Hey all, if you are into practicing your Spanish conversational skills you should try LA TEBERNA CHICA on Monday and Tuesday nights.

I had seen their ad in the InMadrid newspaper for many months and it always boasts...

quote:

LA TEBERNA CHICA

FREE
SPANISH CLASSES
EVERY MON AND TUES, 9-11PM
ALL LEVELS

Just come along and
buy a drink

c/Costanilla de San Pedro, 7
(METRO: La Latina)

So, after many moons of just wondering what it was all about I decided to do some investigative reporting and last night I went at 9pm to the Taberna to get the scoop.

My plan was to pretend I spoke very little Spanish, join the group and just see how things developed.

I entered the bar and there were about 3 or 4 customers having drinks near the bar.

I must admit that it was VERY hard to fake that I was not fluent in Spanish

I took the ad that I had torn out of the InMadrid paper out of my pocket and showed it to the bartender asking him what it was all about and how it worked.

A Spanish guy next to me promptly said "Oh, that's me, I do that" and began to tell me how the FREE SPANISH CLASSES worked there. Lorenzo, (his name) said that they are not really formal classes and that he does not prepare anything for the class, it is more of a chance for people to practice Spanish conversation with him. He has his degree in Spanish and speaks decent English and we sat there for almost 2 hours shooting the "mierda" about anything and everything.

I was the only one and asked why and if others usually show. He said that he gets between 3 and 12 people on average and sometimes (rarely) up to 20.

It was also a "f�tbol" on TV night and he mentioned that those nights are slow (I totally believe it).

Basically, Lorenzo gets paid by the owner of the bar to do these "tertulias" and the only obligation for participants is that they have to buy at least one drink (I think).

I had a bottle of Heineken for 2.30 Euros since the only thing on tap was "Cruzcampo" which is utter piss water as beers are concerned

All in all I had a good time and I am sure it will be even better when there are more people participating (on a non-soccer night ).

I am going back this Monday Nov. 4th at around 9:30 (Lorenzo said things usually do not get started until then) and will probably have to reveal my fluent Spanish to Lorenzo since it took a lot out of me to fake I was a beginner :lo:

Hope he does not take it the wrong way and understands that it was all done in the name of investigative reporting

quote:

� LA TEBERNA CHICA
c/Costanilla de San Pedro, 7
(METRO: La Latina)

Maybe I will see some of you there.

Saludos,
jer...

Hey! Word is finally getting out about my bar!!! ha ha ha!!

quote:

I had a bottle of Heineken for 2.30 Euros since the only thing on tap was "Cruzcampo" which is utter piss water as beers are concerned

Yeah, but Cruzcampo has damn funny commercials with the lively toes.

quote:

Hope he does not take it the wrong way and understands that it was all done in the name of investigative reporting

Let�s look at it this way, at least you gave him a "raison d�etre" the other night! And now you are giving him some good publicity along with the bar...

Speaking of conversational Spanish. I have a student who has a low-intermediate level of English and is interested in an intercambio. She is a very nice girl (woman) late 20�s early 30�s and really needs to ramp up her language skills for her job. Are any of you Spanish students out there interested? (should I mention that she�s attractive too? ). If so, send me an email reb_gaspar@yahoo.com.

Thanks!

quote:

Yeah, but Cruzcampo has damn funny commercials with the lively toes.

Jejejej, fitting since the beer tastes liek toes as well

Good luck with the intercambio for your student. She should put an ad in InMadrid and on my classifeids section for an intercambio wanted. I know there are tons of Spaniards already looking and not much supply from the native English speaker but ya never know.

If she is cute she may have a better chance of getting a "linguistic intercambio", jejejejejeje

Saludos,
jer...

Hey Jer, thanks for posting this.... sounds like something I could be interested in next time I come to Madrid.

Hey again.

LarryLasagne, go on Monday night instead of Tuesday if you want other people in the group.

I went back this Tuesday and blew my cover and told Lorenzo that I was doing some investigation on his chats for my website.

He was cool about it and was glad he got a good review

We had a drink otr 2 and talked for a while.

It seems that more people go on Monday nights but if you are shy and want to go when there are fewer people, try Tuesday.

That has been my experience after going 2 weeks straight but Lorenzo says that you never know and it depends more on what's on TV that night (ie. soccer) than it does on the nigth of the week.

Saludos,
jer...

p.d. I may go back this Monday night to see what is goiing on.

The owner of "La Taberna Chica" stopped by the my office last week with a customer and wanted to personally invite people to come out to the Taberna Chica to have a drink and practice some Spanish.

This sounds like it might be a good deal for all you new people who have come to Madrid to learn the language as it will offer you a chance to practice in a nice social setting.
Cheers.
Rocco.

quote:

The owner of "La Taberna Chica" stopped by the my office last week with a customer and wanted to personally invite people to come out to the Taberna Chica to have a drink and practice some Spanish.

Of course he did, that is how he makes money :jeje:

Anyway, if anyone goes let us know if there are more that 2 people there. They will need to get #s up in order to make this work but it seems like a good idea.

Saludos,
jer...

2 THINGS

1. Are there still informal classes at LA TEBERNA CHICA? This post is a bit dated but since it is the only one that contains both "FREE" and "CLASS" it comes the closest to answering my question which is #2

2. I saw a mention on expatriatecafe:

quote:

Also, it is a little known secret among "guiris" that the government here (at least Barcelona) provides FREE language courses for legal foreigners (Spanish or Catalan). I suspect it is the same with Valencian.

I posted a reply there too but attendance is low and this crowd knows everything. Does anybody know anything about this? Are there web pages out there that can provide info for such classes in either Madrid or Sevilla? Don't let me down Jer! [Combos� coming your way, any flavor preferences?]

I am interested in taking classes in early August. If I can find them, I would rather take free classes. I would imagine them to be less thorough than a bonafide school, but it would be nice if I could spend the money engaging in a more social learning atmosphere [read: LA TABERNA CHICA and Volleyball Sundays]

FYI, my plane lands at 830am this Monday. The waiting is nearly over. Soon I will be placing faces on all of these names.

In Barcelona, the Catalan and municipal government give free Catalan classes to "immigrants" (which can include people from other parts of Spain).

But, maybe the other post was referring to the "Escola Oficial d'Idiomes" in Barcelona. Here you can take classes in many different languages (Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, German and English, for certain). When I went, it cost about $150 for an entire semester!

The catch is that there are a lot of bureaucratic hoops that you have to go through, including waiting in lines all day, taking tests, getting the right papers stamped in the right order, etc. And if you are applying for a popular class, you may have to enter a lottery to get a spot. And I believe you can only enroll in the fall and winter.

But once you get in, it is easier to register for more classes. I took classes in Catalan and Spanish and they were great. No more than 20 people to a class. Classes met every day of the week for two hours, as I remember.

I'm almost certain there is a corresponding Escuela Oficial de Idiomas in Madrid. It's definitely worth looking into.

http://www.mec.es/esp_ext/index.html

has links to courses in Espa�ol para Extranjeros, with contact details, prices, etc. The prices are in pesetas, but the contact details should still be useful. Stephen