don Quijote has been exclusively committed to organising Spanish as a Foreign Language courses since 1986, earning prestigious awards and recognition including accreditation by the Cervantes Institute.

Teachers of Spanish course
As in 2014 languages become a compulsory element of the primary curriculum we thought we would write and tell you about our Spanish Teaching Methodology course which is eligible for funding from the British Council under the Comenius scheme. This course would be particularly useful for teachers of other languages such as French, who are going to teach Spanish at a basic level. Contact me if you are interested in this course and would like me to send you further information about the course and how to go about applying for the grants.

Following this new national curriculum initiative we are delighted to announce that don Quijote will be awarding one scholarship place to a Primary School language teacher which will consist of a 2 week intensive Spanish course at one of our schools in Spain If you would like to be considered for the scholarship please contact me for an application form.

Our don Quijote teachers are all fully qualified native Spanish speakers, with a university degree and specialist training in the teaching of Spanish to foreigners. Teaching methods are communicative and learning Spanish in this way and in the country in which the language is spoken is one of the most effective ways of improving language skills in a short space of time.

Summercamps in Spain

In addition to Teachers courses don Quijote can also offer summer camps in Spain for age 5 years and above.

Summercamps in Spain consist of 20 classes of Spanish per week plus activities. For more information about our camps please see our website:

http://www.donquijote.co.uk/spanish-courses/summer-camps-in-spain

As a special promotion for your pupils, in 2013 we are pleased to offer you a 15 percent discount per person on a residential 2 week summer camp in Spain. Please contact us for further details about this offer.

If you do not already receive information by post about our Spanish courses please let us know and we will add you to our mailing list for a free Classroom Promotion pack.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you would like any further information or help. You can write to me at sarah.griffiths@donquijote.org or call me on 020 8786 8081

I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Kind regards
Sarah Griffiths
don Quijote UK

Children aged five and six carry within themselves some unique attributes. Generally speaking they are not inhibited or self-conscious – and they love mimicry. In short they are ideally suited to learn a language.

And although not everyone appreciates a recommendation from Michael Gove or comprehends his use of Americanised English, his comment in an interview last year that, “There is a slam-dunk case for extending foreign language teaching to children aged five.” is generally considered to be supported.

Indeed the Secretary of State continued, “It is literally the case that learning languages makes you smarter. The neural networks in the brain strengthen as a result of language learning.”

It is with this in mind that we have developed Petites Étoiles – a photocopiable resource (which also contains 18 activity cards) that teaches French to Reception and KS1 children in a way that is specifically designed to fit easily into the existing curriculum.

All the activities are based on common topics along with lots of suggestions for cross-curricular links.

And, as you might expect, the resource contains songs, oral language games, playing with puppets and parachutes, and activities based around toys, food, animals and celebrations.

Better still, the resource is incredibly supportive for the non-specialist teacher, with video and audio clips included so all the language introduced is modelled by native French speakers.

There are sufficient lesson plans, activities and ideas to last you from Reception right through to Year 2.

Cross-curricular links, extensions for older or more able children and opportunities for developing intercultural understanding make this a truly outstanding resource.

You can order Petites Étoiles in any of these ways:

• On our website
• By phone on 01449 766629
• By fax on 01449 767122
• By email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk