Levels and Proficiency

The Program Has 9 Levels…

• Beginner, Beginner +, Upper Beginner
• Intermediate, Intermediate +, Upper Intermediate
• Advanced, Advanced +, Upper Advanced/Bilingual (or almost)

Each level (for instance Beginner) has 32 hours distributed normally across 16 two-hour classes, about four months duration if you take just one class per week. Normally at this pace a total beginner in a standard course will need about a year and eight months to reach the Intermediate + level, at which time he or she will be able to manage without problems in a Spanish-speaking country. It needs to be noted that to reach this goal the student needs to follow the whole program, which includes not only the Spanish lessons but also the homework.

Please remember that we are absolutely flexible about the duration of classes (1, 1.5, 2, and up to 4 hours) and the number of sessions you want per week — whatever fits your needs.

More about Proficiency

The International Scale is used by many schools to determine the level of fluency in one language, and ranges from 0 (beginner) to 5 (bilingual). Level 3 (our Intermediate + level more or less) is a good goal for most people. At that level the student will be able to communicate well with native Spanish speakers.

Most students assume a regular track, spreading out the program over a little more than a year and a half. In other cases, students study more intensively to achieve their goals earlier. For instance, a member of the military who must learn Spanish to work in Madrid (perhaps at NATO) may spend 600 hours and six months (five hours each day — plus homework) to reach level 3. Of course, if you want to increase your proficiency beyond level 3 (more or less our Intermediate +), you will simply need more time and more homework.