The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover during the course and include typical themes, vocabulary fields, grammar, cultural content and skills work for the language and the level. The Outlines are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers always plan their lessons with the specific abilities, aims and interests of the students in their classes in mind.

• Spanish Level 1
• Spanish Level 2
• Spanish Level 3
• Spanish Level 4
• Spanish Level 5
• Spanish Level 6
• Spanish Level 7

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Greetings and introductions
• General personal information: profession, nationalities, address, email...
• Talking about your family members and describing them
• Ordering food and drinks
• Likes and dislikes
• The house
• Your everyday life. Days of the week, months. Times.
• Directions to move around the city
• There is, there are: hay
• Basic frequency adverbs
• Questions words- que, como, cuando, donde...
• Numbers
• Alphabet
• Jobs

Grammar:

• Formal / informal register
• Verbs to be: ser and estar
• Verb to have: tener
• Present tense of key verbs
• Gender: masculine, feminine
• Word order, asking questions
• Articles
• Possessive pronouns: mi, tu, su

Cultural content:

• Vosotros/Ustedes. One used in Spain and the other in Latin America
• Public timetables in restaurants and shops, etc
• Some cultural differences such as we give two kisses when we say hello

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking
• Lots of listening
• Lots of pronunciation

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Revision of some vocabulary from level 1
• Going out, hobbies, sports and entertainment
• Shopping: clothes and food
• At the hotel
• At the train station
• At the doctor
• Reflexive verbs, Routine (every day, twice a week..)
• The weather
• Your immediate future plans
• Talking about the past

Grammar:

• Revision of present tense
• Reflexive verbs
• Prepositions
• Interrogative pronouns
• Pronominal verbs: me gusta, me encanta, me duele...
• Immediate future: ir a + infinitive.
• Simple past tense: preterito indefinido

Cultural content:

• Eating and sleeping habits in Spain in Latin America like siesta or sobremesa (talking at the table with coffee after lunch or dinner
• Spanish popular fiestas like San Fermines or tomatina
• Introduction to Latin music like salsa, tango, cumbia, meringue

Skills Work:

• Lots of practice and speaking
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation
• Reading and writing

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Review and practise of level 2 vocabulary
• Talking about recent experiences, what you have done today
• Making phone calls
• Asking favours and permission. Being polite
• Talking about your future
• Talking about your childhood and your memories
• Comparing how things used to be and how they are now.
• Travel and holidays
• Invitations: accepting and refusing
• Money Prepositions of movement
• Word families
• Time phrases
• Exclamations and reactions: ¡Que sorpresa! ¡Que suerte! ¿De verdad?

Grammar:

• Revision of tenses: present, preterito indefinido and future (ir+ infinitive)
• Present perfect ( he comido..)
• Imperative (singular forms, tu y usted)
• Future tense (iré ......)
• Preterito imperfecto
• Expressing ability- poder
• Present continuous
• Possessive pronouns: mio, tuyo, suyo

Cultural content:

• Differences in how and where people live in big cities, life style
• Inca culture in Peru
• Fiesta del Sol
• Flamenco

Skills Work:

• Lots of practice and speaking
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation
• Some writing and reading

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Review and practise of level 3
• Cultural aspects: famous people, films, places to stay....
• Personal anecdotes
• Por/para
• Giving advice
• Expressing feelings (me molesta, me sorprende, me da pena...)
• Expressing wishes (deseo que + subjuntivo, deseo + infinitive..)
• Giving instructions and orders
• Asking and giving opinions

Grammar:

• Revision from the previous levels
• Imperative
• Reported speech
• Past perfect- preterito pluscuamperfecto
• The conditional mood
• Introduction to present subjunctive
• Direct and indirect pronouns: me, te, le, lo, la

Cultural content:

• Common idioms: tómalo con calma, madre mia
• Celebration of El día de los Muertos in Mexico
• Introduction of Spanish and Latin American Art: painters, architecture
• Mayan and Aztec culture in Mexico

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking and active practice
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation
• Reading and writing

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• A wide range of possibilities, inc.: Entertainment, mass media, work, education, changes, cities, people, relationships, arts, politics, globalization...
• Talking about past events and describing situations
• Expressing feelings such as: happiness, pity, surprise, fear, and the effect they have on you
• How to argue
• How to complain, writing letters of complaint
• Expressing wishes for the future
• How to pass on a message
• How to give advice for problems
• Word building

Grammar:

• Revision of level 4
• Past simple vs. Past perfect
• Impersonal se and passive se
• Present subjunctive
• Conditional sentences building ( if I was....I would..)
• The subjunctive, present and past

Cultural content:

• Introduction to Spanish and Latin American Literature
• Differences in vocabulary words between different countries
• How to tell jokes in Spanish

Skills Work:

• Written style and register. Formal and informal
• Orthography: punctuation and spelling
• Lots of talking and active practice
• Lots of listening
• Pronunciation
• Writing and reading

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• A wide range of possibilities, inc.: Entertainment, mass media, work, education, changes, cities, people, relationships, arts, politics, globalization...
• Talking about the past and personal anecdotes
• Reported speech, ex: el dijo que te llamará
• Expressing opinions and giving reasons
• Expressing feelings and explaining why we feel that way
• Making hypotheses about past events and giving explanations

Grammar:

• Revision of previous levels
• Second conditional sentences, ex: si me tocará la loteria...
• Future simple and future perfect
• Past subjunctives
• Pronouns, prepositions
• Different clause types

Cultural content:

• Introduction of Spanish and Latin American cinema
• Aspects of Latin personality
• El dia de los Innocentes
• Telling jokes
• Refrains and proverbs

Skills Work:

• Oral and active practice
• Listening
• Written style
• Orthography: accents

Interested in a exam course? Check out the Cactus DELE Intermedio Exam Preparation Course

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Entertainment, work, education, changes, cities, people, relationships, arts, politics, globalization, personality, feelings, ecology, publicity, media
• How to express your opinions and argue them with other people
• How to express regret
• Explaining news to others: reported speech
• Describing places you have been
• Complaining about things and situations
• Demanding things
• Talking about problems that concern us. Suggesting ideas to solve them

Grammar:

• Revision of imperative tense, affirmative and negative
• Futuro simple and future perfect
• How to express impossible situations in the past and its consequences, ex: si hubiera nacido en España ahora sería....
• Simple y perfect conditional
• Past imperfect, perfect y past pluperfect subjunctive
• Direct and Indirect pronouns

Cultural content:

• Slang vocabulary and expressions
• Idioms
• Introduction to Spanish and Latin American poetry

Skills Work:

• Lots of active oral practice
• Lots of listening
• Writing formal style
• Debates
• Orthography