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DarKha Bilingual Hiking🥾: On Sunday, October 20, for our monthly bilingual hiking excursion we will climb to the Creueta in Xàtiva! Meet at the academy (Sant Doménec, 32, Xàtiva, Valencia) at 10; wear good walking shoes, water and a desire to explore and practice your Spanish/English. This is a steep, but short climb. It can be difficult for those  who are not use to climbing on all fours! The views are worth it, though! 🥾⛰️🤩

¡Seguiremos leyendo hasta el capítulo 6 de nuestro Libro para el Club de Lectura Bilingüe! Estamos leyendo en inglés y español "Las aventuras de Tom Sawyer" de Mark Twain. Es un clásico americano. Dicen que es para niños, pero muchos adultos lo encuentran muy divertido. ¡Nos vemos en la Academia a las 7:00 pm! ¡Allí nos vemos!

We will continue to read to chapter 6 in our Book for the Bilingual Book Club! We are reading "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. It is an American Classic. They says it's for children, but many adults find it very amusing! Meet at the Academy at 7:00 pm! See you there!!

Join us on Friday , October 18, for a fun and engaging evening at our bimonthly bilingual Adult Immersion class! We will challenge ourselves and bond through Spanish and English by playing Word and conversation Games. Let's come together at the academy  (Carrer Corretgeria, 35, Xàtiva, Valencia) at 7:00 pm to create unforgettable memories and share plenty of laughter. See you there!

September 22 , we are hiking🚶🏻‍♀️to Cove  Negra .🥾 An archaeological site that was home to Neanderthal man! Meet at the academy at 10 with water, snack for a 3 hour easy excursion (about 8 km on narrow roads and well trod paths). El 22 de septiembre , hacemos una excursion de senderismo🚶🏻‍♀️a la Cova Negra 🥾, el yacimiento arqueológico del hombre de Neandertal. Nos reuniremos en la academia a las 10 con agua y almuerzo para una excursión fácil de 3 horas (aproximadamente 8 km por caminos estrechos pavimentados y senderos bien transitados)

It’s summer! Like Californians, Valencianos head to the water: the beach, a river, or lake. That’s what I did last weekend to celebrate the summer equinox. As I trotted down to the beach, I saw a green flag flying high above the sand. Noticing a sign below, I took a moment to read it. Being in Valencia, the sign was in Valenciano, allowing me to practice the language. Right below Valenciano was the Spanish translation in small letters. By comparing the two languages, I figured out I got the message correct: green flag; safe to swim; yellow flag, swim with caution; and the red flag, prohibited from swimming. Californian beaches have a similar colored flag system to help keep beach goers safe. Then, I noticed the third language on the sign below the Valenciano and Spanish. It was my mother tongue, yet ironically, it was the one I didn’t understand! I read the messages over carefully: Valenciano: Bones condiciones per al bany (conditions are good for bathing) Castellano: Buenas condiciones para el baño (conditions are good for bathing) English: Good conditions for the bathroom. For the bathroom? Why do they mention the bathroom? To make matters worse, the “Red Flag” warned that the “Bathroom was prohibited”! In Valenciano it was clear: “Prohibit el bany” (Swimming is prohibited). I could understand why swimming in hostile conditions would be prohibited, but the bathroom? I pondered the absurdity. Was it a punishment against English speakers for not speaking Valenciano? Or perhaps, during hostile conditions, the water backs up, making the toilets unusable… Still wanting to make sense, I used a technique I commonly employ with my students; I translated the statement literally from Spanish to English. I laughed aloud when I understood! Let me explain. When native English speakers go to the beach, we don’t bathe (which means to take a bath in a bathtub in order to clean your body); we swim. When Spanish and Valencian people go to the beach, they don’t swim; rather, they bathe. For them to bathe means to frolic joyfully in the cool salt waters. Swimming is a sport which one practices! It’s not a way to spend time with family and friends. Once clarified, I enjoyed a playful swim until the waves turned rough and the yellow flag went up. I took advantage of the break to run to the bathroom. Interestingly, on a beach heavily frequented by foreigners, I did not hear any English speakers in the bathroom.

