CAT B1 Intenso!

I really enjoyed my week of intensive Spanish in Girona. The times were flexible which gave me the opportunity to do tourist activities as well as improve my Spanish. The lessons were fun and interactive.

Everything as expected.
Friendly people in their office.
Friendly and competent teacher.
Did like Girona very much, lots of positive impressions.

I went to Girona, Spain with the intention of participating in a Catalan course and of course, the added intention of taking advantage of being in Catalunya to improve my Catalan skills, particularly with my upcoming exams in mind. The location of the school is quite convenient, very near to the bus/train station and also in close proximity to different stores and food places around. A short exploratory walk following my classes was not impossible, rather the opposite.
The school's facilities were neither below standard, there being classrooms fitted with boards and markers in addition to printing facilities that allowed distribution of handouts with themes, vocabulary and notes discussed in the classes themselves.

I definitely profited from the individual attention being the sole Catalan student gave me. As such, my tutor was able to not only hone in on my expressed learning goals (that she so graciously asked before classes began), but also offer me exposure to other essential and necessary language themes that I had not thought to ask about prior. Her ability to speak English and Catalan made learning easier for me, as that which I did not understand in Catalan, she was able to translate, though that was not her first port of call. I truly appreciate that she spoke as much Catalan with me as she could, only reverting to English when it was absolutely necessary, or in less important moments. In addition to high-quality in-class teaching, she also gave me access to online tools that I could use to continue my Catalan journey, and even gave me insight into the culture of Catalunya - ensuring that I gained experience and understanding of not only the language, but the people and culture of where I was.

I really enjoyed the activities - the scenarios mimicking those of real life so that I could practice that which I had learned.

This school does not provide housing opportunities as far as I know, so that is indeed up to the person who intends to study there to figure out. Thankfully, there are options in Girona and in the nearby spaces. In my case, I stayed in Vidreres which was outside of the city capital of Girona. The transport systems in Spain, however, made it so that the daily commute was not an issue at all. Furthermore, there are travel cards and schemes that make daily transit much cheaper than it would be paying for each trip [I had a card that allowed me 10 journeys for 12,30 euros, which was much better than without it which would have been around 30 euros].

Overall, it was a beneficial and amazing experience that I would absolutely recommend to others seeking to improve their languages. The staff is competent and so very kind. I must emphasise that: everyone was so kind and pleasing to be around and they would greet you with the utmost joy and a smile every day. I absolutely give Centre Acadèmic Accès and my teacher there a confident 10/10.

While on a trip to Girona, I signed up with Acces Centre Academic to take private lessons. They were two hour lessons for four days and were lots of fun. My teacher, Joanne, was very nice and patient. She covered everything that I had questions about. My goal was more about just getting more practice speaking Spanish, but we also covered plenty of grammar as well. My current level is somewhere around A2/B1. It’s just enough to be able to string a conversation along, if the other person is patient. As many people in Spain speak better English than I do Spanish, most people will quickly switch to English as a courtesy. My lessons with Joanne were great for the practice and that was exactly what I needed.

Everyone I encountered at the school was warm and helpful. María was my instructor, and she was great. Fortunately and Unfortunately I was the only student studying Catala. I got very personalized attention, but it would have been better for me if there had been at least 1 other student to converse with. More people should learn Catala.

The Girona school location was very convenient to both the Girona train station and Old Town. The teacher(s) and staff were wonderful and customized the curriculum to my interests. In addition to improving my Spanish, I also learned a lot about the culture in Girona. Overall, it was a great experience.

I liked the classes very much! I was the only student. So I get a lot of attention.
The teacher, Maria, was very inspirational. She teached me the first important things in Spanish, but also told me a lot about Spain, its literature and culture.
The facilities were good. The only thing I missed was a cup of tea or coffee in between lessons ;-)
Thank you very much, Maria!

I really enjoyed the teacher and the classes. The school was able to adapt the schedule to my times and the teachers showed a lot of flexibility!

The fact that it was more or less a private lesson was good. However it is much preferred to have another in the class to be able to practice after class.
The location was good, facility was good, teacher was knowledgeable.

Something to possibly consider for in future is a short sort of test to ascertain the level of knowledge of Spanish that is present.
and secondly to hear why someone wants to learn Spanish. How they plan to use it in the future.
Certainly for persons like myself for a short course this would be helpful for both parties.

Finally a maximum of 2 hours of classroom lessons. Following that the concentration is reduced and ability to absorb more words, rules etc diminishes.

I did not partake in any social activities.

Great experience. I really recommend this school to study Spanish

The academic center was easy to find, the class was well prepared and at my level. The teacher was nice and it was easy to talk with her. Girona is a very rich city, lot of things to do !

At the beginning (monday, thuesday) , the teachers were informed, that my level is A2 instead of A1. That didin't contribute to a good instruction.

I had the impression, that the subjects of the teaching were relatively unstructuratet and the teachers not well preparated. All of that changed, when I mentioned it on thuesday.

I learned a lot, what should be normal for a class of 1 student.
Especialy for individual classes (1 student, 1 teacher), the programm should be inspirated by the students wishes: reading comprehension, listening comprehension, grammar, speaking, especialy what kind of subjects?

Over all, it was a wonderful experience, that could be even more helpfull, when it would have been organized with stricter rules: entering test, wishes of the students, good structure in the lessens, ....

I would like to thank especialy Angeles, woh helped me a lot!

The contact with Simone Reich was very good, thank You too!

Best regards
Urs Suter

Many thanks to this centre and to my teachers! I started to speak and understand from 0 level faster then I can imagine. Everyone was very friendly. The school was in a good location. There was also a big parking very close. I will come back next time to improve my Spanish!

Hello, I am Martine Pluvinage and I come from France. I took Catalan courses at the Academic Center Access - Girona. I'm very happy. Everything was good, from the teacher to the director. If I could, I will come again. Thanks to the both of you!

I came across ACCÉS because of it's proximity to my domicile. I am studying a Catalan basic language course focused on business Catalan. My teacher is highly professional and very proficient in the Catalan language and grammar.

In einem Anfängerkurs lerne ich Katalanisch und erhalte einen sehr professionellen Unterricht von ACCÉS. Mein Lehrer hat sehr gute Grammatik Kenntnisse und gestaltet den Unterricht interessant und abwechslungsreich. Ich kann die Schule weiterempfehlen.

I'm from Honduras and I came to Accés 2 months before my selectivity exams for the university, which was a very short period of time to study for exams of such magnitude. The experience was good overall, the teachers and the principal showed interest in my studies and they were all very friendly. It surprised me how much they wanted me to reach the grade I needed.
The facilities were a bit old, but the experience was satisfying. I passed the selectivity exams with an average score of 7.46 out of 10, which is pretty good, and I'm sure that if I had enrolled into Accés 1 or 2 months before my grade would've been higher.