Spanish Lessons Vancouver

Cut the crap and learn Spanish

Sometimes Spanish can feel like a traffic jam inside your head.

Get the system moving with a teacher who'll direct the traffic and show you the map!

So you've taken a couple of courses and worked hard. You know a few things....but you want to know more, talk more, practice more, understand more...
Let's talk...

Talk *with* and not just "at" your Spanish speaking friends, family, co-workers and clients.
Just sayin' ;)

Can't quite crack the spanish code?
Help is just a message away!
¡Habla, amigo!

Promotion time!
Buy 5 hours of lessons get 1 hour free!
Just PM me and I'll get right back to you !

¡Qué hermoso es Ecuador! - How beautiful Ecuador is!

An impression of todays hike in National Park Podocarpus 😉

Need better Spanish?

Get in touch and we'll get you talking :)

Work from home / Study Spanish from home.

¡Genial! - Cool!

Get in touch and we'll set it up :)

Hay que relajarse

- "One has to relax"

Is your Spanish a pain in the ear?
Do you want to understand more and speak better Spanish?
Come try some lessons tailored to YOU!.... just get in touch, amigo! :)

Need your Spanish essay / thesis proof-read or edited?

Need to practise for upcoming exams or certification?

Just get in touch :)

¿Estás de vuelta en el aula? - Are you back in class?
Want to get straight A's for Spanish this semester?
One message is all it takes to set up your free trial. Think about those A's, people!

¡Por supuesto! Of course......Spanish lessons by Skype!

No need to leave the house and you can sharpen your skills ready for your next trip!

Just get in touch :)

Serious about your Spanish?
Want explanations in English so that you can actually understand what's being explained?
Want to actually understand the grammar instead of just parroting it?
Long-term vision for your Spanish?
This is the place- just get in touch! :)

New year, better Spanish? Make it happen right here!

- Just get in touch :)

Por si estás en Vancouver pero quieres estar en otro sitio donde haga más calor ;) --- Just in case you're in Vancouver but want to be somewhere else where it's hotter ;)

How about some classy, glassy summer waves this winter? You and a handful of new friends will swap wave after wave as you glide into your workday, high five-ing the ocean gods (or something like that....) ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
All interpretive surf-dancing styles are welcome. ⁠

Photo cred

Fairtravel4u

¡Feliz Navidad, viajeros! - Merry Christmas, travellers!

Organized to suit you and your Spanish ;)

https://m.facebook.com/Fairtravel4uinEcuadorPeruBolivia/

Budget travelling and volunteer work

Deja el invierno atrás y surfea bajo un sol lejano....

Leave the winter behind and surf beneath a far-away sun...

Unleash ( the ) Surf ;)

Recibí esto hace poco - I recently received this:

"Hi Sam

I took some classes from you last year in Huanchaco. Best Spanish teach I've ever encountered.

I wanted to confirm if you are still teaching Spanish through Skype. There is a friend here in Canada who needs to learn Spanish for her work. I'd like to point her to you, but thought I'd check with you first.

She doesn't have any Spanish, but speaks both English & French fluently.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Kate"

Nice to be recommended!

Gracias Markus- ¡fuiste un muy buen alumno! - You were a very good student! :)

>10:28 GMT-05:00, :
> Hi Sam,
>
> Hope you're well. Just wanted to forward some praise from one of your
> students, Markus S*********. In his exit interview he said that you are the
> best teacher he has ever had, and that "in all of Austria, I would never
> find a teacher as good as Sam!"
>
> I asked him if I could pass this on to you, and he was more than happy for
> me to do so.
>
> Have a good day!
>
> Beata G********g
> Assistant Manager of Environment and Partnerships
>
> ​​
>
>
>
> volunteer@ # # # # # . org

¿Olvidé mencionar qué tan magnífico es Unleash Surf? -
Did I forget to mention how awesome Unleash Surf is?
...Probably not, but just in case you missed it the first time, here's a reminder....!

Do you aspire to do something life-affirming this year? ⠀
⠀
Make a plan now to Unleash yourself and lock it in before June 30th for a rare discount.⠀
⠀
You’ll get 15% off for 2-weeks, 1-month or more in February, March, April of 2020 ⠀
⠀
Plus you’ll get lots of time to enjoy the happy anticipation for your great remote-working + surfing adventure. (Evidence shows that having an Unleash experience on the horizon increases your tolerance for all forms of daily BS by 137.8%)*⠀
⠀
*Unleash Surf Journal of Anecdotal Awesomeness⠀
⠀
Photo 1&2 Escopeta Foto 3,6,9 CATHB 4 by Mirror Image Media

¡No te va a costar un riñón! ..... It won't cost you a kidney!

Tours to suit every pocket - from USD $ 150 upwards..... take a look, and if you like it then give it a LIKE ;)

https://www.fairtravel4u.org/peru-trekking-tours/?fbclid=IwAR00SAIoFmEH-R_r2ccoqrNNtqLPK91azMRP7Y8sJIVM1nfmJfbTQ76pjgA

¿El Camino de la Muerte? - The Path of Death?

