Spanish + Volunteer Work

A good week, learned a lot and felt my soanish improve

I really enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and professional level of teaching. The school is also very beautiful, perfectly situated in The Old Town. It also attracts a variety of ages and nationalities which is nice. The student activities were also well organized and very varied. Although I’ve been to Valencia they brought me to new places and new knowledge.

The school location and housing is great. Some windows do not have windows. Almost all teachers were great, all of them were very nice.

In Valencia's old town, not surprisingly the interior of Espanole's building is quirky. Built on 3 floors with the original ancient stonework in some walls and floors, finding my way from one classroom to an nother was confusing at first. During breaks there is plenty of space outside in a courtyard and large terrace to catch some fresh air between classes, and plenty of places close for a coffee in the 30-minute mid morning break. Classrooms are well lit, with most of them enjoying daylight. I had some great teachers (thanks Elena, Eric and Vera). The standard 20-hour weekly course of classes were good and very interactive - the school uses the Aula series of text books with 12 months' free access to Campus Difusión but teachers introduced supplementary video material and additional information, particularly in the Culture and Conversation class where Elena showed short films/film clips as a basis for further discussion as well as a variety of print material.

As with all language learning, you'll get out what you put in - including homework! There wasn't a lot, but it was certainly worth doing in addition to going over classwork. I'd also recommend getting involved in the free activities offered by the school - particularly dancing, the paella evening and the evening graffiti (wall art) tour. They are a great opportunity to get to know other students at the school when perhaps you find less compatibility with the students in your particular classes.

I recommend booking this school for a Spanish course. I was there for one week (end October) and took a B1.2 Spanish course. The teachers (Yolanda, Manoli and Andrea) were not only very helpful and approachable but also super nice and great fun. They talked a lot with us which I found the most helpful to improve in the language. I assume that a two- or three-week course would be a lot more sustainable, but I only had time for one week. The accommodation was decent and in my opinion very affordable (165 € from Sunday till Saturday). One thing that is also worth knowing is there were only few people my age (25-35). Most people were either under 20 or older than 50, which is perfectly fine for the course but maybe not ideal if you wanna find friends your age at school. That's also why I only joined few activities (the city tour, tapas eating and visiting the art museum). I appreciate that there is a great offer of activities, but I just assume that they get less exciting when there is almost no one your age. But overall, I was there to learn Spanish and I definietly did and enjoyed the school a lot. If I ever do another course in Valencia I would go here!

I had a very enjoyable time at this school. The welcome morning and level assessment was very good and the classes I was assigned to worked well for me. The teachers were excellent. The location of the school is central and for me, only a 10 to 12 minute walk from my apartment. This school is a beautiful 12 th century building with modern renovations but still maintains the old ambience of that century. For me the after school activities sounded good but I didn’t do any of them asI was with my husband and the activities are for students only. I didn’t mind but I know the one activity that would have been quite fun for both of us would have been the flamenco night. There are many little cafes and ba bakery and a small grocery store right beside the school for a snack and coffee at the break. This was a very good experience for me.

It was cleanly and well looked after. In a nice area with lots to do as well. The school was a lovely facility however the accommodation was rather far away. I would most certainly recommend to anyone wanting study Spanish Valencia

I was with three teachers. Two were fantastic. Each lesson was prepared and the teacher was able to impart the lesson with little or no English translation. The time passed way too quickly.

Unfortunately the third teacher was young and inexperienced. There were long pauses in the lesson and it seemed like we were waiting for her to figure out what was going to happen next. She did not have the tools to communicate her lesson without going to a translation. Our class was very diverse: German, Italian, Icelandic, Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese and American. The other teachers used the diversity as part of the lesson. She could not. Perhaps in time she will gain the experience and skills, but right now she was a disappointment.

I enjoyed the classes very much. They weren’t stressful but I still feel like I learned a lot. The teachers were very attentive, explained everything well, and seemed like they actually enjoyed their job. Some teachers based the classes completely on the textbooks, which can become a little bit boring after a while. Others structured the classes more interactively and that can make learning easier for some students.

The location of the school was really good. Just about 6 min away from the residence, right in the centre of everything. The school building is modern but also still shows the very old walls it was built around. There is air conditioning which was very important. However, some students actually caught colds because of the drastic changes in temperature.

The activities were a lot of fun. I was there for two weeks and an activity almost never repeated itself. Going to the beach was probably my favourite part, as well as going to the Guadalest waterfalls. Two employees of the school always came to monitor the activities but they were never too strict. We could do our own thing as long as we came back in time to the meeting spot.

