Program Reviews

First of all, I would like to thank Pilar, our Spanish teacher, for this experience. The way she teaches is excellent. I already knew a bit of Spanish, but my boyfriend, who also came with me to Valencia, didn't know any. But surprisingly, he went back home being able to maintain really interesting conversations with some friends we met there.

We stayed for over two weeks in Valencia. Each morning we started with a lesson after a fantastic breakfast that Pilar made for us. Once we finished the classes, Pilar took us around Valencia. We visited many places, '' el Barrio del Carmen'', which is beautiful and has a lot of history. Pilar showed us each of its charms, and of course, she accompanied us to the most beautiful monuments in Valencia, such as the Micalet or the Torres de Serrano and Quart.

We also saw the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, where we could see some exhibitions. The visit to the Albufera was amazing, we saw the sunset, and it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.

In short, I recommend this experience. Pilar is an incredible teacher; we learned a lot with her, and from her, she introduced us to many people. In fact, to this day, I still maintain a relationship with some of them, and I practice my Spanish, which is super important to me.

Certainly, an unforgettable experience, and we will repeat it soon.

I was looking for a different kind of solo trip to explore a new culture and stumbled across immersion courses with Spanish Express. I had never had a Spanish lesson in my life, but I’m genuinely shocked at how much I learned in just 7 days. The SHIP experience taught me so much about the culture of Cataluña, I feel really connected to the place and can’t wait to come back. Mónica is a fantastic teacher with a beautiful home and I felt really welcome. I cannot recommend this enough if you’re looking for a different kind of escape.

I had a fantastic experience during my course last year in Valencia with Pilar Martinez.
I had forgotten alot of the Spanish I had learned previously as I hadn’t been practicing enough. I thought what better way than to have an immersive course? Right from the beginning, I found myself immersed into the culture and enjoyed the trip. Pilar took me around Valencia, which was beautiful and I had the opportunity to practice my Spanish with the locals.

I left with a newfound confidence with my language capabilities and look forward to returning on my own to continue to develop my fluency.

I had been studying for the DELE C1 exam with regular virtual lessons with Mónica, and decided to bite the bullet and take advantage of the SHIP course. I have absolutely 0 regrets, an immersion course was exactly what I needed to understand, speak and live like a native Spaniard. I was a bit nervous at first as I’ve never done anything like this, but Moni was so accommodating. We did a range of activities, from city visits, museums, exploring nature reserves and not to mention all of the amazing food. The classes were intense, but not overwhelming as Moni tailored the course to my needs (mainly the subjunctive!!). I can notice a huge improvement in my Spanish and feel very confident that I can pass the DELE exam which I need for work. I am so thankful for Mónica’s support. Thank you SpanishExpress!

Portuguese and Spanish look very similar so we can generally read the other language without too much struggle. But when it comes to the spoken forms things get a bit more complicated. There’s an almost 90% lexical similarity between the two, which means that 90% of Spanish words have a cognate (equivalent) in Portuguese.

Being a Portuguese speaker and already having an advanced level in Spanish has been a great help to improve my Spanish for my next trip in Barcelona (It's my favourite city in Spain). The opportunity to be in the teacher’s house for 2 weeks has been amazing. I made more progress in 2 weeks than in a whole academic year at my language school back home. Also to mix with Mónica’s friends and family, learn about gastronomy and culture has broadened my horizons in general.

We had a varied social programme with plenty of excursions and things to do. I love nature and animals so my favourite excursions were all the visits we did around the Parc del Montnegre i el Corredor, the first 'park of silence' in Spain; the Donkey Reserve: Rukimon, a park where all the donkey breeds of the Peninsula live together. I really enjoyed petting and feeding them. They love cuddles and carrots!

But the contact with nature was not only limited to the Montnegre i Corredor park and our furry friends; we also visited Can Gel, a cow farm that allows you to interact with the animals and learn many relevant facts about their care. I even got the amazing opportunity to bottle feed a baby cow.

All in all it was an amazing experience that I would recommend to any travel lover wanting to experience Spain at first hand!

