Madrid
Community, Spain Travel & Accommodation Guide
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Alternative Holidays – Exchange
Conversation For Accommodation In Spain’s Englishtown Project
by: Nicole Escario
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Madrid, Spain -- For the
last three years, over 3,000 people have participated in the unique English
language immersion program known as Englishtown. Two venues, a 16th century
abandoned village and a plush country-style hotel, play host to a non-stop
eight-day intensive conversation program. English native speakers from
all over the world come as volunteers to learn about Spaniards and their
culture in return for their board and lodging while the Spaniards seek
to improve their fluency in the quickest, most intensive manner possible
on earth. The participants, both English-speakers and Spaniards, exchange
culture, conversation, knowledge and friendship.
| Englishtown was the brainchild
of Richard Vaughan, a business student from Texas who came to Spain to
teach English in the 70’s. “After a quarter-century of language training
and experience, I realized no matter how many times a person is drilled
on irregular verbs, the only way to truly understand a language is to actively
practice it,” says Richard.
This led to the creation
of Englishtown – eight-day immersion programs which include a cast of 20
Spaniards, 20 English-speakers from all over the world, a Master of Ceremonies
to provide entertainment and a Program Director to enforce the only rule:
No Spanish Allowed. All this for 15 hours a day, eight days and no stopping
except for your daily siesta. Throw in a mix of activities such as conversations,
scenic walks, games, meals and Spanish music and dancing, and somewhere
in between the Spaniards find themselves blabbing away in English without
having to stop, think and translate. |
 
Cool
Nightclub, Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain
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Flamenco
Jam Session at Cardamomo, Madrid
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The idea was so innovative
that it won the “Best Awards 2003” prize in Spain and has been featured
on dozens of message boards that buzz about a deal almost “too good to
be true”, travel guides, major publications and TV stations – CNN, Irish
Times and Chicago Tribune to name a few. The lure is easy – English-speakers
chat, play, walk, dine and wine with Spaniards with the beautiful backdrop
of the Spanish countryside while Vaughan picks up the tab. Multinational
clients such as Microsoft, Vodafone, Deloitte and Accenture send scores
of executives to Englishtown finding it to be the ideal solution to their
problem – a rapid, intense way to get their top directors speaking English.
Over the years, Englishtown
has attracted volunteers from all walks of life: concert pianists, writers,
CEO’s, social workers, backpackers, geologists, wandering musicians and
students from a wide range of ages from 18 to 80 that coin it as having
been one of the best, most enriching experiences of their lives. |
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| For more information visit
www.vaughanvillage.com. |
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