¡ jajaja- para mí la muerte es un hazmereír ! - hahaha.....For me, death is a laughing-stock! .... but I'd better make sure my brakes are working, just to be on the safe side ;)

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2452530448115020&id=285694311465322

The start of the Death Road in Bolivia, different days, different weather!

This is a testimonial kindly provided by Jessica V., a student who I had the pleasure of teaching over the course of several months:

If it weren't for Sam's help I wouldn't have passed the DELE B2 exam which I sat in Lima. Since leaving Peru, I have continued to have lessons with Sam over skype for 6 months. Sam has always been a very dedicated and attentive teacher, and skype is no barrier to the quality of his teaching. I highly recommend Sam as a Spanish teacher. He is committed to his students and very flexible and generous with his time. He is creative in his teaching methods over skype and he has never let me leave a class without fully understanding something. He taught many of my friends in Huanchaco and all were impressed by his dedication and the high quality of his teaching. muchisimas gracias Sam!!

¿Te gustaría probar un espacio de cotrabajo en Perú? - Would you like to try a co-working space in Perú?

¡Aquí lo tienes! - Here you have it!

Quieres mejorar tu español? - Do you want to improve your Spanish?

¿Te gustaría una clase gratuita de prueba? - Would you like a free trial class?

¿A qué esperas? ¡Envíame un mensaje! - What are you waiting for? Send me a message! :)

***All classes are done over Skype - save yourself some time, smog and congestion!***

¿Tienes dudas? - Do you have doubts?

A lot of people can feel put off by the idea of taking lessons by Skype. It's natural to have doubts about something you haven't tried before and even more natural if you've tried it before and it hasn't worked out.

So why not give the free trial lesson a chance to convince you? :)

Acabo de oír algo que me impactó - I just heard something that made a deep impression on me.

¿Qué oíste? - What did you hear?

I heard Arnold Schwarzenegger say that 74% of people in America hate their jobs.

I'm so glad that I'm in the other 26%.

---- Serious Spanish spoken here

---- Get in touch if you're serious about your study of Spanish

Entre comillas - between quotation marks.

Entre colmillos - between fangs

¡Que no te confundas! ..... May you not get confused!

Is it difficult for you to take classes because it takes time to get to the site? Lots of time, money and energy spent on travelling?

Solved! - Spanish lessons by Skype. Right where you want them- at home, at work, on the commute journey.

Lessons go at your speed and talk about the stuff you want to talk about. No need to wait for the teacher to finish explaining the answer to someone else's question- these lessons are one-on-one and you're the one.

Get in touch when you want to :)

Los subtítulos no son malos - Subtitles are not evil
....pero si quieres mejorar tu español apágalos - but if you want to improve your Spanish switch them off......or you'll just spend the whole movie reading subtitles and not *listening*! ;)

You can also improve your Spanish by taking lessons right here with yours truly! ;)

"I used to know this!"

You may be familiar with that annoying situation where, having already reached a good level of Spanish in the past, you find yourself struggling to come out with basic phrases and just plain everyday conversation.

People often say "I don't have anyone to practise with." .... and so, many simple pieces of the puzzle go missing and it can be very frustrating to feel your Spanish, painstakingly studied and improved bit by bit, end up evaporating for lack of practise.

Aquí encontrarás la ayuda que buscas.

Just a conversation - a natural chat about this, that and the other, taken to wherever the wind blows it - can keep your Spanish alive and give it a gentle workout, helping to keep toned those linguistic muscles that were in danger of going flabby.

That 15- or 30-minute chat is right here - just send a message for more information about packages and how it can work for you.

Nos vemos :)

Peru Tours - Fairtravel4u

Custom design!

fairtravel4u.org Peru is a very popular tourist destination and a relative easy country to travel around. Peru’s main tourist attractions include: Tours to Machu Picchu, flights over the Nasca Lines, tours over Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon Tours, tours around Cusco, trekking in Huaraz, tours to Kuelap, tours into t...

Muy a menudo me preguntan "Cómo puedo mejorar mi español? ¿Debería A / B / C ??" --- Very often I get asked " How can I improve my Spanish? Should I A / B / C ?"

Y la respuesta básica es------- and the basic answer is: **learn** the** verbs**

Taking lessons really helps and enables you to formulate questions that fill in gaps in your knowledge, as well as open up new areas that you were not aware of within the structure of the language.

But, at the end of the day - LEARN* VERBS* and especially ***IRREGULAR VERBS****

No fancy tricks, no hacking methods, no whizzbang-you-now-know-Spanish-apps. Sit down and spend time learning the verbs forms. And that means learning them, not just remembering what the verb means - you need to know its forms, especially in the case of unpredictable irregular verbs.