I have always had a passion for language learning and my first steps into the world of Spanish language and culture convinced me that Spanish was the language that I wanted to gain a more rounded knowledge of. Bilingualism is a major advantage for many roles in Europe and I am focused on being linguistically prepared for a potential career move into the European architecture and/or construction sectors. I was becoming increasingly aware that in order to take up such an opportunity I needed to increase my level of speaking fluency in order to engage fully both in day-to-day conversation and in the more technical dialogue required for professional interaction. It was for both these reasons that I chose the Spanish Homestay Immersion Programme (SHIP) in Barcelona with Mónica as it provided me with the opportunity to focus my learning into technical areas and immerse me into a completely Spanish speaking environment.

Spanish Express also has an excellent online program that complements the immersion program. For a year, Mónica provided me with a bespoke programme focused on the technical vocabulary required for construction professionals, as well as assistance with my CV and job interview preparation. We then met face-to-face in Spain, where I spent two weeks improving not only my Spanish but also the way to do business in Spain, culture, gastronomy, art, and much more. This programme is highly recommended for people who want to advance in their careers by learning Spanish.

I am also a very keen cyclist and Monica’s home in Dosrius is ideally located with plenty of gravel trails from the doorstep with access to explore the Natural Park of Montnegre y el Corredor.

To improve my Spanish has always been a goal in my life because I would like to live in a Spanish speaking country in the future. This trip to Barcelona helped me a lot. Mónica is an excellent teacher and also a great host. I felt very comfortable staying at her beautiful house. She has two lovely dogs which made my time there even more special because I love dogs. The people, the food, the architecture, everthing was amazing and I will gladly repeat this experience on my next vacation. I totally recommend this programme to all the people who wants to learn or improve their Spanish.

Over the two weeks, I stayed in Valencia. I learned a lot from my Spanish teacher Pilar Martinez. She made the lessons interesting and enjoyable.

I was also able to practice my Spanish with people my age, which made me keener to learn and developed my level so that I would be able to maintain a normal conversation.

Pilar also took me around Valencia and taught me about its history; we visited the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, a flamenco performance, the city centre and many more.

I really enjoyed it. I tend to have trouble learning new languages, but being in the country where it's spoken helped me develop and improve my level, as you are forced to use it daily.

I would recommend this immersion to anyone interested in learning Spanish, particularly in Valencia, as it is a beautiful city with fantastic places to visit and delicious food.
Also, you can enjoy the sun and the nice weather at the beach.

Spanish and Latin American cultures are embedded in many parts of the United States. Bilingualism is a plus for many jobs and I would like to move further in my career using my advanced Spanish. I had some job interviews in various international companies which have offices in Spain. This is why I chose the Spanish Homestay Immersion Programme (SHIP) in Barcelona as it provided me with the opportunity to put into practice all I learnt during the year. Spanish Express has also an excellent online programme which combines really well with the Spanish Homestay Immersion Programme (SHIP) in Spain. Mónica taught me Spanish for business and helped me with my CV and job interview preparation for a year and then we met face-to-face in Spain, where I spent 2 weeks improving not only my Spanish but also the way to do business in Spain, culture, gastronomy, art and much more. I highly recommend this programme for people wanting to progress in their career using the Spanish language.

On an educational holiday you’ll improve your language skills and engage in the local culture even more through living and studying in your teacher’s home and having the opportunity to spend 24 hours amongst locals.

Spending time in another country is one of the best decisions you can make, boosting your independence and confidence, and providing invaluable experience that will make you stand out to future employers, this is why I chose this unique opportunity. Mónica helped me a great deal with Spanish for business which will be very handy when I start my next job in Barcelona.

Because Italian and Spanish appear so similar, we can generally read the other language without difficulty. However, when it comes to spoken forms, things become a little more complicated. The two have nearly 80% lexical similarity, which means that 80% of Spanish words have an equivalent in Italian.

We had a varied social schedule with plenty of excursions and activities. I love nature and animals so Mónica made sure to organise plenty of walks around the Parc del Montnegre i el Corredor, the first 'park of silence' in Spain; I also spend a great deal of time playing with Rumba and Samba, two female Golden Retrievers that will steal anyone's heart.