing of accompanying didactic materials. In the area of instruction, she has applied effective methods for non-native Spanish speakers from all over the world which are always accompanied by an appealing communicative method for the student. In the area of materials for the acquisition of Spanish as a foreign or second language, she has written a complete line of textbooks covering each level of learning for the school.

Íbero Academic Coordination

Carolina C. Crespo, Academic Coordinator
Carolina was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has received the titles of literary corrector from the University of Salvador and License in Letters with an orientation in classic languages from the University of Buenos Aires. During the past six years she has instructed teachers of Spanish as a foreign language, always focusing on the needs and learning styles of her students with flexibility and a caring nature.

Un saludo grande,

The Íbero Staff

Who´s who at Íbero? Introducing Juan Ignacio.

Hola chicos,

The wonderful part about being a student at Íbero is that you're going to receive a lot of support from our staff. Juan Ignacio, our activities coordinator (see photo above!), is a huge part of that support, and he's around to answer questions about the city and to introduce you to everything that Buenos Aires has to offer.

Want to know more about Juan? Keep reading.

Juan Ignacio, our activities coordinator, is a 20-year-old student of Languages and Literature at the University of Buenos Aires. He organizes all activities for our students, including football games, city tours, dinners in traditional parrillas in San Telmo and visits to artisan fairs. He’s a porteño born and bred, so he’s intimately familiar with the city. (Don’t know the term “porteño”? Click on the link for an explanation!).

Juan likes to eat pizza and French fries, and he’s a fanatic of rock nacional – that’s Argentine rock – especially Charly Garcia. He loves to read and drink mate. Everyone at Íbero will try mate, thanks to Juan Ignacio. (Don’t know anything about mate? Click on the link for an explanation!).

If you have any questions about Íbero´s activities, just email us at info@iberospanish.com.

Un saludo grande,

The Íbero Staff

Who's saying what about Íbero?

Hola chicos,

At the end of each week we ask our students to tell us what they thought of their experiences with us.

Want to know what people are saying? Below we've posted some recent comments.

Enjoy!

“I arrived in Buenos Aires without knowing any Spanish at all, and Íbero has been a very good experience for me. My first teacher was excellent. She used lots of different teaching techniques and was able to keep the class motivated all the time. The classes went very quickly; I was never bored … I wish I was staying for longer, but due to time constraints I´m not able to. Thank you Íbero.” Donna Salisbury, UK.



“Very welcoming staff and teachers who are happy to help out. Leandro was very patient with me and my slow grasp of Spanish!! Classes were good and fun with a variety of teaching approaches to keep it interesting. Many thanks. Buenos Aires is a beautiful city, I´m looking forward to a few more days here.” Sally Brunello, Australia.

“We really liked the organized trips – well done. We feel we have learnt a lot in just three weeks and feel confident enough to continue the rest of our trip around South America – improving our Spanish along the way.” Rebecca Muwanga, UK.


“Leo and myself have thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks at Íbero. We would like to stay longer. The classes have been excellent . . . We really enjoyed all the great activities, which were varied and fun. We met lots of great students whilst at her activities. It is a great idea to have a social coordinator at the school. Muchas gracias!” Liz O´Hare, Australia.

Un saludo grande,

Julie

And our first round-up of activities ...

Hola chicos,

Today we're posting some summaries of a few recent activities to give you all a good idea of what types of things we're up to at Íbero. Stay tuned, because soon we'll be adding a bio of our own activities coordinator, Juan Ignacio.

Enjoy!


May 19 -- Tuesday afternoon Juan Ignacio, the activities coordinator, went with a group of students to Café Tortoni, Buenos Aires’ oldest café. (See above!) For visitors to BA, this is one of those “must do” activities in the city. We toured the elegant café, and then afterward – as it was quite cold that day – we had a café and churros.






May 20 -- Wednesday we went to Buenos Aires’ Museum of Latin American Art, one of the largest museums in the city. We were lucky to get a guided tour about Mexican art, and since the tour was in Spanish (!) our students were able to practice. Most interesting was the famous “banco,” a wooden sculpture that consists of a bench and series of branches. The branches are incredible because they extend out of the bench and literally climb the walls of the museum, leading all the way up to the building’ second floor.





May 24 -- Sunday night we went to see an enormous rock show at the city’s famous obelisk. The show was organized to commemorate the 199th anniversary of the first government of Argentina, and it was a night to remember. Perhaps most notably, we were able to see La Bomba de Tiempo, a famous drum group in the city, and the band's music basically spread song and dance all the way down the enormous Avenida 9 de Julio.





May 27 -- Wednesday we went to see one of the city’s best known icons, the “Floralis Genérica,” an enormous metal flower located in la Plaza Naciones Unidas, near Avenida Figeroa Alcorta. The flower is incredible – 20 meters in height – and has a system that allows it to open in the morning and close in the afternoon. Afterward, we went to see a very important football game – the final of the Champions League – so that we could enjoy a little bit of world football.

Un saludo grande,

The Íbero Staff

¡Bienvenidos!

Hola chicos!

After eight years in Buenos Aires, Íbero Spanish has now hit the blogosphere. This blog will serve as a link between current/potential students and the Íbero staff. If you're a current student, feel free to leave comments and email us with pictures . If you're a potential student, use this blog to get a feel for our school, and then feel free to email the student programs coordinator (info@iberospanish.com) with questions about classes.

If you´re looking for our web site, it can be found here: www.iberospanish.com.

Also, note the list of useful links that we´ve posted on the right-hand side of this blog. If you're thinking about coming to Buenos Aires, this list will be a huge help in your travel research. Email us if you have more questions.

Check back here, because we're going to be posting photos and telling you all about our activities.

For now, here's a link to our facebook album, (click here!) which was recently updated with new photos.

Un saludo grande,

The Íbero Staff