Foundation of the Spanish Language

I had a wonderful 2 week experience with the fundación. The school is in the center of the city and Valladolid is a perfect location to immerse yourself in Spanish as there are not many foreigners there and the locals seemed interested in having conversations. I chose the family homestay option and had an incredible time with my host who introduced me to some of her friends. Alber took time to organize different cultural activities in the evening. Although we did not get to complete the list of topics we had planned, Anabel was a great teacher and kept the classes fun and interesting. She also did a great job with involving everyone in the conversation. I was a little anxious about choosing this program, because they split you up into groups based on your level once you arrive, but thankfully, there were 4 other people at my level. You obviously cannot control how many people arrive with the same level as you, but they do their best to accommodate everyone. In this regard, I was quite lucky. Natalia, the director, was very helpful and friendly, but I would recommend reaching out via whatsapp instead of email if you feel discouraged by the sometimes long wait times for responses to emails as they are quite responsive to whatsapp. There is the option to stay for just 1 week, but I would strongly recommend against staying for just 1 week as the experience is really designed to be 2 weeks. For example, the first day is mostly just information about the city, taking a placement test, and then a group tour of the city. The 2nd day was spent understanding our goals and preferred methods of learning.

I entered the school last year. I picked an individual class for several months. Now, im in a group class. Either individual or in a group, I always have good experience from several teachers. My Spanish improved too. A lot of improvement! Thanks to Natalia who always provides the best teachers for us.

While the teachers and staff were friendly and taught well for the most part, I cannot recommend going here outside of high season. I attended in May/June on the Scholarship/Beca and, although the city itself is nice and is a great location to explore the local region (Segovia, Leon, Burgos, Avila and Salamanca are only a stone's throw away), I found that my class was mixed with levels ranging from B1 to C1. The school did not organise any activities in the evenings meaning that, if travelling there solo, it can be a very quiet experience. Moreover, the excursions organised weekly only take place with 6 people minimum, however even if not taking place there are no classes on that day, as well as on the first day. As for pros, the classes were a full 4 hours a day, whereas most schools offer 4 classes of 50 mins and the teachers were friendly and good. Finally, I certainly would avoid the home-stay option as the food was poor, there wasn't any wifi and it was a lot of money for a cultural experience that I never received, just get an AirBnB.

Tuve una experiencia excepcional en la Fundación de La Lengua. Las profesoras Anabel y Carla hicieron que el aprendizaje fuera fácil y dinámico, con un enfoque completo que abarca tanto la parte cultural e histórica como la gramática. ¡Definitivamente volvería! Recomiendo muchísimo para quienes buscan una verdadera inmersión en el idioma español.