You are also warmly welcomed into the Canterbury Club. With Canterbury, you will receive an exciting choice of monthly social activities through our club, which is attended by a large number of our professors and students. With our club, you have an excellent vehicle to make friends and discover Spain. Also, you get a chance to socialize with the Canterbury teachers and office staff, instead of just seeing us behind desks. This is the real bona-fide "family vision" that we foster.
Everyone in the TEFL program who wishes to, participates in the Canterbury Club and the one or two extra-curricular activities a month that Canterbury offers to students (pub nights, road trips, excursions, movie nights, dinners, etc.). These events are attended and run by Canterbury directors, trainers and staff. This is the key to our friendly, family environment, that we take great care to create and encourage. Our club is an enjoyable part of our program that is unique to this school. The Club is supported by a monthly newsletter, with details of the monthly events, a conversation topic, as well as a teacher and student of the month. This greatly helps to integrate everyone into the school and the Spanish culture, where Spanish students of English, TEFL students, friends, family and teachers mix and have a great time together, creating lasting friendships and memorable experiences in Spain that last well beyond the duration of the TEFL course.
The school year kicks off with the traditional Vendimia Grape Harvest Party in October, and culminates with the annual Picnic/European Football Match with all the teachers and students in the Retiro Park in June. One of the highlight events on the Canterbury Club calendar is the TEFL Graduation Ceremony, a significant event for the Canterbury TEFL students that is held every Spring, usually in April or May. There are guest speakers and awards given out for outstanding merit including trophies for the bronze, silver, and gold TEFL students of the year, on stage at a local restaurant/bar in Madrid. Afterwards, of course, there is a TEFL Graduation Party with assorted foods, drinks and live music!
The program also includes Spanish culture classes on history, civilization, art, politics, and drama. Our cultural agenda includes guided excursions to attractions such as the Medrano Cave in Argamasilla de Alba, where, according to popular legend, Cervantes was kept prisoner, and where he started writing Don Quijote; the famous Celtic-Iberian city of Numancia, and the Roman Amphitheater and impressive ruins of Segóbriga, a famous Roman city that was discovered about 30 years ago near Madrid. This improves the relationship between teachers and pupils, who become friends and thus create a better atmosphere in the classroom and enable a greater understanding of life in Spain, its residents and culture. The activities facilitate contact with Spaniards and, thus, considerably accelerate the cultural learning process.
Thus, the Canterbury Club never forgets to stop and smell the roses with a strong lemon twist of adventure and fun times at the autumn Grape Harvest Party, the winter Flamenco Night, the spring Barbecue & Bullfight and the summer Terraza (outdoor café) Night, as well as the Retiro Park Sangría Picnic & Soccer Day.
