CBS Masterclass Season 1 - Class of April 2018

Become a master of the Spanish language

Registration for the Class of April 2018 has now closed



Take your first steps to becoming a
Master of the Spanish language!

  • Six monthly modules covering the areas of Spanish you need to know
  • Multimedia lessons presented by expert teachers and native speakers
  • Exercises, activities and checklists
  • Private Facebook group for homework and discussion

How does it work?

The Coffee Break Spanish Masterclass has been designed in response to the needs of intermediate learners in our community. With our regular, friendly lessons which fit your lifestyle we'll help you build your knowledge and develop your range of expression with the Coffee Break Spanish Masterclass.

The course is structured in six modules, each module lasting one month. Over the course of the month we'll make available lessons and activities to help you plan your learning and build on what you've learned previously. If you can spend just 20 minutes on your learning three or four times a week, the Masterclass is perfect for you.

You'll be following the course with a group of learners from around the world, and we'll be with you every step of the way. Take the audio lessons on the Coffee Break Academy, and then complete the activities in our private Facebook group. Best of all, we're delighted to be able to guarantee feedback from our team of native speakers and experienced teachers.

Regular audio lessons

The Masterclass is built around our regular audio lessons, and in each module there will be five main lessons. As usual, the audio lessons are presented by our expert teachers joined by native speakers, and in addition to learning content and original dialogues, you’ll also benefit from our translation challenges and worked examples.

Exercises and challenges

We’ve also developed a set of exercises and challenges for each module which will help you consolidate the language you learn in the lessons. Some of the exercises are based around translations between English and Spanish, and our challenges will involve you putting your language skills to the test with some writing practice.

Join the community

Our private Facebook group will allow you to share your learning with the Masterclass community. You can try out what you’ve learned with regular activities, or if you have questions about a particular aspect of the module lessons, you can ask our experts. The Facebook group is completely private, open only to those involved in this Masterclass group so you can be safe in the knowledge that you’re working with a dedicated group of fellow language learners.


 

Your Instructor


The Coffee Break Spanish Team
The Coffee Break Spanish Team

The Coffee Break Spanish team includes language teachers, native speakers and host learners, making your experience learning a language fun and enjoyable. You can be sure every course has been carefully written by experienced teachers to ensure you progress steadily through the lessons.


Course outline

The full curriculum of the course is listed below. The Masterclass is organised in monthly modules, and in each module you'll receive five audio lessons with accompanying notes and background reading. In addition, each month you'll take part in an activity to practise the language you've learned, and we'll send you a checklist and a review video to help you consolidate the language before you take the monthly test. Read on to find out more about what language is featured in each module.

Month 1: April 2018 - Build your range of expression and make your Spanish more interesting by learning a range of frases hechasin our module on idiomatic expressions. You'll learn to use estar reventado, meter la pata, and much more.

Month 2: May 2018 - In this module we'll be looking at some very common verbs which can prove tricky to use. You'll learn to use ser, estar, hacer, tener and dar in many situations, including in figurative expressions which are difficult to translate. By the time you finish this module you'll be a master of Spanish tricky verbs.

Month 3: June 2018 - Sometimes words in Spanish look like words in English – and that’s when you need to be more careful! Words don’t always mean what they look like they mean. In this module on “false friends” you’ll encounter a series of words and expressions which often trick learners, and you’ll learn exactly what they mean, and how to say what you think they mean!

Month 4: July 2018 - Start the New Year by getting on top of five of the most common tenses in Spanish, and know exactly when to use which one and how to conjugate regular and irregular verbs in each tense. If you struggle knowing whether to use preterite, perfect or imperfect in the past this module will solve all your tense tensions!

Month 5: August 2018 - In this module you'll be introduced to what learners often find to be one of the most tricky aspects of Spanish: the subjunctive. You'll learn to recognise triggers, to form the subjunctive and use it in your own speaking and writing.

Month 6: September 2018 - The final module of our first season of the Coffee Break Spanish Masterclass will help you to get to grips with some of the trickiest aspects of the language for learners at an intermediate stage including qué vs cuál, por vs para, how to use the personal a correctly, and lots more.

