School Blog

What is the CCSE test?

• The PRUEBA CCSE certifies the constitutional and sociocultural knowledge of the candidates.
• It is a requirement in ordsr to obtain the Spanish nationality
• It is aimed to those interested in obtaining Spanish nationality, either because of their special relationship with the country (Sefardies) or because of their residence in Spain
• This is a face to face test.
• The test has 60% of constitutional content and 40% of sociocultural content.
• There are 25 closed-ended questions.
• The duration of the test is 45 minutes. The next exam will be held on the 25.07.2019 at 18.00h in the afternoon. The tests always take place the last Thursday of the month, except in December and August.
• The test will qualify as APT or NOT APT (Apt: have surpassed 60% of the questions) and the candidates have TWO opportunities to do it.

Where can I take the test?
• The test can be done in any of the examination centers of the Instituto Cervantes in Spain.
• Escuela Montalbán is one of those centers.

See the next exam dates here!

Representatives of Tandem International language schools in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Chile met this year in Milan for their annual international meeting.

The meeting took place from 16 to 19 of May 2019 and was hosted by Il Centro, our Tandem Italian school in Milan. From here big THANKS to Il Centro for the perfect organisation!

The meetings are always held in one of the cities that are part of the network. During the meetings the schools discuss the most important aspects about the work of the association, as well as the issues that affects each school individually. Our network focus on the mutual support and collaboration that characterizes us, in order to constantly improve the progress of each school and of the whole group.

Our next Plenum session will be held in Cologne, Germany in May 2020.

Are you interested in our network?
For further information about Tandem International visit: www.tandem-schools.com

With over 5 million members, the Tandem App is the largest global community for language learners. Members of the community form one-on-one Tandem partnerships to teach each other their native languages for free via text, audio and video chat. 

Added features like message correction and in-app translations make it even easier for you to learn from your mistakes and extend your vocabulary. 

Choose from 150+ languages, connect with like-minded people and reach fluency in no time!

Granada Province in Southern Spain provides superb rock climbing for all standards. In addition to a Spanish course in the morning we offer One-to-One rockclimbing tours during 2 afternoons per week!

Our rock climbing programme is suitable for all ages and for beginner or advanced  climbers. The quiet and remote crags are located in beautiful surroundings, with the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the background.

We offer itineraries to fit every wish; whether you want a simple experience of climbing tall rock faces, an introductory course to teach you the basic skills and safety aspects of the sport, or an afternoon out with an experienced guide to push your grades by top roping, improve your skills, and get started at lead climbing.

In Andalusia climbing is possible all year round. On colder days one can find a sunny rock face near the coast, whilst on hotter days one can go high up and climb in the shade. The best time is from autumn to spring as summers are getting quite hot in Granada.

The type of climbing found here is sports climbing, meaning climbs are bolted and have secure stances up top.

For further information about prices visit our website!

If you are interested in horses, book our combined Spanish & Horseback riding package. We are sure, that it will be the highlight of your trip to Granada.

You take Spanish lessons in the morning from Monday to Friday and you will take part in a whole horseback riding afternoon once a week. The tour is a guided one-to-one programme.

Our guide Victor will pick you up at the school and will bring you to his place near Güejar Sierra village at about 15 km away from Granada city. The location is rural and very beautiful. Güejar Sierra is the perfect base to explore the natural treasures of the Sierra Nevada. Even from the centre of the village, the surrounding mountains dominate the landscape on all sides. These mountains are rich in wildlife of all types.

Victor speaks English in case your Spanish is still not good enough. His stuff will take great care to match you up with the right horse. The fantastic scenery of Güejar Sierra village and the mountain range of Sierra Nevada National Park will impress you without any doubt. You will have beautiful views from where you stop during the route.

The horse ride is perfect even for beginners. There are many routes available for more skilled riders.

Federico García Lorca is one of the most important poets to emerge in Spain's cultural history.

He was born in the village Fuentevaqueros near Granada in 1898. Although the family moved to Granada when he was a child, they continued to spend summers in the countryside. Here Lorca did much of his writing and started to emphasize the importance of his rural background.

His contribution to Spanish literature is unquestionable and if you study Spanish literature you will come across his works. His most famous masterpieces are Bodas de Sangre, Yerma and La Casa de Bernada Alba. During the period he was writing, many important artists emerged in Spain, such as Buñuel and Dalí. This group came to be known as the Generación del 27. Poets such as Rafael Alberti, Jorge Guillén and Luis Cernuda were members of this circle. This poetic period is marked by important Lorca publications such as Romancero Gitano or the Poema del Cante Jondo. This movement was crippled by the Spanish Civil War.

Federico Garcia Lorca moved to Madrid in 1919, but it was not until 1927 when he started to become respected as a dramatist. He was very successfull in Barcelona with his play Mariana Pineda. In 1928 he decided to leave Spain and his family arranged for him to go to New York. Here he wrote Poeta en Nueva York, in which he used a variety of original poetic techniques to express his feelings of isolation in the city. In 1930 Lorca returned to Spain and in 1931 he became the director of the university theatre company La Barraca. In July of 1936 he returned to Granada.

A month later he was arrested by the fascists and shot, leaving behind a number of unfinished manuscripts. There are still questions surrounding Lorca's death. Many say he was apolitical and had friends on both sides of the conflict in Spain, suggesting that the motives of his killing were unrelated to politics. It has also been proposed that his sexual orientation could have played a role in his death. A general ban was placed then on his works and was not removed until 1953.

Our school offers a special programme related to the work of Federico García Lorca as a complement to an intensive Spanish course.

Our Spanish language school Escuela Montalbán offers students the following non official degrees and ECTS credits for Spanish courses on different levels which are validated and awarded by the Catholic University of San Antonio in Murcia (UCAM):

For further informaton regarding the course prices visit thr course section
on our website. Contact us also for further information regarding the validation procedure at: info@escuela-montalban.com

Discover more about our new Spanish course progamme 2019 and check the updated prices for all courses and accommodation options. You also will find the 2019 D.E.L.E exam dates and other useful information in our brochure, course programme and price list documents on the download page

These documents are also available in German or Spanish on the download pages which are presented by the download icon next to the social network buttons, when accessing the site in the respective languages.

Easyjet has just launched a new flight connection from Berlin-Tegel Airport to Granada. These flights will have a frequency of 2 days per week, on Mondays and Fridays, during September and October.

The same company will inaugurate a new route between Naples-Capodichino Airport and Granada. These flights will take place on Wednesdays and Sundays, also twice a week during September and October.

These new routes are added to the destinations that have already been launched, such as London, Milan or Manchester.

The demand regarding SIELE exams at our school has increased a lot during 2018. After completing a Spanish course students can take a test to obtain the official SIELE certificate. SIELE is the International Service for Spanish Language Assessment, aimed at students, which digitally certifies Spanish language proficiency levels.

The SIELE exams are basically promoted by the Spanish Instituto Cervantes and different universities in Spain and South America.

At Escuela Montalbán we offer the SIELE GLOBAL exam. This exam is based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and certifies the degree of proficiency in reading and listening comprehension, written expression and interaction, and spoken expression and interaction.

The SIELE GLOBAL certificate costs 155 € and is valid for 2 years. The exams take place every Wednesday between 15.00 and 18.00 hrs.

For further information regarding the enolment and preparation lessons at our school, contact us!