The annual Ninot Exhibition opens this Saturday, 4 February and runs until 15 March.

For those of you who don’t know a lot about Fallas yet, ninots are figurines (often life-sized) which make up part of a falla. Every year, each of the clubs which build a falla puts one ninot into the exhibition where the public vote for their favourites.

Route 66 Idiomas language school students shouldn’t miss this opportunity to get a close-up look at over 750 ninots and vote for their favourite models. The winners of the public vote in the “mayor” and “infantil” sections will be declared “indultat” and saved from being burnt on 19 March (they are then kept in the Fallas Museum).

Tickets for the last 2 weeks of the exhibition and weekends usually sell out fast. So if you want to visit to exhibition, get down to Nuevo Centro shopping centre (metro stop: Turía) as soon as you can to avoid queues and disappointment.

For those of you who are new to Fallas, the pictures above should give you an idea of the calibre of previous winners of the prestigious honour that is being chosen as Ninot Indultat. For more information, check out fallas.com.

Indiana Jones™ and the Adventure of Archaeology exhibition

If any Route 66 Idiomas Language School students are looking for an escape from Christmas, the City of Arts and Sciences is offering an adventurous alternative.

On 22 December, the Príncipe Felipe Science Museum will open the Indiana Jones™ and the Adventure of Archaeology exhibition. This is the European premiere of the exhibition, which will be in Valencia until 16 September 2012.

Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology will not only feature a vast and exclusive collection of Indy props, models, concept art and set designs (from the Lucasfilm Archives), it will also display a wealth of historical and cultural facts from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and the National Geographic Society.

Information and tickets
Tickets are on sale here. Adult tickets are 15 euros and reduced admissions 11.55 euros.

To find out more about the exhibition, visit the official website (available in English, Spanish and French).

Lucasfilm, the Lucasfilm logo, Indiana JonesTM and all characters, names and all related indicia are trademarks of & copyright © Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved.

This weekend, Route 66 Idiomas language school students may like to take advantage of VLC Cuina Oberta (Valencia Restaurant Week), which runs from 21-27 November.

In a celebration of local cuisine, 82 restaurants in and around the city offer you the chance to enjoy a gourmet lunch for 20 euros, or dinner for 30 euros.

For a list of particating restaurants, menus and maps, visit the event website. Here you can also check availability and book online (reservations are essential). But hurry! Tables book up quickly!

For those for you who don’t already know, the Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language (DELE, Diplomas de Español como Lengua Extranjera) are official qualification which accredit your level of competence and fluency in the Spanish language. They are awarded by the Instituto Cervantes, acting on behalf of the Spanish Ministry of Education. They are the only qualification in the Spanish language which is recognized worldwide and can be extremely valuable for your future educational and professional career.

Route 66 Idiomas’ intensive DELE preparation courses will start on 25 October. Classes are for a maximum of 6 students, so if you’re interested, sign up quickly so you don’t miss your chance at getting a place.

As I’m sure you already know, the teachers at Route 66 Idiomas Language School have years of experience preparing students to take these exams and we are proud to be able to say that the results have been favourable in the vast majority of cases.

If you’d like to take the DELE, you can register online now. For information about preparation course prices, click here.

We hope to see you in a preparation course soon and good luck to those of you taking the exams!

Congreso Mundial del Arroz y Homenaje a la Paella: 29 septiembre – 2 octubre 2011

Semana Gastronómica del Arroz: 26 septiembre – 2 octubre 2011

It doesn’t get much more Valencian than this!

From 29 September until 2 October, the City of Arts and Sciences hosts the 1st World Rice Congress.

Open to the public and free to attend, the event’s 70 stands will showcase typical wines and other products from Spain’s different regions. Next to the Science Museum, the “Gran Fiesta de la Morcilla de Arroz” and the “Túnel del Arroz” will give visitors the chance to try slices of morcilla de arroz (a type of black pudding filled with rice – tastes far nicer than it might sound) for just €2 and a wide range of rice dishes for €4.

As if that weren’t enough, “Rice Gastronomy Week” will run from 26 September to 2 October; 21 restaurants in Valencia city and 13 in the province will be offering guests delicious rice dishes with up to 25% off their normal prices. A full list of participating restaurants, the rice dishes they are offering and prices can be found here (pages 19-21 – information in Spanish).

