Where to study Spanish?

For most of us there are two conditions that have to be met when deciding about which language academy to enroll in: the quality or level of the education and the affordability. Well, I have to admit that in my case finding the perfect school wasn’t an easy process. Coming from a country where the prices are considerably cheap, or at least compared to many other European countries, I was literally shocked by the amount of money most of the academies here are making you pay.

To give an example, in Hungary the average price of a language course that usually lasts for about 2-3 months costs between 100 € and 200 €. To this amount, you have to add the price of the language exam, which is another 100-150 €. That makes it about 200-350 € to complete a language course and get your desired certificate.

In contrast, when I was searching information on the internet, I found that in most academies in Spain one single week costs 100-150€, which is kind of the same price Hungarians pay for a whole term.

So I was already giving up on my plan to enroll in a language school, when my boyfriend’s mum suggested me to check out E. O. I., Escuela Oficial de Idiomas, which finally offered affordable prices to learn Spanish.

I've tried to gather for you all the useful information about E. O. I.

Why choose E. O. I.?

It is cheaper than the rest of the language schools in Spain, because it’s a state supported academy. Furthermore, E. O. I. institutions are the only public institutions, besides the Cervantes Institutes, authorized to issue Spanish qualifications within Spain. They offer several language courses: English, German, Portuguese, French, Italian and Spanish as a foreign language. On the top of this, students can study on seven different levels: A1, A2, B1. 1, B1. 2, B2. 1, B2. 2 and C1. Thanks to the variety of classes, the groups are usually small, which is always beneficial for the learning process. And finally, E. O. I. institutions are everywhere in Spain, so all this information could be useful for students outside of Salamanca as well.

The prices and how to register:

Without proof of language knowledge, you will be required to do a placement test in order to get into the academy. Based on your performance, you will get assigned to one of the aforementioned groups. The test costs you 30, 36 €. But notice that by completing it, you don’t get any official certificate, it is only informative! (Logically, if you are a complete beginner, there is no need to do the test and you automatically start in the A1 group. )

After getting your results, you have to pay a registration fee of 5 € at the office, where you will receive a document that you have to fill out. Then, you will need to pay the price of the course in the bank, 162, 73 €. With all your personal data on the document, with a copy of your passport/ID and with the certification of your payment, you will have to return to the office. And at this point your registration is done! Hurray! And it only cost you 198 € in total! There is no extra charge for the examination at the end of the course.

One more thing: if you are a returning student, you only have to pay 132, 37 € for the course.

Timetable

The classes of the first period (“cuatrimestre”) start in October and finish at the end of January. I think this is really good, because by October, most of the Erasmus students have arrived to Salamanca and no one falls behind. The second period lasts from the middle of February to May.

Usually there is a fixed timetable based on the group you were assigned to. If you are a native, learning English or another foreign language, you might have the option to go with the timetable that is more appropriate for you, but as a foreigner, studying Spanish, you definitely cannot chose. The latter is due to the lack of Spanish teachers.

My personal experience and opinion

Talking about my personal experience, I am in the A2 group of Spanish. My classes are from Monday to Friday, from 9. 00 to 11. 00. There are 10-12 people in my group, and it is very multicultural, something that I couldn’t enjoy more. My classmates are from Brazil, China, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Libya (hope I didn’t miss out anyone). We are talking a lot about our own countries, which creates an interesting and stimulating environment in the class room.

I have been attending the classes from the very beginning and I can tell that I have already advanced a lot. Our teacher is a very nice person who has travelled a lot himself, and thus, he is very open to hear about where we came from and what our lives back home are like. He also have a very good teaching method: he makes us communicate a lot, we read articles from the university newspaper, we do a lot of listening tasks, we translate the lyricis of our favourite songs etc. Unfortunately, the next week is our last one, and I am very sad to be aware of this. Especially because some of my classmates as well as my teacher have become very good friends and I will be said to say goodbye to them – some finish their Erasmus, some just simply have other things to do.

Anyhow, I would recommend E. O. I. to anyone without doubt as it helped me to improve my command of Spanish a lot and gave me good companionship.

Hope you found the information useful :)

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