Get your learning in gear and give your language skills a serious boost by taking a Spanish intensive course.
You’ll be learning Spanish as well as getting an immersive cultural experience in Spain, Latin America or the United States. It doesn’t get much better than that!
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Intensive Courses in Spain
1. Estudio Sampere
Cost: Starting at €209 per week
This school has a range of intensive courses in Madrid, Salamanca and Alicante. It was founded in 1956, and there are additional branches in Ecuador and Cuba.
In the Intensive Spanish course, you can choose from 20, 25 or 30 lessons per week for up to nine students per group. One lesson is counted as 45 minutes.
If you are not a morning person, this one might be for you. Unlike most schools, there is the option to take classes in either the morning or the afternoon.
If this still is not sufficient, the Intensive Plus course includes an additional five to ten lessons of one-on-one tutoring every week. There are also a variety of other courses such as exam preparation and more.
2. LAE Madrid
Cost: Starting at €195 per week + €40 enrollment fee
This is one of the best language schools in Spain’s capital.
Just like Estudio Sampere, this institution offers a basic Intensive Spanish course consisting of 20 lessons a week in either the morning or the afternoon in groups of six to eight students.
It also has two alternatives for even faster learning: The Power Intensive course adds two additional hours of individual teaching per week. The Sprint Intensive course promises to take you up one level and also includes one-to-one hours every day.
3. AIL Madrid
Cost: Starting at €190 per week + €50 enrollment fee
This is another great language school based in Madrid. Along with professional courses, exam preparation courses and more, it offers two intensive courses.
The basic course consists of 20 lessons a week, each lasting 50 minutes and taught in groups of no more than eight students.
The Premium course adds five extra one-to-one lessons, totaling 25 lessons a week. There’s also a Total Immersion course which offers 30 lessons a week of group classes. That’s six lessons a day if you’re really eager!
4. Salamanca University
Cost: Starting at €470 total for a two-week course (€235 per week)
Salamanca University runs monthly and summer intensive programs that are two, three or four weeks long. You can also be as young as 17 years old to join.
This subsidiary of the University of Salamanca offers 15 lessons a week. Too little? The more ambitious students can book 20 or 25 lessons of learning per week.
However, keep in mind the classes tend to be a little larger than the courses listed above, typically consisting of eight to fifteen students per class.
Intensive Courses in Latin America
5. Maximo Nivel
Cost: Starting at $120 per week (different per location)
If Spain does not appeal to you, try a course with Maximo Nivel in Latin America! You can choose from courses in Costa Rica, Peru and Guatemala.
This institute has what they call small group classes for four hours a day in groups of three to eight students. The Super Intensive courses consist of four hours of group Spanish learning per day, plus two hours daily of one-on-one teaching.
The locations of all the schools are in popular and beautiful towns. Here’s a price comparison chart of all the options available.
6. Eco Spanish School
Cost: Starting from $85 per week
This school is one of several located around the beautiful Lake Atitlán in Guatemala.
This particular school is in the picturesque town of San Juan La Laguna and was founded by a local woman. You have one-on-one classes with a private teacher and the classes are conducted outside.
You can choose between 15 and 20 hours per week for a length of one to three weeks. For an extra fee, you can do a homestay for the full immersion experience.
7. Tico Lingo
Cost: Starting at $290 per week
This is another language school in Costa Rica which is raved about as one of the best schools. It offers immersion programs which consist of 20 hours per week.
If fluency is not the only goal you hope to achieve, Tico Lingo might be the perfect fit for you. In addition to Spanish classes, they offer a homestay option, yoga, cooking classes and Latin dance classes.
8. Na’Atik Language and Culture Institute
Cost: Starting at $699 per week
Na’Atik is in a town called Felipe Carrillo Puerto in Mexico, one hour south of Tulum in the Yucatan Peninsula.
The school is deeply rooted in cultural exchange with the local Mayan community and even offers classes for learning the Yucatec Mayan language.