Class Outline


  Updates
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  Module 1 - Activity
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  Module 2 - Activity
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  Module 2 - Review
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  Module 2 - Test
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  Module 3 - Lesson 2 - Contestar, embarazada and enviar
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  Module 3 - Activity
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  Module 3 - Review
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  Module 3 - Test
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  Module 4 - Activity
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  Module 5 - Activity
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  Module 5 - Test
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  Module 6 - Activity
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  Module 6 - Test
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  Course Completion
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  End of Masterclass Exam
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Frequently Asked Questions


When does the Masterclass start?
We're opening up the Masterclass for access in March 2018, and the course begins on 1st April 2018, continuing until 30 September. Of course, we understand that you may have commitments which mean that you may not be able to take each lesson on the day it's released. However, once they're released, the lessons will be available to you for as long as you need them. Please note that registration will close soon after 31 March and you will not be able to sign up again until the next time we open the course for registration. [Update: registration for the Masterclass closes on 7th April 2018 and won't be available again until at least October.]
Who is the Masterclass for?
We’ve developed the Masterclass specifically for learners who are at an intermediate level. If you’ve already completed Seasons 1 and 2 of Coffee Break Spanish, then it will be the perfect way to develop your range of expression and build on what you’ve previously learned. The materials covered in each lesson will also be perfect if you’re currently working on Season 3. If you’ve already completed Season 4 it's possible that you will still find the Masterclass materials useful, but you should be aware that some students of Season 4 have found that the Masterclass materials may be a bit too easy.
How do I access the Masterclass?
The Masterclass is a bit different from our other courses because it is more like a 'coaching course', running for 6 months. You can access the audio lessons, the text documents and the video reviews for each module on the Coffee Break Academy. You can also download the materials to your own device or use a third party app such as Documents to organise and store the media files. Please note that there will not be a podcast feed for audio or video elements of the Masterclass.
Do I get access to all the materials at once?
No. The materials are "dripped out" over the course of the 6-month course. Lessons are published every few days, with five main lessons and additional activities, reviews, checklists and module tests over each month. Our experience is that this gradual release of the materials will help you keep on top of the course and avoid being overwhelmed.
How does the membership work?
There are two payment options for the Masterclass: either pay in six instalments over the six months of the course, or make a one-off payment at the start of the course. If you choose to go for the one-off payment we'll give you the equivalent of one month free. Regardless of how you pay, you'll be able to continue to access the audio files, text documents and video reviews in our Coffee Break Academy after your six months are ended. However, the Facebook group will only be active for the duration of the course.
What happens after I pay?
That depends a bit on when you pay! During the registration period your first payment will be taken, and if you've decided to go for the monthly payment option, subsequent payments will be taken on the same day of the month for a further 5 months. As soon as you sign up you'll receive a confirmation email and this will include a link to the Facebook group where you can go ahead and introduce yourself to the team and the other students - if you wish! We'll also send some further emails to help you prepare for the course starting on 1st April. On 31st March we'll activate the Orientation Module for you in the Academy. The lessons will be made available on each publication day at the time you originally purchased the course. So, if you sign up at 2pm UK time, then the lessons will become available at 2pm on each publishing day.

"I like the regular intervals of the Masterclass, which really make me want to keep up and improve my Spanish by a little practice every few days. The modules are extended enough to really dive into a subject like verbos or frases hechas, but they are short enough to keep you motivated and work your way through them easily."

- Elvin Roest, Masterclass Student

"I’m finding the Masterclass extremely useful and convenient. The topics are nicely targeted to the needs of my level in Spanish, and the materials and activities are well designed. I like the way the learning and challenges are delivered in doable packages that fit with a busy life!"

- Melanie Harris, Masterclass Student

"I really enjoy the timing of the modules being delivered. It makes it easy to choose when to complete them to fit in with everyone's busy lives. Not too much but just enough to have regular practice."

- Jackie Morris, Masterclass Student

This course is not currently available.