Academic methodology
What level am I?
When you sign up for classes you complete a needs assessment that will give us an idea of your motivation for learning Spanish, your planned length of stay and your specific study goals. You will also complete a level assessment in order to help your teacher plan your classes.
We strongly believe that every student is different and thus classes will vary depending on the teacher’s style in accordance with the individual student’s needs and motivations. However, we define the basic levels using the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the internationally recognised framework that measures your level of comprehension, oral expression, and written language.
A1: Breakthrough (Beginner):
The student can understand and use everyday expressions. They can present and use very basic information about their living, belongings and people they know.
A2: Waystage (Elementary)
The student can understand common phrases, sentences, and expressions. They can exchange information about common issues and know how to describe occurrences in their past. They can also communicate about their environment and their needs.
B1: Threshold (Intermediate)
The student understands phrases about common issues such as situations at work, school or leisure. They can deal with situations likely to arise in their daily life in a foreign country, and produce simple phrases/sentences about familiar topics or personal interests. They can also describe experiences, events, dreams, and aspirations, as well as express opinions.
B2: Vantage (Upper Intermediate).
The student understands the basic ideas of complex texts of both concrete and abstract topics. They can communicate with native speakers with a degree of fluency and spontaneity. Also, they have no trouble producing clear, detailed text on various subjects and explaining their viewpoint.
C1: Effective Operational Proficiency (Advanced)
The student is capable of understanding most phrases and sentences, can express thoughts in fluidity and spontaneously without effort, and uses correct sentence structure. They use the language correctly in common personal and professional situations. They can create clear, well-structured, detailed sentences about complex subjects.
C2: Mastery(Proficiency):
The student is capable of understanding practically the entire language, whether written or spoken. They express spontaneity, with fluidity and precision, and distinguish the small details of the language even in very complex situations.
At the end of each week your teacher will submit a written report listing all of the subjects and language skills that you have studied in that week, and you may request a copy of this if you wish. If you change teacher this report will be given to your new teacher so they can continue to build on your skills. Written/oral exams can be set by your teacher at the end of each week, if desired, to determine what you have learned, but this is completely up to you.
Study timetable
Most students study 25 or 20 hours a week, but we can offer a flexible timetable to suit your needs. You also have the option of studying in the mornings or the afternoons, however we recommend starting in the mornings as the majority of our activities are in the afternoons. If students want to study fewer hours we normally ask that they study in the afternoons (and you can still participate in the activities that take place in the evenings) We can offer classes from 8am until 7pm Monday to Friday and can offer Saturday classes on request.
Teaching materials
In the school we have a variety of teaching materials that the teachers may use, including the text books ‘Sueña’, which specifically follow the CEFR levels. However we encourage our teachers to tailor lessons to each student, rather than follow a rigid syllabus, and they may use photocopies from different books, plus any other materials they wish to incorporate.
The copies that your teacher makes for your classes are included in your tuition. If however you would like to purchase a full text book/exercise book to work from (in class and independently), we can provide one for you for $6.50
Teaching area
You will study the majority of your lesson within the “classroom” (although this space may be inside the building, or out on our terrace or in the Posada courtyard) but you can also take a break with your teacher and have part of your lesson in the park, the market, or anywhere else that will give you real context to your learning.
Special requests
The advantage of our methodology is that we can also offer specialist Spanish, such as vocabulary specific for traveling, university courses, or any other requests you have. We have previously trained volunteer nurses, NGO workers, lawyers and social workers.