Are you interested in obtaining a certificate of your level of Spanish, but you don’t know where to start? There is now a new option offered by the Language Service that might be fitting for you!
SIELE is a new language exam, organized by Instituto Cervantes among others. It is realised completely through the Internet, and it is a multi level exam: you don’t have to know your level of Spanish prior to participating!
Raquel Nielfa, who teaches English and Spanish for foreigners at our Language Service, tells us that SIELE fits especially those students who have to know their level of proficiency fast and are in need of an official certificate that is valid also outside the walls of the University: “The fact that you don’t need to know your level beforehand makes it all easier.”
This past Friday two fifth year students of Dentistry Vanessa and Jude participated in SIELE, arranged comfortably at the computer labs of the University.
“We decided to take this exam because our Department of Dentistry asks the students to have a specific level of Spanish before they can enter the clinic, and we didn’t have a language certificate yet,” says Vanessa about their motivation for taking the exam. Judy adds that if they want to study further and enter a Master’s programme in Spain, having this kind of certification is very important as the programmes are mainly in Spanish.
When asked about the biggest challenges they have faced while studying our language they both agree: “Pronunciation, for example I couldn’t pronounce the double r. Practicing it takes time. Also listening to Spanish was hard, because the Spanish people speak in a frequency to which I can’t get really used to, even after four years of studying the language.”
Raquel tells us that the Language Service organises Spanish language courses for all international students, from the level A1 up to B2. In addition, they organise courses for people coming from outside the University to which the students have access, too. These courses have a participation fee, however. “The courses we offer for outsiders are on preparation for DELE — another language exam by Instituto Cervantes that we organise — and there are courses on written skills and academic writing, and courses with specific targets like Spanish for health workers and so on,” Raquel concludes.
