Learning Spanish: Financing Your Spanish Education

A couple of years ago, an American lady came to Guanajuato to learn Spanish. She enrolled in one of the most expensive schools in town. This school is good, by the way, and I always recommend it to people who want to come study Spanish in Guanajuato. This poor woman was a rank beginner. When she arrived, she was put in a class commensurate with her level; only the class was in the middle of the beginning class cycle.

In other words, when you enroll in a local, private Spanish school, you may not be put into a class that is exactly at the level at which you tested. If you are a rank beginner and need to be taught how to pronounce the Spanish alphabet and learn the phonetics, you will not necessarily land in a class with students at the same point as you. You will be put in a beginner's class but at what point in the class cycle is in will depend on when you show up. It isn't like beginning a language course at a university where day one, everyone begins at the same point and is studying the same material as the class proceeds.

This poor dear was totally lost. All the input she received in this beginning class was absolutely above and beyond her. There was no "comprehensible input" for her, although she was in a beginning class.

This is a total waste of your time and money. Wouldn't you want to know that before you end up flushing your money down a Guanajuato Spanish School toilet?

The school she attended is not cheap. It is good and you pay for good.

What to Do

Come to Guanajuato expecting to become fluent at these Spanish schools and you will leave sorely disappointed. Before you spend a small fortune coming here expecting to become fluent, try to develop as much spoken fluency in Spanish as you can. You will get a better return on your money in a Guanajuato Spanish school if you do. And, don't enroll in a classroom situation in the States. Do a home study course in the privacy of your home.

Commercially Available Products

Pimsleur Spanish

Rocket Spanish

Learning Spanish Like Crazy

Financing Your Spanish Adventure