Reviews of Españolé International House, Valencia, Spain

"I didn't really enjoy the self-study part of the grammar class, but I get that it’s hard to organize this additional hour any other way."

"The quality and enjoyment of the lessons varied greatly depending on the teacher. Some lessons lacked structure, or the teachers spoke Spanish very quickly, which meant I couldn't understand them."

"There are some young students who disrupt lessons due to a lack of interest. And in November, it's not particularly warm in the classrooms. But that's Spain though."

"While the regular classroom’s instruction was outstanding, DO NOT PAY the additional expense to take their Intensive Language-Building program. It was a complete waste of time and money. Unlike the school’s highly interactive language instruction, their one-hour per day intensive program was more like a study hall or perhaps a more fitting description would be a detention-centre. Students were given pages to silently complete at their sitting place, and once completed to (again) silently hand the work back to the teacher for her written comments; her written reviews of these assignments were very brief. After 2-3 days of this “instruction”, I asked the administration to switch me the other intensive program that they offered—their conversation intensive program. The school immediately offered me that opportunity. But after talking to students who attended the conversation intensive program, they advised me that it was also a complete waste of time and money. As the school had only two-types of intensive programs, I opted not to spend my time needlessly sitting in a make-believe class. Instead, I joined independent city-tours offered by Valencia (which I would highly recommend!). The after-school activities were a disappointment, because they were not fulfilling. It was a surprise that the school didn’t offer more imaginative tours of museum’s and other landmarks. While taking a long bus-ride to walk for a few hours along a beach path, cooking burgers after class, doing yoga and/or a sports activity might be of interest to students in middle school/high school and college students of the freshmen or sophomore age, it didn’t appeal to the 30 plus crowd. My stay with the school was for two-weeks. There were three tours that the school offered which were worth a visit: - The tour of the town’s local graffiti. There, the school’s guide provided lots of information about the rich cultural history behind that art-form. - The archaeological tour was very good. Its guide was a well-informed historian who really offered insight to both the ruins and the history behind the ruins. - A tour, which I couldn’t attend because it was offered on the day after of my departure, may well also have been worthwhile. It was of an oceanographic centre."

"The Seniors were taught together with school children in the same groups. The afternoon activities were rather poor. In Sevilla and Madrid, the afternoon activities were much better and interesting."

"The only thing I liked a little less was the cooking class, which I felt was a little too simple and rushed. Other than that, super."

"Large school with many but small classrooms for the size of the classes (12 people). The majority of the students consisted of young people who had a gap year after high school. They have a different goal than I have. I sometimes found this disturbing in the group. It would have been nice if this had been known in advance."

"Some rooms were not suitable for teaching."

"Nothing"

"Only the audio equipment in the classrooms was somewhat inadequate, as the teachers themselves had to ensure that the audio texts were loud enough and not all of them had good speakers with them."

"The competence of the teachers varied. There were teachers who did not have a "good control" of the class. As a result, there were distractions and disruptions."

"There was nothing to criticise about the school!"

"No activities in evenings. No outdoor space. No daily sporting activities. Not at all as advertised on the website. We regret booking. Our daughter left one week early. We nearly chose Enforex and we now wish we had booked with them. International House used to have a good reputation. Not any more."

"The food activities were a bit low in food quality and variety. I would rather spend more money but have excellent quality."

"The lack of space in classrooms for larger classes."

"It was very, very cold all over the school"

"Groups that were too large (up to 12) in rooms that were too small. A lot of young people who only had a limited desire to learn, did not wear their mask properly and sometimes disturbed the class. Excursions were only partly organized."