How do you find the right Spanish Language School?

Okay, so now you have even managed to narrow down your choices to one city. Well, if this city is Barcelona you have at least 20 language schools to choose from. How do you decide which one to go for?

This can definitely be one interesting question! Particularly interesting is it if you have neither been at a language school before nor in Spain and all you have is the Spanish language school’s website in front of you.

Normally you will look at several schools and simply pick the one you like the most based on a range of rather diffuse factors. This will usually work out just fine! However, sometimes it is good to know what you’re looking for, so below I’ll give you a few tips.

The first thing you can do is to evaluate the website. Does it look professional? Is it up-to-date or does it contain outdated information? Does the school have its own domain name (i.e. www.school-name.com)?

A school is a professional business, and if it, in this millennium, doesn’t care to present itself properly on the Internet they are not too serious about their business. A domain name costs around USD 10, and if the school hasn’t bothered to purchase this, you shouldn’t bother spending more time looking at their website either.

Of specific information, try to locate

To evaluate the school beyond the website, try to send it an e-mail, and assess both the time it takes before you receive a reply and the content of the reply.

How many students? A question you could ask, if not found on the website, is how many students the school have at the same time. It should have at least 20. The reason for this is that each school will teach at all levels, from the absolute beginner who comes to the school hardly knowing how to say “hola”, to the near fluent who wants to perfect her/his Spanish.

If you are a beginner you don’t want to be placed in a group with near fluent students – and vice versa. Therefore, it is crucial that there are enough students to form groups at different levels. There should be at least 3-4 groups (if each group has 5-6 students).

Another reason to ask for the number of students is the clause many schools have regarding the number of hours per week. If for example the course normally is 20 hrs/week, a clause could be that this will be reduced to 15 if there are only 3 students at your level and 10 if there are only 2 students at your level. The schools will say that smaller classes will make each class more effective, and to a certain degree that is right.

However, when most of the class disappears and there are few students at the school as well, I feel that a lot of the cultural point of a language school disappears. Ask in advance whether the school thinks there will be enough students to form the classes.

Which Nationalities? Another question is which nationalities the students at the school have. There are several schools that have a rather large segment of for instance German or Dutch students. If you are from Germany, you don’t want to be in a school with 50% Germans. In such cases you will suddenly find yourself speaking German with your fellow students outside of the classroom as well and you lose many “free” lessons.

There are two types of objective third parties which can help you assess the school better.

Organizations

The first group consist of independent organizations that assess schools. Examples of two of them are Instituto Cervantes and CEELE. If a school is accredited by one or both of these, you should definitely be safe.

A school that is accredited will usually be so proud of this that it will be stated clearly on the website. You can also go to Instituto Cervantes’ website and see if the school is listed there.

Other accreditation organizations are:

Membership of different international organizations also indicates that the school is serious:

It is by no means necessary that the school is accredited by all of the above, nor member of the three organizations. If a school for instance is accredited by CEELE that will be more than enough.

Earlier students

An even better way of checking the school is to talk with someone who has attended the school themselves recently! Most schools will list a selection of former students from different countries. If you can’t find a list, send an e-mail to the school asking for a few references. Try and see if you can contact someone in your own country, and hear how s/he liked her/his stay at the school.

Most schools will satisfy the above requirements. I will, however, not let you hang high and dry! I will therefore give you the directions to two websites where you’ll find excellent Spanish language schools all over Spain.

One of the websites belongs to the leading British travel agency representing quality schools around the world (Cactus Language), and the second belongs to the largest private provider of Spanish language courses in Spain (Don Quijote). Don Quijote has 8 schools with more than 15.000 students per year.

There are many other superb schools out there, but if you take a look at these websites, and see what they offer, you have something you can compare other schools with.

After having found a number of schools that satisfy your requirements, you can take a closer look at courses offered, cultural activities, accommodation etc. to make up your mind about which to choose. And in the next section here, this is exactly what we will look into as well. We’ll start by looking at what type of courses that are being offered at a language school in Spain.

Next Page: Which Courses are there at a Spanish Language School in Spain?