Route 66 Idiomas language school students wishing to join in this homage to paella can find out more at the Congress’ official website.

UGC abandonó los pisos superiores del “Mercado de Campanar” a finales de abril. Pero ahora Yelmo Cines (una de las cadenas de cine más grandes de España) lleva el negocio y ofrece películas en las mismas salas en las que antes lo hacía UGC.

¿Lo mejor de todo? Yelmo ha apostado fuerte por la V.O. (e incluso más que lo hacía UGC), ofreciendo casi todos los grandes estrenos  doblados en español y en V.O.

Para más información (ubicación, cartelera, etc.) o para reservar entradas, visita la página web de Yelmo Valencia.

Even though it is still a secret to some, you can still see films in “versión original” in the venue where “UGC Cine Cité” was formerly housed.

UGC left the top floors of the “Mercado de Campanar” at the end of April. But Yelmo Cines (one of the biggest cinema chains in Spain) bought the business and is now screening movies in the same screens previously used by UGC.

And the best of it? Yelmo has decided to show a variety of films in “versión original” (and perhaps even more than UGC did), offering almost all the big releases in both the dubbed Spanish version and “versión original”.

For more information (location, listings, etc.) or to buy tickets, visit Yelmo Valencia’s website.

¿Sabías que si traes a tus amigos a aprender inglés contigo en la academia Route 66 Idiomas todos vosotros recibiréis nuestro descuento especial?

Nuestros nuevos cursos de inglés empiezan dentro de unas semanas y si 3 alumnos se matriculan juntos, cada uno tendrá un descuento del 10 % sobre el precio de su curso. Y si se matriculan 5 o más, ¡del 15% !

Y, si eso no fuera suficiente razón para venir a estudiar con nosotros, aquí tienes más ventajas por hacer un curso de inglés con Route 66 Idiomas:

• • Grupos reducidos con un máximo de 8 personas por clase.
  • Nuestros profesores nativos y titulados tienen experiencia en dar clases a todos los niveles desde el básico hasta el avanzado.
  • Una prueba de nivel sin coste ni compromiso.
  • Puedes probar una clase sin coste antes de matricularte.
  • Precios económicos y competitivos.
  • Nuestro enfoque en la comunicación y en mejorar la fluidez asegura que desarrollarás rápidamente la confianza para usar el inglés en situaciones reales.
  • Te suministramos el material para respaldar tu aprendizaje y permitirte seguir estudiando en casa.

También preparamos candidatos para una amplia gama de reconocidas titulaciones de inglés como los exámenes de Cambridge (Key, Preliminary, First, Advanced, Proficiency y los BEC), el TOEFL, el TOEIC y el IELTS. Conseguir unos de estos títulos te puede ayudar a acceder a estudios superiores o destacar tu currículum.

Visita nuestra página web o contacta con nosotros para más información sobre horarios y precios: www.clasesinglesvalencia.es

Tel.: 963  427 368

Wednesday 31 August: kick-off at 11.00

Come with us to Buñol for the Tomatina, the world’s largest tomato fight!

Every last Wednesday in August, thousands of people from all over Spain (and increasingly from all over the world) descend on the town of Buñol to enjoy this huge tomato fight.

The battle commences at 11 a.m. and lasts for an hour. During this time tonnes of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the town’s streets, where shops and homes are protected by huge sheets of plastic.

The history of the Tomatina goes back to 1945, when a random fight between local festival-goers happened to involve tomatoes. Over the years this confrontation became organized and is now the main event of Buñol’s annual summer festivities.

You can travel from Valencia to the Tomatina by train. Make sure you wear disposable clothing as you’ll probably never be able to wear it again after the event. Swimming goggles and earplugs are a good idea too.

Route 66 Idiomas language school is preparing for our annual Tomatina trip. If you’d like to come with us, sign up in the office!

To find out more about the event and how it all started, click here.

The night of the 23rd June is “la noche de San Juan” (Midsummer’s night). In Valencia and other parts of Spain one of the most common customs is to celebrate the shortest night of the year with bonfires on the beach. The brave jump over the bonfires for luck. Those less brave but who still want to improve their fortune for the coming year jump over the first seven waves that come onto the beach after midnight.

For most it’s just another excuse for a party on the beach. Students at Route 66 Idiomas language school who want to join in should head down to the Malvarrosa beach on Thursday night.

¡Feliz noche de San Juan! from the Route 66 team.