This program is committed to teaching and accepts no more than five students per class. The standard course is made up of 18 hours of Spanish classes per week and includes a homestay and several excursions.
9. Anders Languages
Cost: Starting at $400
Have a need for luxury? This school offers a different approach to Spanish learning with a bit of a high-end touch. The two locations for this program are Mexico and Spain.
It offers small group classes, one-on-one immersion programs or programs for pairs, so you can take it with your friend, work colleague or significant other.
You can also personalize this course with optional add-on modules, such as golf, business, a cultural module, or my personal favorite, the gastronomic module.
Intensive Courses in the USA
10. Language Plus
Cost: $240 per week + $65 registration fee
If you don’t feel like leaving the United States and have a hankering to visit Texas, Language Plus offers an intensive Spanish program in El Paso.
There are 20 hours of classes a week plus additional, optional review classes on Saturdays. And since everyone likes to sleep in, they have courses that run in the afternoon as well as the morning.
There are also separate immersion programs that offer the option of staying with a host family and connecting more to the local community across the Mexican border in Ciudad Juárez.
11. Pasadena Language Center
Cost: Starting at $175 per week + $35 first-time registration fee
If California is more your speed, the Pasadena Language Center has what they call intensive language classes and full immersion classes.
The intensive language classes are three hours a day and are conducted twice a week. The full immersion classes are for three hours every day from Monday to Thursday.
Those three hours (plus a short break between) are divided into two sections: grammar and conversation. These sections can be taken as separate courses, but for the speediest learning, taking both together is the best plan.
12. International Center for Language Studies
Cost: Contact to request a quote
For those who are learning Spanish specifically to advance their career, the International Center for Language Studies (ICLS) in Washington, D.C. offers the perfect course for professionals: High-Intensity Language Training (HILT).
The training covers topics such as tackling meetings, acing negotiations and polishing your presentation skills. Give them a call to find out more!
What Is an Intensive Spanish Course?
You might be asking, what is an intensive course? How is it different from any other Spanish course?
Well, it is simple: An intensive course offers the opportunity to learn Spanish at a level of greater intensity!
Intensive courses require you to dedicate more time and effort per week than standard Spanish courses for an intense burst of learning. They also offer a greater reward, as they provide a very effective way to learn Spanish well in a fairly short amount of time.
Generally, intensive courses hold classes from Monday to Friday for several hours a day. Instead of learning Spanish once or twice a week for an hour or two, you receive a full dose of Spanish learning every day of the week!
Some courses will focus on different aspects of learning Spanish, like grammar or conversational skills, and certain courses can even be tailored to individual needs! It all depends on the course you choose.
How to Choose a Spanish Intensive Course
Before you pack your passport, there are a few things you need to consider. Prepare yourself, as you need to remember that Spanish is not the same everywhere you go!
There are plenty of amazing places to learn Spanish. If you have always wanted to visit Europe, this is your opportunity. If you have never been to South America, there are plenty of places to study there.
Or, if you prefer to stay in a country where you can still use English outside of the classroom, there are a few intensive courses in the US.
The main question to consider is whether you want to learn Latin American Spanish or Castilian Spanish. Generally, courses in the US teach Latin American Spanish due to the large population of Latin Americans living in the US.
If you decide to go to Spain, bear in mind that languages and dialects can vary from region to region. For example, if you have always wanted to visit Barcelona, take note that their primary language is Catalan!
Wherever you decide to go for a course, it is a good idea to prep a little on your own before you go, to give you a leg up.
You can do this with a program like FluentU, which shows you the natural use of the language in its many forms. Watch authentic Spanish videos like movie clips, interviews, vlogs and news segments, save words as flashcards, take personalized quizzes and more.
And FluentU has an iOS and Android app that you can take with you wherever you are—ideal for the traveling language learner.
You no longer have any excuses! Go learn Spanish with one of these excellent on-location language programs for a complete immersive learning experience.
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
