To write an email in Spanish, open a formal message with Estimado or Estimada followed by a colon, use usted throughout, and close with Atentamente or Saludos cordiales. Informal emails open with Hola and a comma, and close with Un saludo or Un abrazo. Your greeting and your final sign-off must sit at the…
When my students ask me where paella was born, I never just answer. Instead, I take them to El Palmar de Valencia, a small fishing village inside Albufera Natural Park, about 20 kilometers from Valencia, known for its traditional paella, rice fields, and sunsets over the lagoon. We ride out of the city, and after…
The first time I brought students to Bar Tritón, one of them asked me where the dining room was. We were already standing in it. Bar Tritón is the oldest bar in the Port of Ciutadella, a waterfront spot in Menorca known for traditional Menorcan and maritime tapas, outdoor tables on the quay, and a…
Every group of students plays the same game with me. We walk through the City of Arts and Sciences, and sooner or later someone points and asks, “What is that one?” They mean the dark blue giant rising like the ribs of some enormous sea creature. That is the Ágora building: a modern structure by…
The first thing I do with new students at La Lonja is ask them to stay quiet for a moment. La Lonja, or La Lonja de la Seda, is Valencia’s late-Gothic silk exchange—a former center of trade and commerce that now stands as one of the city’s defining cultural and architectural landmarks. We cross the…
The Festes de Sant Gaietà are Llucmaçanes’ traditional patron saint fiestas in Menorca, held in honor of Saint Cajetan and marked by religious ceremonies, horse processions, live music, community meals, giants, and fireworks. In 2026, the main celebrations take place on 8 and 9 August, although the wider programme begins with the pregón at the…
Sant Lluís, in Menorca, is a small, quiet village in the island’s southeast, known for its orderly streets, French influence, local markets, traditional Menorcan food, and easy access to beaches like Punta Prima. The first thing my students notice here is the quiet. Shutters stay half closed at midday, the white walls hold the light,…
Long before a pilot is allowed to fly, he has to learn to speak. The instruments matter, but the words exchanged with the ground are what keep everyone safe and moving. Language, then, is not really a school subject. It is equipment. Some of my students understand that instinctively, and those are the ones who…
Some announcements arrive with fireworks. This one arrived as a confirmation email on a quiet Tuesday morning in Ciutadella, Menorca Island, while I was making coffee and thinking about which market I would take my next student to. Even so, I sat down and read it twice. After years of talking with students about why…
I met Sharon on a Sunday in November, and I was the third teacher to open a door for her that autumn. Most of my students arrive straight from the airport, jet-lagged and nervous, with a phrasebook and a week ahead of them. Sharon arrived from Barcelona, on her third consecutive week of homestay immersion,…
