How to choose a Spanish School
Nowadays, prospective students piled into planes and headed for abroad studies having
little more than the name of the city where the school was located. Now that the
information age is upon us, scooping out language schools at a distance can be a matter
of a few mouse clicks. Today, you can easily fill your computer until it is virtually
groaning with information on just about any narrow, off-beat subject in just a few
minutes. Knowing exactly what information to ask for has become critical.
You can use the internet to gather the information you need to choose a school whether
you are presently in the same city as the school or far away. An inventory of your
personal needs and aspirations should be your starting point. Make a list of what is most
important to you and prioritize it. Try to be very clear about details such as whether
location is more important to you than the teaching method. Think about whether
socializing with other English-speaking students is a key factor and exactly what you
would like to do in your spare time. For instance, if you know you'd like to combine
some visits with you studies in a familiar and professional way, head for Bilbao. If time
at the beach is important to you go also for Bilbao.
Go to the schools you're interested in and pick up the information they make available.
Look this over while you are still there and decide if there is any reason why - according
to the list you made - you would not want to study there. A school might have top-
quality language teaching, but still not be the right place for you. This often happens
when the location or schedules are not convenient. It also happens when the teacher-
student ratio is too large (or too small) for your needs. The cost and amount of personal
attention you receive generally depend on this ratio.
Some people prefer a low-cost program with a large group and only a few hours of class
per week (such as are found in universities which offer Spanish for foreigners). One
drawback with this type of course is that there is little opportunity to practice speaking
Spanish with the teacher monitoring and correcting you. Only people who have quite a
bit of contact with the spoken language in their daily lives find this large-group scenario
to be advantageous. They get all the real-life practice they need outside the classroom
and count on the class for a clearer understanding of grammar. This is also best for
people on a restricted budget. All teachers in Instituto Hemingway have sence of humor
so your lessons are not boring. Sometime after school all students and teachers are
going together for example to the beach or to some restaurant.
In a typical language immersion school, the student doesn't study only in the formal
sense — he or she lives the language. In Instituto Hemingway classes are taught entirely
in Spanish, speaking in another language at any time is discouraged, and the student
lives in Spanish-speaking environment. That means students hear the language as it is
used in real life.
The reasons to come to a language School like Instituto Hemingway are simple:
Because you want to learn the language. Because it's fun. Because you can make new
friends. Because you can gain an understanding of a different culture. Any or all of the
above.

Another thing you should check on is the availability of group classes. Schools which
offer only private or individual classes at low prices (or that insist on your taking private
classes for some reason or another) generally do not have well-trained teachers nor a
well-organized program. Schools advertising "small group" classes without mentioning
the maximum number of students per group, should also be avoided
One of the things that can easily go wrong with off-site enrollment is that people who
expect to participate a lot in class may find themselves in a classroom where the teacher
lectures most of the time and they don't get to practice speaking Spanish very much.
Sometimes the opposite occurs and the participants have to try to speak using forms
they are not yet very familiar with more than they care to. Methods in some schools
involve mostly the repetition of sentences using the target structure and don't allow for
explanations of the grammar. This can be disconcerting to participants who were not
expecting it.
Class size is one of the most important considerations in choosing a language school.
One common misconception is that people think one-on-one or individual instruction is
better cost-wise than small group classes. Individual instruction is an obvious choice for
people in certain situations, such as people who have had lots of listening and speaking
practice, but little or no formal training in grammar. This type of class is also the best
solution for people who need to study specific vocabulary. By and large, small groups
(six or less) are the best deal cost-wise.
The site of Instituto Hemingway (www.institutohemingway.com) is very complete.
This is a good site to check out even if you aren't planning on using the company's
services. There's a lot of information about other services provided by the Institute but
related to work or live abroad.
"So you think a language school is expensive? Consider this: the average student spends
an average of two years studying another language in college. At the University of
California for example, three consecutive classes are taken for two years to fulfill
requirements. These classes are an hour a day, four days a week. Two years of this
instruction will cost you 600 hours and over $3,000 in the public system, and often
students (like myself) still feel unskilled in the language of study. Now consider the
alternative. Students can study abroad in a language school with intensive instruction
and often become proficient in the language. The average cost for two months of
instruction, 160 hours of classroom instruction, room, board and travel excursion runs
about $1,700. After a good language school, it's not unusual for students to test out of
language requirements, with less time, less money, and more fun."
Jose Alonso
Director of Instituto Hemingway