My name is Peter and I’m from the United States. I decided to come to AIL Madrid to take private and group classes in business Spanish.
My story
I chose to enrol at AIL Madrid as it offered not just group classes in business Spanish but also private lessons. Subjects like finance and business can be very specialised and every student has their own specific interests, so having personalised classes was really important to me.
My teacher
My teacher Marina was phenomenal and very intelligent. She was the only teacher I worked with during my time at AIL and taught me for both my private and group classes. Through these classes, I also got to meet other students from places like China and Turkey. I found the different perspectives of the international class really interesting.
Fun after class activities
Although AIL offered a lot of cultural activities after class, I was studying for my DELE exams and so I only went to one cultural workshop about Cervantes. The activity taught me so much new vocabulary and I ended up having an ‘aha!’ moment the next day when I overheard one of my newly learned words used by my host family! I think the cultural activities are a nice way to learn Spanish in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Why study Spanish
I’m not young, so I know that for others it’s a lot easier to learn a new language. It is challenging and at times I think, ‘Why am I doing this?’ Yet, on the days where I can speak really fluently, or when people can’t detect my American accent in Spanish and ask where I’m from, it’s amazing. For people who are considering taking up Spanish lessons, my advice would be to just do it!
Do you want to read AIL Student opinion? You can meet Rachel, a night Spanish course student, in our Spanish Language Students section.