Yesterday’s post covered some positive points which plea for going to a language school abroad. Still, every story has two sides so that’s why I decided to cut it in half and post the second part today. Today’s episode will discuss some negative side-effects of going to a language school.
- You get to speak
Yes, this was a positive point yesterday, but it also has a downside; speaking too soon or forcing yourself to speak can ruin your feeling for the grammar or leave you with a bad pronunciation. When going to a language school, you’re often forced to speak. Although this may look useful, it isn’t most of the time. Why would you use the dozen of words and phrases you know? They’re not that useful. It’s better to spend your time on input. That’s why you should aim for language schools that use the TPR or TPRS method.
- It’s expensive
You may have no idea how much a few weeks at a language school can cost. Not only do you need to pay for the classes, you also have to eat and need a place to stay. On avarage, prices start from about $200 per week. This can become cheaper if you enrol in the school for a longer time. But then there’s the host family, airfares, food, visa, taxes. Shopping around for schools and staying in a hostel could save you some serious bucks, but still; it’s pretty darn expensive.
- It’s not guaranteed you will become fluent
One of the oldest myths in the language learning world is that “you need to go to the country and enrol in a class” to become fluent. Although staying in a Spanish-speaking country for a longer time can help you become fluent, there’s no guarantee you will. Just think of the thousands of immigrants in your own country. A lot may be fluent in your native language, but even more don’t master it perfectly. Faulty methods, producing too soon, don’t miding mistakes or plainly not wanting/needing to learn the language are the cause.
- You still need to study on your own
Four or six hours a day class is nice, but it’s not enough to become fluent. If you really want to become good at Spanish you need to multiply that amount of time by two or three. Hanging out with natives or watching television the rest of the day can help, but that’s something you can also do at home. The cold, hard, truth is that no one can do the work for you, YOU have to do it!
- It can be dull
At the language school I went to there was this really cool teacher called Antonio. He was funny, did a lot of conversation practice and really enabled us to progress quickly. The downside was that he only did two classes with us, and that the other classes were done by other teachers. They weren’t half as funny or laid back as Antonio, and their classes were rather dull. So, here you are in Spain. You spent about $1000 for this trip. And now you’re still getting boring classes. What the *#$@#?
- You don’t know what to expect
You can read stories of other students online, get nice brochures and speak with other people about the school, but most of the time you don’t know what to expect. How will the teachers be? How’s the programme? What will they teach your? Etc., etc. The only thing you can do to know exactly who it is, is actually going to the school. This could be a bit dangerous, as several hunders or thousands of dollars can be waste if the schools turns out to be really bad (or just bad).
Conclusion
So, this are some points you could (or even should) consider before spending quite some money. The truth is: you can also become fluent without ever spending a single minute in a Spanish class.
What are you thoughts?
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The quality of the teachers is key. Over the years I’ve attended 7 different Spanish language academies in four different countries and I can confirm, as you already noted, that the quality of instruction can vary even within excellent language academies.
I think if someone is at a beginner or intermediate level, attending a language academy in a Spanish-speaking country, can be very beneficial. But for people at an advanced level, it can be hit or miss. A lot of language academies really aren’t prepared to deal with students with a high level in the language.
One school I attended put me in their Spanish for Teachers of Spanish course, which was fine for the two weeks I was there, but it was clear to me that if you have a high level of Spanish and want to go to one of these places to work on the finer points of the language, they really don’t know what to do with you if you’re NOT a teacher, because they’re not accustomed to having a significant number of students at a high level.
But that said, in my opinion, just having the change of scenery from one’s home country can sometimes be enough of a kick in the pants one needs to crank up his/her Spanish a bit. So I think if people can afford to do it, they should at least try it once in their life, especially if they can go for a few weeks. Perhaps for Advanced speakers, a better bet would be to find a gig doing volunteer week working with some organization for a few weeks.
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