Verbs........... Verbs........ Verbs....... ! ;)

Can tourism be sustainable? - Fairtravel4u travel sustainable tourism

Visit the sites for less CO2 - and practise your Spanish for less CO2 with yours truly over Skype - just get in touch :)

All credits to FairTravel4u.

https://lm.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fairtravel4u.org%2Fsustainable-tourism-traveling-south-america%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1bCTNQGtbKv82SQ38AO1TqmWfw1UqMQJ0RukiFYFB4CIbHBqvxf4g0CQk&h=AT2Z5Bpz_qx7lin-Nuf0a1MxCubv1tR1dTSQ0TsSLC5Jxg9qu3ealq95jcMeFPxY4RWo6e205fRAaWc5qZUbqXIFbbgnXefAfTBecmbxso5VTZrLkr6-Rzh1JBf9PtfSh4aTmX8z6S8kPaOCfTgsqCHxRQgdxg6FeREZE45R4IwlNz95OXvMOl8OPBH_Otv7A1G77xYv-soVCn1KczfMFfvxxrLq78pD856mjVPzUpxq-wpLHDUUJQaRkiQJALSYWMCm_ov9aPkHaDBFA5ScDMccnWdG98SVO8sMp-J3LxbLprDOGHUt9sWIgId_9x0wANbFsJrfaDCuoJgdydwemGj1JhL7eBYy0PzkOJtXiQChX3Mybda2nsEIe4_QqILZ0yqhmL0_MsWFOsYqR9XateFaQJq-tAbR5e3XAbp0tz4jWNUgOp8LLmjZ-E6IAyP_Iud1XI2qxiSzXZdHkr7Ox-otSGg3AkmXolmUP_T4O9jEZnzSBRMSonb5SYzUBAhMJZ0Qybe4Ao_srw2c9mIHTJUqHtj1EqqVPpn13U7N4d9apn7UvgmHw_VH7SLTTF75kL5kDGH3ryrIKF6pKxh1TeGeAGn7dM2hvjhX4Naun6X0zfD_RpLiLfvb8dbo-3MOObx2B3wG53hDmZgvFn4bCu_fzAeS4_MvpTXT3jaXZkZBiGakzWuYMYDGHcib6QtrsKMMu-TEdmkR71GN_SzkbMXohmqY68IM1x53JSBtyaiJWFSCot6Ec3ogEpuoVcPMGXkMBmqt6GBgcIc3BpPHqBFqjm6a6uNVmaVoE87mA7kwlB9AMU17l3z9aopmLrOFj7OO7WoKDz47qQmVqNTRYs4b7__GR8MJuxVb5l9VOmQIV9zz--GOfgvCxQbh3T3u8HxyMdNIxTyXHBJ171VH8bHr2OhhGiPF5A8UeHw4RBUuEztPHB3fPKik29OgPayDYTd448_XKyYBENZnV9dr1G3sDEAbBis5fj4sc6C-I5s961bdO1m8IYOrE_2BPXLASYBF-vC6KgT5uDlTCf90GNXkAy0b3x-RiXF8__QdvgozkXY

fairtravel4u.org Sustainable tourism while travelling has become more and more important to be able to protect the environment and tourist destinations for the future!

¡No veo la hora de estudiar! - I can´t wait to study!

No ven la hora de que puedan salir a jugar -They can´t wait to go out to play

No ver la hora de ( INFINITIVE ) //// no ver la hora de que + conjugated verb ( subjunctive ) = to not see the hour of ( the activity )
= to be looking for the hour at which the activity can be done
= *** to look forward to ( the activity )***

Allí lo tienes - There you have it ;)

For more exciting bits and pieces, and maybe even some structural work on your Spanish---- just get in touch :)

¡Una excelente oportunidad para practicar tu español - A great opportunity for practising your Spanish!

Sales for the Classic 4-day Inca Trail starts tomorrow!

Qué es un verbo reflexivo? ---- What is a reflexive verb?

A good starting point is to say "a verb used in a "self" phrase" for example:

to hurt oneself - lastimarse / herirse
to cut oneself - cortarse
to heal/cure oneself - get better - curarse
to call oneself - llamarse
to lift oneself - to get up/ stand up - levantarse
to lay oneself down - to go to bed- acostarse

You´ll notice that we have the infinitive form ( "basic form / dictionary form" ) of the verb each time:

lastimar / herir - to hurt / injure
cortar- to cut... llamar - to call
......... and that we´re adding SE at the end of the infinitive each time.

The problem with infinitives is that they don´t really give much information about who´s doing the verb ( the *subject* of the verb, the do-er of the verb ) - so we have to show the subject of the verb by conjugating it:

llamar ----

yo llamo
tú llamas
él / ella / usted llama
nosotros llamamos
ellos / ellas / ustedes llaman

So if You call every day ---- (Tú) llamas cada día
He doesn´t call every day --- ( él ) no llama cada día

BUT here we´re talking about reflexive verbs..... "self verbs" .... so we need to include a "self" word, just like English has "myself" "yourself" himself" "ourselves" "themselves". The self word in Spanish goes *before* the conjugated verb:

(yo) me llamo..... Sam --- I call myself..... Sam! ---------- " My name is..... "
(tú) te llamas ..... John ---- You call yourself ..... John ------- "Your name is ...... "
( él ) se llama .... Eduardo ----- He calls himself ..... Eduardo ------. "His name is ...... "
( nosotros ) nos llamamos ..... Los Locos ---- We call ourselves...... The Crazies ---- "Our name is....."
( ellos ) se llaman ...... Los Increíbles ------ They call themselves....... The Incredibles ---- "Their name is .... "

More coming up soon.......