Finding a great Spanish school or foreign language studio can be a challenge so it helps to know what are the top 5 questions to ask in order to find the best place for you!

1. What type of Spanish will the Spanish instructor teach me?

First question of 5 top questions to ask: There are four major “types” of Spanish-Latin American, Caribbean, Argentine, and Spanish from Spain. It’s just like English. English spoken in England, New York and in the South all sound different but are all the same language, right?

Same thing happens in Spanish; for most students, I would recommend focusing on Latin American Spanish if you can because the closest Spanish speaking countries to the U.S. are in South America. Chances are you will be interacting with more Spanish speakers from South America than any other place.

However, your target audience and lifestyle will help you decide which Spanish type would be most advantageous for you to learn. If you choose a different flavor of Spanish to learn but can’t find a language studio that teaches it. Don’t worry! Spanish is Spanish. Native speakers will understand you regardless.

2. Is the instructor a native Spanish speaker?

This is important because you want to get the best and most original instruction you can! Having a native speaker that is also a professional instructor is truly the best combo you can get. Pronunciation, real life Spanish usage & cultural tips will all be on point.

There are a number of places that may offer good teachers but their accent and personal experience with the culture can be lacking.

*Extra tip: If the instructor is a native Spanish speaker, find out how well he/she speaks English**

( useful because you will see how well they have learned a second language and also you will get an idea of what the instructor’s English is like and decide, if it will be hard to understand them)

3. How many years of teaching experience does the instructor have?

This too is very important because being a native speaker doesn’t automatically mean you have the talent to teach. Remember that teaching is a special skill in itself so you should aim for getting a native Spanish speaker with good teaching experience; however, if you can’t get both, then you should go with teaching experience-it’s a balancing act.

4. How are the lessons structured?

You must know how the lessons will be structured that way you will know if you will get a healthy balance of the three major components of a language – I refer to it as M.A.C. M= Mental comprehension of grammar and grammatical structure. A= auditory comprehension (your ability to hear and understand Spanish-the input of a language) and C= conversational ability (your ability to converse-the output of a language).

Every curriculum must have M.A.C. If any of these three components are missing, then you are wasting time and money. You will not get any major results and you will unfortunately have a hard time becoming bi-lingual. Find how the lessons are delivered- meaning how the lesson time will be used.

EX: 20 minutes of instruction followed by 30 minutes hands on practice, then 30 minutes auditory comp. exercises ( just an example) They should be able to give you an idea- some language studios will let you observe a class so just ask.

5. How many students will there be per class?

This will help you determine, if it’s worth spending your time and money at any given language studio. It’s all about balance and numbers :). If your class is 3 hours long but there are 25 students per class- forget it! Not a good time to student ratio here.

Think of it as sharing a pizza pie. You want to keep as much of the pie to yourself as you can while measuring, money, time and class size etc…. We think that 10 students or less per class for 90 minutes- 2 hours is the limit.

There are more questions you can ask but these to us are the deal makers or breakers :). Need help deciding, if you should take a beginner class or more advanced course?

Want to talk to our professional foreign language instructor 1 on 1?

Get all the info you need to make an educated decision about your language learning!

CLICK HERE to Schedule your free live demo & free assessment. No strings!