Private Classes

Ausgezeichnete Betreuung durch meine Lehrerin. Hat meine Bedürfnisse genau analysiert und den Unterricht danach aufgebaut.
Das ist der Vorteil des Einzelunterrichts. Nachteil ist, dass es keine Mitstudenten zum gegenseitigen Austausch gibt.
Schade, dass ein Gruppenunterricht nicht möglich war. Die intensive Betreuung incl. Stadtführungen durch die Lehrkraft war in guter Ausgleich.

I have a 2-week intensive courses (20 h). There are only 2 students in the class so that each class was reduced to 2 hour, which is very short for learning.
The academy is located in the city center.
The accommodation is 10 mins away from the academy, and the host family is very kind.

I am glad I chose Valladolid because as a lone traveller I felt safe. It is a lovely city. The location of the language centre is excellent as it is central. My accommodation was only minutes away and was comfortable and convenient. Due to the time of year I was the only student in the class, therefore my class time was reduced so I had to self study. The staff in the centre were very pleasant. My class teacher was very nice but I found the lessons difficult as the entire lessons were communicated in Spanish. I found it difficult to understand grammatical concepts taught in a foreign language. I was not aware of any activities on offer. Overall I enjoyed the experience and I would recommend as I definitely spoke more Spanish than usual. The owner of my living accommodation invited me out for an evening with her friends to an historical site which was both interesting and useful.

In general it was good. Due to the summer there weren't many students. In my level we were just two students, which was good, because we could speak a lot. The problem is when you don't like the other person, but that's not the problem of the school.
I liked it

Spanish has me demystified!
It was my first time ever learning Spanish. I have so much love for the language.
Marissa, my professor is the definition of a GOOD TEACHER.

The school was perfect! The learning material served it's purpose and my teacher took her time to carefully and effectively lead me through my introduction to the Spanish language.

I only had a one-week course but I came out of it so very satisfied. I am definitely going back for my next class. Can't wait!

Classes and teachers were excellent. Facilities v good. Location perfect. Housing perfect.
It would be good if there was a student room for study or to relax between classes.

Because it was the summer when there were few students I luckily ended up spending my entire week with just me and a Spanish teacher. That teacher was Vanesa who was simply brilliant. She had always prepared interesting material for each of the daily 2-hour classes, spoke to me all the time as if I were a local (so no concessions on speed!), was extremely patient and didn't constantly correct. (The worst teachers keep interrupting so you never get a flow going.) I'm still at that stage where I use use quite a lot of English syntax and over the week she gently started to move me towards Spanish syntax. Sra. Galván was enthusiastic, energetic, dramatic (at times I thought I was at the theatre) and wonderfully friendly. I greatly enjoyed my lessons with her and genuinely believe that my Spanish will have improved provided I take on board all I learned from her. To put these comments into context, at the end of my week I was classified as B2 though I'm well aware that I'm probably at the lower end of this level. I stayed in a hotel, not with a family.

Would I return? Only if I could have one-to-one classes with Sra. Galván. There's no doubt that in classes of even 2 or 3, progress is a lot slower and much less personalised. You have to remember that with a system that classifies language ability into just six groups, ranging from absolute beginners (A1) to totally fluent speakers (C2), within each of the groups there's still a big difference in ability between students allocated to that group - and that impacts on the dynamics in the classroom. A fellow English student studying at the same time as me shared her class with just one other and her experience was not very satisfactory. But that's the risk when you go to any language school. If you can afford it, go for one-to-one lessons. I reckon that in just an hour a day of one-to-one tuition you'll achieve more than in four hours in a class of 10.

My teacher Marisa was wonderful and very patient! I was a complete beginner and she spent two weeks giving me one-on-one teaching for a solid foundation of Spanish, as I now have moved to work in Asturias. It was a good location, and I took advantage of the free tickets to the museums which the school provided.

Thinks for this experience - very interesting! A good class, teachers, location, etc. I can speak Spanish better.

Thanks.

The teacher and the class at International House was a great learning experience. I found everyone to be respectful and supportive. The school was in a convenient location. With regard to my host family, my host family was a match for my age and lifestyle.