How we teach Spanish
Small groups. Everything in Spanish from the first minute. A curriculum built on the CEFR and the Instituto Cervantes plan. And an afternoon programme that drags the language out of the classroom and into a tapas bar, a tango hall or a market.
We have been doing this in Buenos Aires since 2009 and in Málaga since. The method has not changed much, because it works: people learn a language by using it, with other people, about things they actually care about.
Four things we do differently
Small groups
Buenos Aires groups of 5 to 9 students, small groups in Málaga. In a small group you speak for a real share of the lesson instead of a twentieth of it, and your teacher hears every mistake you make.
All in Spanish, from minute one
Even at A1. It feels uncomfortable for about two days, and then it stops feeling like translation and starts feeling like communication.
A real curriculum
Structured on the CEFR and the Instituto Cervantes curricular plan, so your level means the same thing here as it does anywhere else in the world.
The city as a classroom
Cooking workshops, tapas tours, tango, film nights, excursions. The afternoon programme is where the morning’s grammar becomes something you can use.
The six levels, and what you can actually do at each
Every student starts with a placement assessment. Our academic director looks at your Spanish, your language-learning background and any other languages you speak, then puts you where you will be stretched rather than comfortable.
A1
Principiante
Your first conversations
You can introduce yourself, order in a bar, ask where something is and understand the answer if people slow down for you.
- Greet people and say where you are from
- Order food and drink without pointing
- Ask for directions and prices
- Talk about your family and your day in simple sentences
A2
Elemental
You stop translating in your head
You handle everyday situations on your own and start talking about the past, which is where Spanish begins to feel like a language rather than a puzzle.
- Shop, book a room, deal with a pharmacy
- Tell someone what you did at the weekend
- Describe people, places and routines
- Follow a slow conversation between two locals
B1
Intermedio
You can hold your own
You can keep a conversation going, explain what you think and deal with almost anything that comes up while travelling or living here.
- Give opinions and reasons for them
- Handle a problem at the bank or the doctor
- Understand the main points of the news
- Write a clear message or a short letter
B2
Intermedio alto
You can work in Spanish
You take part in fast conversation with native speakers without either side straining, and you can argue a position rather than just state it.
- Work or study in a Spanish-speaking environment
- Follow films and series without subtitles
- Defend a point of view in a discussion
- Write structured, detailed texts
C1
Avanzado
You use the language, not the rules
You express yourself fluently and spontaneously, and you catch the implied meaning, the joke and the register rather than only the words.
- Study at a Spanish-speaking university
- Understand long, demanding texts
- Use the language flexibly for social and professional life
- Hear irony, idiom and regional colour
C2
Maestría
Near-native command
You understand virtually everything you hear and read, and you summarise, reconstruct and argue with precision.
- Follow anything, including fast regional speech
- Write with nuance and control of register
- Reconstruct arguments from several sources
- Express fine shades of meaning
What a week actually looks like
Morning
Four hours of class
Monday to Friday, with a 30 minute break. Twenty hours a week on the intensive course. Speaking, listening, reading and writing, in that order of emphasis.
The break
Coffee, in Spanish
Half an hour with your group and your teacher. It sounds trivial. It is where a surprising amount of the learning happens.
Afternoon
Workshops and activities
Cooking, culture, city walks, conversation exchanges. Included, optional, and the fastest way to stop being shy about speaking.
Any time
One to one, if you want it
Private lessons slot alongside group classes to push a weak spot: pronunciation, the subjunctive, an exam, a job interview.
The social programme is not an extra
It is half the method. Students who come to the afternoon activities get far more real speaking practice than students who go back to their flat, because they spend the afternoon making mistakes in front of friendly people instead of avoiding them.
Cooking workshops
Tango classes
Film nights
City walks
Conversation exchange
Museum visits
Football
Asados and picnics
Volunteering
Who teaches you
Native speakers, qualified in teaching Spanish as a foreign language, who chose to do this rather than fell into it. They teach in Spanish, correct you honestly and tell you what is actually holding your Spanish back rather than what is easiest to mark.
Meet the Buenos Aires team or meet the Málaga team.
Find out where you would start
Tell us your level and your dates and we will place you and send you a price.