Offered :

Term 1 (February-April) each year

Date & Time:

Thursday evenings from 5:00-6:00 pm (NZ Time). Our 2023 Term 1 course begins on Thursday 16 February 2023 and runs for eight successive weeks. The last session of the Term is on Thursday 6 April 2023.

Time Zone equivalents:

For live-streaming sessions from New Zealand. If your Time Zone doesn't suit our live-streamed class, you can also access our courses by watching the live-recorded sessions that are posted to the course webpage each week, usually the next day.

  • Honolulu, Hawai’i: Weds beginning 15 Feb 2023, 6:00-7:00pm

  • US Pacific: Weds beginning 15 Feb 2023, 8:00-9:00pm

  • US Eastern: Weds beginning 15 Feb 2023, 11pm-12:00am

  • London, UK: Thurs beginning 16 Feb 2023, 4:00-5:00am

  • Paris, France: Thurs beginning 16 Feb 2023, 5:00-6:00am

  • New Delhi, India: Thurs beginning 16 Feb 2023, 9:30-10:30am

  • Bangkok, Thailand: Thurs beginning 16 Feb 2023, 11:00am-12:00pm

  • Singapore: Thurs beginning 16 Feb 2023, 12:00-1:00pm

  • Tokyo, Japan: Thurs beginning 16 Feb 2023, 1:00-2:00pm

  • Sydney, Australia: Thurs beginning 16 Feb 2023, 3:00-4:00pm

Description:

  • A practical approach to help participants become aware of language inaccuracies and correct them, this 8-week course offers solutions for common mistakes native speakers of Spanish make when they communicate in English. In very simple terms, what is different between English and Spanish, and why? This training also enhances participants’ flexibility and self-knowledge through awareness of language patterns and the understanding of languages as systems that may or may not overlap. Delivered in a light and entertaining way, this Professional Development course can lead to a meaningful transformation of participants’ communicative skills in English and general linguistic self-esteem.

We offer:

  • 8 sessions per Term

  • Hybrid classes: students have the option of attending either in-person at the EarthDiverse Centre in the Hamilton CBD, or on-line via Zoom

  • Classes are recorded so that learners can review sessions, or catch up on a missed class.

Meet our Instructor

Portuguese Instructor Cristina Schumacher, MA

Cristina Schumacher is a Brazilian linguist based in New Zealand and an expert in language learning and teaching, having completed her Masters Degree in Administration from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil in 1995. With 28 titles published since 1999, she is also a coach, translator, evaluator and consultant to large international companies. Her work is focused on language awareness and on how language knowledge can become a highly effective self-development tool. In addition to her native Portuguese and the knowledge of a range of other linguistic systems, Cristina is fluent in English, French, German and Spanish. As our Director of Language Programmes and key member of our organisational team, Cristina oversees the growth of our language offerings, sees to the needs of our language students, and is helping to design a standardised methodology and pedagogy for our language programme. She also teaches Portuguese for EarthDiverse.

Location:

All in-person classes are held at the EarthDiverse Centre located at 401 Anglesea Street, Hamilton Central, Hamilton (located 3 shops north of the Hamilton Central Bus Station, above Copier World) (entrance is located on the left side of the building, see map below). Those looking for parking for our evening classes can park just in front of the building in any of the available car parks. Daytime parking can be found in our dedicated car parks, or free 2-hour on-street daytime parking can be found just in front of Anglesea Street.
Location

Distance Learning:

This course has distance-learning options for those unable to attend the live class sessions in Hamilton. Students have three options for attending our courses once they have registered:

  • Attend in-person classes in our Hamilton classrooms at the regularly scheduled day and time.

  • Attend our live on-line classroom sessions via Zoom at the regular scheduled day and time.

  • Watch the live-recorded class sessions at your leisure, at a time, day and place more suited to your schedule.

Distance-Learning options:

  • In addition to our in-person classes in Hamilton, our courses offer distance learning options for those unable to attend classes in-person. Live-streamed Hamilton classes are available via free Zoom software for those living outside the Waikato. Live-streaming allows you to participate fully in your own learning, ask questions of the instructor and participate fully in the same way as if you were in the physical classroom.

  • Those unable to attend the scheduled date and time of the actual class sessions, or those who need to miss a class or two due to previous engagements or unexpected illness, can watch any or all of the live-recorded video sessions on their computers, laptops, tablets or mobile devices and study at their own pace and in their own time.

  • Detailed instructions on how to access our distance learning components will be sent after completing your registration. There are no additional fees for this service. However, distance learners will need access to a desktop or laptop computer with a good quality web-camera (tablet devices and mobile phones can also access our live-streamed classes), a built-in microphone (most modern laptops have built-in microphones) or a headset with a microphone. You will also need to download and install the free Zoom software on your computer or device. Those accessing the video recordings will be able to do so with a simple web browser on any device.

Pricing options:

All prices in New Zealand dollars and includes GST. Unwaged includes students, seniors and retirees.

Course curriculum

Week by week new material will be posted throughout the duration of the course. Video recordings of each weekly session will be posted here after 1-2 days after each class.

    1. EarthDiverse Course Information

    2. EarthDiverse Zoom instructions

Additional course info:

  • Videos and PDF content of class presentations or whiteboard notes are uploaded weekly after each live session
  • Begins on Thur 16 Feb 2023
  • NZ time: Thursdays 5:00 - 6:00pm

Notes:

Those who cannot make the class meeting day and time either in-person or via live Zoom sessions may consider accessing this course through the weekly recorded video sessions. Class videos are posted within 24 hours of each live class session and are available for your own personal learning session on a day and time of your choosing.

Prerequisites:

You must be a native Spanish-speaker in order to take this course and looking to improve the fluency of your English language abilities.

Materials:

Learners require only a pen or pencil, eraser and a notebook.

Students reviews

Testimonials