Spanish Courses At Uba

[sere]

Has anyone had any experience of learning Spanish at UBA? I've been attending an intensive class at a private language school for 11 days. Yesterday I went to UBA, did the test and was assigned to an A2 class (haven't paid yet). I'm happy with the private school -teachers are good, class is small (4-6 people) and we can always propose you want, but a little expensive (for 60 hours, 1500 pesos more than UBA) and might be a bit far than the new apartment I plan to move into. I'm just worried the UBA class would be much bigger and I can't get enough attention from the teachers.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

Cant recommend it really, the building is a disaster & the teaching standard was pretty mixed, some good, some awful. I went as I knew my employer would look favourably upon it but it was not great.

 

[jantango]

You know the answer to your own question. If you're happy where you are, continue. Private schools have to charge more because they have fewer students in each class...so...you get more attention.

 

[camel]

I've took the UBA Español para extranjeros level 4 course in January (15 hours per week, fairly intensive). Before that I had taken lessons at 2 different local language schools. My complaint with the language schools is that they moved way too slow for me. I could have learned on my own, except that I wanted the speaking/listening practice (without which, you can't really communicate verbally anyway). At the UBA course, it was the opposite. The teacher spoke Spanish much faster and it was hard (but not impossible) to keep up. I got a lot more out of it. I may go back and continue later in level 5 (or whatever level I'm at when I go back). In my opinion, the price is good, especially if you exchange the dollars at the blue rate.

I took the UBA course at the Microcentro location. I think the teachers were competent, and the material was good. My big complaint is that the rooms are big and have a terrible echo, which makes it much harder to understand what is said. Seriously, in a language learning school, the acoustics should be better. They also offer this class at other sites, including the Palermo site, so perhaps the acoustics are better there.

Another factor that may affect your decision is how much time you have left here. If you only have a month or two, it may be better to stick with one program. In my case, I'll be here for years, so I am intentionally trying lots of different options to find the best one for me.

 

[sere]

Thank you guys. I think I'll check if the current two teachers will still be with me for the next level before making a decision. I read a post saying that UBA is better for mid-level students, perhaps the best way would be to continue study at the private school and try UBA for the next level.

 

[natykerouac]

Wait why aren't the UBA courses free?