Spanish class flavoured by mezcal

Stripey Spanish and Sorbito have teamed up to offer a relaxed social conversation club infused with mezcal tasting, learning about the mezcal production and local languages and cultures it is rooted in topped off with sharing travel memories and plans. 

Led by a qualified language teacher from Stripey Spanish this night will give you the chance to get to meet new people while sharing travel stories, picking up specialist language for mezcal flavours, and production and a few indigenous word languages with tasters of mezcal designed by the Sorbito team. Join us for a relaxed mezcal tasting and language learning night.  

 Improvers and veteran Spanish learners will begin the evening with either a basic introduction to Mezcal tasting with a few key words in Spanish or a more intermediate level introduction to a regional production technique. Then, the main flow of the evening moves you around the room tasting mezcal and speaking to new people with a relaxed mix of pair up activities and conversation prompts. 

Glimpse of the night

6.30-6.45pm welcome and arrivals, warm up activity introduction

6.45-7pm Learn about mezcal in Spanish: Choose between an improvers level look at basics of Mezcal, those with some knowledge of mezcal can explore more in depth topics like production or history

7-7.10 Look at the Spanish grammar in context and prepare for travel conversation by writing a question 

7-7.30pm Explore the mezcal of the month and work your Spanish language with mezcal profile team activity. Sample the mezcal of and share your reactions flavours and complete a tasting card.  Get a flavour of the indigenous  language of the region with a few keywords. 

7.30-7.35 Break and chance to top up your drinks or try a different mezcal

7.35-8.20 Travel conversation in groups or pairs groups.

8.20-8.30pm Teacher feedback, reflect wrap up.

Stay on for: more relaxed drinks and social conversation.

Who it’s for

• Anyone who plans to visit Mexico or Latin America and has been working the apps for some time but wants to see it come alive with real conversations. 

• Anyone who has ever travelled to Mexico or Latin America  has picked up a few words or can string along phrases from their travels but has never learned formally and wants to firm up their grammar awareness and use of different tenses (eg the past).

• Anyone who enjoys mezcal and would like to learn more about the production and cultural and historical contexts. 

• Anyone who wants to relax and meet new people. 

Level

Suitable for Spanish improvers with six months of study or travel speaking experiences (A2 level in the Common European Framework).

What to expect each month/What you’ll leave with:

Mezcal knowledge

Learn specialist knowledge of the mezcals the production, species of agave plants, historical context, cultivation techniques or histories (depending on focus of the month)

Spanish

• Understand and practise a range of Spanish flavours, reactions and interactions to use while tasting mezcal.

• Practise and pick up specialist words for the production, history or cultivation.

• Listening or reading practice of specialist themes curated by the Stripey Spanish and Sorbito team. 

• Centre on a selected grammar or vocabulary topic each month from the simple past, gerund, perfect tense, gestures or more. 

• Fully immerse yourself in all things mezcal.

Mezcal taster

You have the delicious chance to taste along with your class with a asmaple included (15ml). You have the option to top up credit and try more mezcals (15ml or 25ml) from a curated list of suggestions to relate to the sample mezcal.

Example of a travel conversation prompt

What intereste you themost about Mexico?

What were you most surprised by when you travelled to Latin AMerica

What one item would you not travel without? (other than phone!)

About Charlita

Charlita  is a new immersive learning initiative set up by teachers at Stripey Spanish with Sorbito that aims to create a local home of conversation and connection for Spanish learners in Stoke Newington. Inspired by travel both lived and planned and a love of mezcal and the cultures and communities it is embedded in.

About Sorbito

Sorbito offers guided tastings, rare bottles, and a new way to experience quality agave spirits. Sorbito is a hub for education, exploration and appreciation

About Stripey Spanish 

Stripey Spanish is an immersive Spanish school that's kick-started a way of language learning. It has been running classes in North London for almost ten years and worked with over 600 hundred students.  The vision is to create a crew of confident, motivated and capable Spanish speakers. The premise is clear - we can all learn languages, why not make it memorable, practical and social. It’s first of a kind 5 week and ten week courses in Camden integrate immersive social experiences to make for richer and more memorable learning. Our students get you out to London kitchens, escape rooms and mezcal bars speaking real Spanish while you're eating, drinking and playing games. We also run corporate programmes and an immersive class series. 

About the teacher

Carla Jones, Spanish Teacher and Founder Director of Stripey Spanish

Carla first learned Spanish aged ten when her family moved to Spain for one year and it became her passion to share this skill in creative ways. She found herself questioning and seeking more human centred ways of learning since she was at university. From doing dissertation fieldwork into indigenous education in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico to working in a company bringing play back into our lives in the UK. This interest all culminated in setting up an immersive Spanish school Stripey Spanish in 2016. 

She believes passionately that everyone can learn a language and that relaxed leaning settings along with carefully structured and interesting input and support is the way to create confident language speakers. Carla qualified as a Spanish teacher at the Institute of Education, UCL and has taught Spanish, French and Latin across ages. She now leads the Spanish evening classes in Camden with Stripey Spanish.

When not at work you can find her growing vegetables on her family allotment, volunteering at a medicinal herbs community garden or cold water swimming. 

*Improvers ar A2 and veterans ar B1

FAQS

What level is it for?

Those who are beginners and improvers and those who are further along. Using the common european framework this is A1-B1.

Do I need to pay on top for the mezcal?

The mezcal is included in the cost. 

Can I get a refund?

Up to 48 hours