I stayed at the residence which was very close to the school. The residence is very good on paper. There’s always food and water, a TV and common rooms, bathrooms and everything. However, especially the showers were very dirty and the whole bathroom experience could be a bit uncomfortable. But other than that, the residence was very good.

The school is great! The location is very good, the teachers are good and friendly and the school organizes a lot of activities during the week. I would recommend this school to everyone.

I was very pleased with the excellent organisator of the school en the perfect attention the theachers had for the very divers studente.

Classes were good though one teacher was much better than the other.
School itself - lovely building, nice classrooms
Good facilities and activities to do outside school
I think calling the course intensive 20hrs is misleading. Really we only had 9.10-10.50 am then 11.20-1pm per day which is not 20hrs per week. I wish we had booked for the extra grammar hour each day.

Espanole International House Valencia.

Facilities: Nice atmosphere and an open environment, which is good. Maybe at the start day it could have been arranged a little more efficient, the next four days was very good. Facility in class was good, toilets should be cleaned more and the boards should be fixed. I recommend to buy the right quality.

Activities, Pia and I went for 2 arrangement. tour round Valencia and food evening. Tour around Valencia was good. Food evening
(Paella de Valencia) was also good, though Pia and I felt a little too old with all the youngsters.

3 teachers:

A. Laura: Is a fantastic teacher, she can communicate very clearly and with respect. She has a very good mimicry. And keep a very good pace in class with regard to Spanish and subject.

B. Surayha: (Sorry for my spelling). She has huge amount of energy. Sometimes the pace was too high for the class, and she could seem to be a little impatient. On the other hand she is very good to catch up a subject the class found interesting. E.g. how social system works in Spain vs Ireland, Japan etc.

C: The grammar teacher (I cant remember her name) , she was very thorough and careful. Good.

The teaching book came too late on the 4th day.

Class : We were very different in age, from different countries and jobs so to reach all students would at all time be tough.

Teaching all in all:
Very good and teachers did combine subjects very good.
Book on the day number 4 is not good enough,
And I wonder - could some of the teaching somehow have added some APP. Like Duolingo - only better.
Some kind of e-teaching would be good to bring a long into the future. After 1 week we need to follow more up.
But...
Do we consider to come again? Yes

Kind regards and may you all have a good day.

Jens, Kristian, and Pia

I had a great experience in this school during 2 weeks. My level was low and an intensive program was the best for me.
I am speaking better now. The teachers are well. Nothing special else.

I was there one week and everything was good

Beautiful city, amazing people, perfect school!
100% recommendable!

I was very pleased with my teacher, Blanca. She was a very nice person and a good teacher. The location was also very good, near to the center and near to metro stations. My classes were in Calle Pizzaro. The entrance was so beautiful and so was the courtyard. The classroom was very nice, a place where you felt comfortable as well as at the rest of school. I attended only three activities, a city tour, a tour of the botanical garden and an evening at the roof terrace at Calle Nave. I liked all three tours.

I stayed at the college Galileo Galilei. I was satisfied with the facilities. My room and the bathroom was clean, and the breakfast was nice too. You could almost make it as you liked. At the college there were a couple of restaurants and cafes, so you did not have to stay in town, if you felt like going home. Sometimes I regretted staying away from the center, but then on the other hand it was nice to be able to go home, where it was more quiet. And the college was only three stops away from the beach.

The best experience I had was with the family, they were excellent and made me feel really welcome. I think my Spanish really improved with them as they always corrected me when I made a mistake and always encouraged me.

I had four different teachers during my stay. I had an individual teacher who specified the lesson to my needs. His name was Carlos and I thought he was excellent, he really wanted me to learn and I felt as though I learnt something after every lesson with him also his lessons were well prepared.

I had a conversation lesson, this in my opinion was a waste of time. I felt as though the teacher wasn't really interested and the lesson was never prepared. In fact on the final day I was tempted not to attend the lesson. It was also the last lesson of the day so both the teacher and students were pretty tired.

I had 2 lessons in a group, I thought the group was ok. The first teacher was good, I liked her, she was lively and the lessons were dynamic. The 2nd teacher wasn't great, again I didn't think she planned the lesson so much there was too much singing and dancing for my liking.

My main criticism of the course was that there was too much of a Christmas feel about it, it was evident that everyone was winding down for Christmas and perhaps not as focused and motivated as they might have been a month before. For someone like me who was only there for a week it was far from ideal! The only teacher who wasn't like that was my individual teacher Carlos.