FEEDUC's 10 tips for learning Spanish well

You may have been told in high school that you have a B2 level by the end of your senior year.
Unfortunately, it is rare that an official evaluation by a certification organization or university actually shows this level.
In order to avoid being caught off guard at the last minute because your level is not what you thought it was, start by having your level evaluated by an official organization.

You can find a link to a 1st evaluation of your Spanish level on the page " Speak Spanish "page of the FEEDUC website.
This test will give you an initial idea of your level, but it's a little "optimistic". We therefore advise you to supplement its results with an official language school evaluation.

• Depending on your actual level of Spanish, you will need to take a course.
• Depending on the level you need to reach in order to complete your project, the amount of courses required will be more or less important.
• The budget to achieve this will therefore also vary.

In considering this budget, evaluate all the elements, including the savings that your progress in Spanish will allow you to make on your education:

• If you study in French or English in Spain you will still have to learn Spanish but you will also have to invest a lot more money to pay for your higher education, up to several thousand euros per year.
• If you study in Spanish but repeat the first year or have to retake failed exams due to lack of Spanish proficiency this will also cost you a few thousand euros.

Remember to take all these elements into account and do not hesitate to ask us, we can help you to calculate them precisely according to the studies and the university chosen in Spain.

Your starting level of Spanish will determine how long it takes to reach your goal, but it is not the only criterion.
The amount of time you have available each day, week or month is also important. It is extremely important to evaluate this criterion because it will allow you to know if you are undertaking your study abroad project in Spain for the next school year or if it is better to postpone it until the following year.

It is never urgent to implement a project, but it is always essential to be well prepared in order to succeed in your studies in Spain.

Knowledge is built! This is also true for Spanish.

• If you don't have a basic grasp of Spanish, you're likely to drown in learning the preterite or subjunctive.
• If you don't know everyday vocabulary in Spanish, it won't do you any good to learn medical vocabulary for health science studies.

To make your Spanish efforts successful:

• Choose a school that is convenient for you - the best school in the county may be a very bad idea if you have to spend 2 hours in transportation to get there.
• Learning Spanish should not be a constraint, but a pleasure that is useful for your project, your future studies and your future life as a student in Spain.
• It would not do to start hating this project before it has even been implemented!

We have researched and selected for you Spanish schools in several cities in France.
If their location is convenient for you, do not hesitate to use them.

If you don't have a school available in your immediate vicinity, consider online courses. They have advantages:

• a flexibility of organization for you.
• If you need follow-up and support from a teacher, some can be "tutored":
  • you evolve with more or less automony for the courses and the exercises
  • You have regular meetings (face-to-face or video) with a teacher in charge of answering your questions, removing doubts, and asking you to speak.

There are hundreds of possible combinations, so think carefully and choose the one that best fits your schedule and learning profile.

Once you have stabilized the basics of your Spanish, that is, once you have reached the A2 level, you can multiply your progress by going to a Spanish-speaking country.

• Beware, however, of South American countries whose vocabulary is not always appreciated by teachers in Spain, who can sometimes penalize mistakes (even for their South American students) on this point if they are too frequent.
• Also be aware that Spanish is not spoken everywhere in Spain on a daily basis: it would be a shame if you went to work or simply live in Spain to improve your Spanish and found yourself surrounded by another language or accent that was very difficult to understand.

Once you have reached at least an A2 level, which means you have acquired the basics necessary to continue your progress in Spanish, you can continue your course at a localized Spanish school in Spain.
As with simple immersion, you should also be cautious about the location of Spanish schools in Spain.
The speed and intensity of your real progress could be impacted by choosing a less-than-ideal location in a region that is not very Spanish-speaking.

Once you have passed a B1 or even better B2 level, it means that you have a solid enough foundation to acquire vocabulary specific to a particular field.
You are going to integrate architectural studies , engineering, business, in designor in any other sector?

• Continue with courses specific to the studies you are about to begin. Most language schools are able to offer individual and conversation classes that will give you specific vocabulary and conversation skills that you will use during your studies.
• With regard to training in the health sciences, several language schools with which we've been working for several years now offer specific courses (role-playing, specific vocabulary, medical and/or academic scenarios), which are much appreciated by FEEDUC students every year.

Finally, we wanted to focus on the unscrupulous practices of certain organizations and schools. What should you be concerned about?

• Miraculous progress: Without effort...but with at least 3 months of lessons at full price...you will have a B2.2 level! Be vigilant
• Super fast responses to your requests for information: There may well be more resources put into commercial services than into teaching services! Please be vigilant
• The "big machines": There could be so many English speakers in your classes or in your accommodations that you could make more progress in English than in Spanish! Be careful
• Schools that certify their own level of Spanish: Again this year, with students who have asked FEEDUC to help them with their studies in Spain, we've seen that several Spanish schools that certify their own level of Spanish as B2.2 (oddly enough, this is the level required by some of the most expensive universities in Spain!) haven't really brought the students who have placed their trust in them up to this level: they didn't score higher than B1 on the university tests! Be on your guard