language schools-need advice!

hi!

it's been a long time since i visited this site...it's all new and improved and really great! thanks madrid man!

i will be going back to spain around july or august this year and hope to do a couple of weeks of spanish while i'm there. i want to go somewhere new in spain! i've spent time in madrid, sevilla, granada, cordoba, barcelona, cuenca, valencia, alicante and zaragoza. does anyone have any suggestions on a great place to study spanish in a place other than these? i'd like to go to salamanca but prefer to stay away from a place with such a huge student population. i'd like somewhere smaller where there aren't as many english speakers so i can get the most out of my spanish

if anyone has any suggestions on places and any language schools i would really really appreciate it! all suggestions welcome!

thanks!

The Malaca Instituto www.malacainstituto.com in Málaga is excellent. I have been there several times and find the academics to be exceptional. Lots of tourists pass through Málaga, but few actually stay in the city. It is a pleasant area and well located for exploring other areas of Andalucia. I have written about it before so just do a search and you will find additional threads with information.

I spent a couple of months in Santiago de Compostela--it is an amazing city, very monumental and lively. When I visited in December, very few people were able to speak English with me, which was great. There is a university there with exchange programs--I am sure that they have a summer language program. Go online and check out the city, it is definitely worth looking into.

I have recently signed up for classes in Segovia. Town is northwest of Madrid about 1.5 hours outside of Madrid by bus.

I've never been there, but I hear that the population is around 56,000 and not alot of tourists hit the area.

The school I signed up with, I also get to live with a family near the university. The downside is that the professors are from the United States and are not native speakers. Also only 3 courses offered and they are not very advanced.

I signed up at www.kiis.org, but I hear other groups also provide classes there, maybe with native speakers.

The last 2 years I have spent a fortnight at a language school in Nerja, but at La Escuela de Idiomas, http://www.idnerja.es/
I checked out both schools, and found this suited my needs better than Quorom, plus it's on a much quieter street! ;-) It has it's own excellent residencia of about 30 rooms, complete with all facilities there.
Frank

You might want to try an organization called SpainExchange... they were great to work with when my company set up a visit to Spain... they can help find Programs, tours and even housing... or they can set up a program FOR you. Their website is www.spainexchange.com

Hope this helps.

We just moved to Madrid from the US 1 month ago and none of my family speaks Spanish. We have found that most of the younger spaniards speak some passable English but most of the older people do not speak any English. Our goal is to become functional in understanding and speaking Spanish in the 3 years we will be here. Does anyone know a good language school that is reasonable that me, my wife and 2 kids(Ages 7 and 9) could go to 1 or 2 nights a week for some aggressive spanish lessons? My kids get Spanish lessons in their school every day, but they could use some more tutoring.

Medical Man, send your kids to a Spanish school!!! You will never regret it and you will give your kids the gift of speaking practically as native speakers. That is an all too rare gift. We spent six months in Sevilla, putting our kids in school there. Our 8 year old already spoke some Spanish, but really took off. Our 4 year old did not speak a word and ended up chatting it up with anyone who would listen to him. You've got 3 years. What a deal! Don't seclude them in American schools. I found that the level of study met or exceeded that of our local school in the U.S. Also, Spain uses a calendar year for placement, so our daughter was placed in 3rd grade, as opposed to 2nd grade in the States. She was definitely challenged. Immersion is wonderful--embrace it.