New Book for the Bilingual Book Club! Get ready for "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. It is an American Classic. They says it's for children, but many adults find it very amusing! Meet at the Academy at 7:00 pm! See you there!!

On Tuesday, August 20, for our monthly  bilingual hiking excursion we will explore Bolbaite! We won’t hike much, we will swim in the river and explore the town. Meet at the academy (Sant Doménec, 32, Xàtiva, Valencia) at 11 and please call +34 685 166 339 to arrange for a ride. Bring water shoes, bathing suit, picnic and a desire to explore and practice your Spanish/English. The entrance fee is 4€.  🤩🏊‍♀️💦 All who have a desire to meet cool people to practice their English and Spanish are welcome. Bring a friend!

“Seriously?! There are four ways to say YOU in Spanish! What’s wrong with just YOU?” Muttered Lori from Wales as she shook her head. “What do you mean, a table is a girl? It’s a thing, anyone can see it’s an IT!” Exclaimed Mike from England. “Good grief! I can never memorize all those verb endings,” despaired another student from New Zealand. I don’t respond immediately to these exasperated outbursts. I let my students entertain these “unfathomable” concepts until their defenses relax. That was my morning Spanish Grammar class. In the evening, the Spaniards come for their English class; and, I patiently listen to the same comments… only different: “Why is there a W in ANSWER if you don’t pronounce it?” “Why is everything backwards in English?” “If DO means HACER, why do you have the word MAKE , which also means HACER?” These questions don’t have proper answers. It’s become normal for my budding polyglots to compare and defend their English language skills against Spanish, and vice versa. It is pointless to justify the “correctness” of your native language, since languages represent different thought systems, different ways of organizing and communicating the world around and within us. Things really get fun when the Bilingual Adult Immersion class meets on Fridays. This is where the big questions get discussed as natives of the two languages meet head on head. Questions like: “If Spanish is a phonetic language, why do you have an H and not pronounce it?” Last Friday, a couple from Ireland joined the group for the first time. They were excited and had a list of questions for the native Spanish speakers. ”Which YOU do I use to talk to all of you in Spanish?” Alice smiled, waiting eagerly for a rational explanation. María, in her Spanish accent (which us Americans think is gorgeous, but don’t tell my students working on accent reduction!) explained that “It depends on the person’s age in relation to yourage, the social context, your relationship with the person, if want to compliment an older person you might want to use the TÚ form, if you’re angry, you may use the USTED form. With friends always use TÚ, except the older people always use USTED. With us, just use VOSOTROS, we’re all friends here! Does that make sense?» Concluded María with a smile. Wide-eyed horror had replaced Alice’s faded smile. Before she could compose herself, Sonia added her supportive two-sense: In Argentina, we don’t use VOSOTROS, only VOS which is the same as TÚ. For this group, you can use USTEDES! Alice didn’t ask more questions from her list that evening.

Practice your language🤓 and have fun in the bilingual Language Immersion Class for Adults😄 One of our members will explain the history to us while we take a route through Xàtiva. It's on June 21 at 7:00 p.m. We'll meet at the academy (Carrer Sant Domènec, 32) Call 722 126 299. #xativa #adultimmersionclasses #interactivelearningforkids #adultbookclub #darkhaacademy #englishclass #learnspanish #learningissuperfun

Practica tu idioma🤓 y diviértete en la clase de inmersión lingüística para adultos😄 Uno de nuestros miembros nos va a explicar la historia mientras hacemos una ruta por Xàtiva. Es el 21 de junio a las 19:00. Nos encontramos en la academia (Carrer Sant Domènec, 32) Llama a 722 126 299. #xativa   #adultimmersionclasses   #interactivelearningforkids   #adultbookclub   #darkhaacademy   #englishclass   #learnspanish   #learningissuperfun

Join us on Friday, June 7, for a fun and engaging evening at our bimonthly bilingual Adult Immersion class! We will challenge ourselves and bond through the universal language by playing Charades. Let's come together at the academy (Sant Doménec, 32, Xàtiva, Valencia) at 7:00 pm to create unforgettable memories and share plenty of laughter. See you there!