¿Hablas Castellano? Learning Spanish in Buenos Aires

[RWS]

An "intensive" four-week course in the UBA cost AR$875, fifteen months ago (prices may be a third or more higher now). A bargain in comparison to private institutes that, I'm told, are no better in teaching.

 

[JHB1216]

I went to the BsAs Spanish School in the Congresso area and took both group and individual sessions over a 2 month period. It is an immersion school where Spanish is spoken 99% of the time.

The Pros:
-The teachers (about 5) are great
-The price is reasonable although it went up in the 2 months that I was going to class.

The Cons:
-The Congresso are is very noisy and the demonstration are heard in the classrooms during the classes.
-There is no books but poor quality handouts that are sometimes difficult to read
-One common bathroom for 35 odd students during breaks
-Cheap desks and tables (one broke on me and I only weigh 185lbs)

This school was not good for me because I do not have a good ear for languages and trying to learn from the teachers that are using the correct pronunciation of Spanish as well as having to listen to the other students speaking and asking questions in mis pronounced Spanish had me tuning out after about an hour. That and the curriculum is such that you move along at a good pace regardless if you are picking up the language.

With all that being said I would not hesitate to take individual classes from any of the teachers that are teaching there. Anali, Luciana, Teresa and Marali are great...

 

[RandallBass]

If you're set upon studying in a formal course offered by an institute, you may wish to try the Laboratorio de Idiomas, part of the Universidad de Buenos Aires ("la UBA").

I'd suggest working with a tutor instead. My own is superb, and I know that at least two posters here have the best of good fortune with her: Prof. García was educated as a teacher and has much experience working with foreigners learning the language.

y mi tambien, por favor. necesito la informacion de tu profesora.

gracias

 

[RWS]

y mi tambien, por favor. necesito la informacion de tu profesora.

gracias

No, ¡por nada! Always glad to help.

 

[kappra]

I'm surprised that no one ever seems to mention CUI (Centro Universitario de Idiomas) as a place to study castellano. It is also part of UBA, but is not located in the noisy protest heavy area as the other program. I can't quote prices, but I think they are reasonable. They offer intensive classes that begin every month. Classes meet from 1-4 p.m. every day, and they also have wonderful trips around the city. It is a great way to learn Spanish, get to know a little about Buenos Aires and also meet other people. They also offer many other languages besides castellano if you're in the mood for a little Quechua, Mapuche, Korean or Arabic. I highly recommend it as a language learning resource.

Centro Universitario de Idiomas

 

[angieinba]

a fantastic school with awesome teachers, reasonable prices is CEDIC downtown. they always hold staff/student dinners almost ever week so people can socialize. they are wonderful over there.
here is their website.

CEDIC SPANISH SCHOOL

 

[RWS]

I'm surprised that no one ever seems to mention CUI (Centro Universitario de Idiomas) . . . . It is also part of UBA . . . .

This was the school at which I studied (for a month in the "intensive" program) when I first determined to learn the language. The following year, I spent a month in the Laboratorio.

Why the move? The CUI, though founded as part of the School of Agronomy at the UBA, now is privately owned and managed (a provision in the sale of the Centro allows its owners to make reference to the UBA, however, and thus confuse everyone -- or, at the least, to confuse us foreigners); its faculty are contractors, generally without training in the teaching of languages to non-native speakers. The Laboratorio de Idiomas, by contrast, remains part of the university, properly situated where one would expect to find instruction in foreign languages; and its faculty are academically trained as teachers of foreign languages. Also considerable is the difference in tuition: the Laboratorio, as an institute within a public university, charges considerably less, even to non-Argentines, than the private, for-profit CUI.

The move benefitted me: I learned more and better in the Laboratorio than in the CUI, despite the occasionally intrusive noise from the street.

 

[lismauri]

I would like to recommend my Spanish teacher, Lilia. She is Lic. in Letras (UBA) with more than 18 years of experience in teaching Spanish for foreigners. She´s an excellent teacher and a nice person. Learning Spanish from her is a very pleasant thing to do and productive. Her email is: [email protected] or [email protected]

good luck for everybody!

 

[allforepar]

I just posted in another thread about EDENA - Enseñanza del Español en Argentina for a school in BsAs.

Since I'm in the states right now and headed to Brazil this year, I'm actually trying to learn some portuguese through a website called Livemocha: Learn Languages Online - English, Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin, 学会英语. It's free and offers some simple on-line courses, but you can connect with people from all over the world to chat, or even speak with, in whatever language you are learning. I've only been using it for about a week, but I think that it's a fantastic resource and have gotten bombarded with requests to exchange my native english for both spanish and portuguese.

Chau

 

[adriana calcagno]

Hello, active spanish is a method developed to help students with communication skills. Try a free of charge lesson, call at 1565416950