New Applicants Begin Spanish Programme at Venezuelan Institute

Forty-two Jamaicans have started a two-year Spanish programme at the Venezuelan Institute.

The Institute, located at 24 Windsor Avenue in Kingston, offers complimentary Spanish and guitar classes for children and adults.

Chargé d’Affaires at the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Luisa Gutiérrez, welcomed the new students at a ceremony held on February 19 at the Institute.

The students will remain at the basic level for a period of 10 weeks before moving on to the intermediate, advanced and superior levels of training.

Mrs. Gutiérrez told JIS News that the Institute has over 200 students at various levels, including students attending the guitar classes.

She said another batch of students will join the Institute in May 2018. Persons interested in learning Spanish can call the Venezuelan Institute at 631-3489 or email ivccjamaica@gmail.com, or contact the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 36 Trafalgar Road, Kingston 10.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Gutiérrez said the Institute will resume its conversational Spanish class on Friday, February 23, beginning at 4:30 p.m., noting that the class will focus on improving the oral skills of participants. It will be open to candidates who have completed classes at the Institute.

“We will have films in Spanish about Venezuelan history, about the Caribbean region and Latin American countries. We want people to improve their levels of Spanish and practise speaking in Spanish,” she said, adding that native Venezuelans will be present to support the programme.

The Chargé d’Affaires said the facilitators of the conversational class will be rotated, adding that it is important for students to interact with different teachers to hear different pronunciations of the Spanish language.

The Venezuelan Institute has been offering free Spanish classes in Jamaica for more than 40 years.