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During a language study trip to a Spanish-speaking country, accommodation with a host family is the ideal complement to a language course, as you can directly apply what you have learned in the course. You will speak Spanish in a wide variety of situations, quickly learn new words and phrases and also get to know the culture at first hand.
Often several language students, preferably from different language regions, live with a host family and share a room. However, it is also possible to opt for a single room, with some families also having their own bathroom. How the host family spends their free time can vary greatly, but host students often have the opportunity to take part in leisure activities with the family.
However, host families do not necessarily consist of families with children, although this is of course often the case. Childless couples, older married couples and single people can also be available as host families. The language schools are happy to accept requests for placement in a host family and do their best to accommodate them. The same applies to special dietary requirements during a Spanish language study trip, such as a vegan or religiously restricted diet or an allergy to animal hair.
Depending on the language school, there are various accommodation options available to you during a language study trip to learn Spanish. Accommodation with host families is almost always on offer and is the perfect complement to language lessons, as students can put what they have learned into practice straight away and gain language confidence. Alternatively, language students can also opt for one of the other types of accommodation if they are looking for more freedom and independence, for example in a student residence in a single or shared room. With this option, however, you should bear in mind that you are entirely responsible for your own meals, unlike with host families, and the expenses for this must be added to the costs. In addition, student residences are usually only bookable from the age of 18, but at the earliest from the age of 16. For teenagers and children, if it is not to be a host family, some language schools also offer campus or school residence accommodation, where the accommodation is located directly or in the immediate vicinity of the school and smooth supervision can be ensured, especially for children under the age of 16. Apartments, hotels or hostels can also be rented for the duration of the Spanish language study trip, but this offers little or no social contact with like-minded people or locals and is therefore less advisable.
In addition to language courses, language schools usually also offer a varied leisure program for their students. Various leisure activities are offered, especially in the high season, such as sports, museum and cinema visits, dance classes, parties, as well as weekend excursions to various places of interest. The costs for the individual activities are usually not included in the price and must be paid on site. Some language schools also offer special combined offers, where language courses and leisure activities are combined, such as "Spanish and surfing", "Spanish and diving", "Spanish and cooking" or "Spanish and salsa". Football, golf, kitesurfing, kayaking, horse riding, sailing or yoga are also popular combination offers, which are often offered by language schools under the name "Language Plus".
On the first day of school or online from home, the language skills of all language students are tested so that they can be assigned to a course with classmates of the same level during a Spanish language study trip. This level classification is immensely important for the successful completion of a language course and should therefore be done without any aids. However, before you register yourself or your child for a course, it is important to consider what type of language course you have in mind. If it is important to you that you learn as much as possible in a short space of time, then choose an intensive course or a mini course plus one-to-one tuition. If you mainly want to go on vacation and brush up on your Spanish skills at the same time, then it's probably best to opt for a standard course or a combination course consisting of a Spanish course and a leisure activity, such as surfing.
When choosing a suitable language course during your language study trip, also consider whether you would like to obtain a language diploma. In special courses, you will be prepared for the individual external examinations and obtain the DELE (Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera) of the respective level. However, you should note that the start dates of these language diploma courses are based on the exam dates and therefore the courses do not start every week.
Age can also play a role in the choice of course. For example, not every older student is comfortable attending language classes with adolescent pupils, whereas graduates of compulsory schooling can quickly get lost in a business language course. However, language schools in Spain, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica and other Spanish-speaking countries usually make it easy to choose the right Spanish course for your age. There are courses for children, teenagers up to the age of 17, over 18s, young adults up to 25, 30+ or 50+.
When planning your Spanish language course, make sure you have clarified a few organizational matters before you start your trip. Firstly, your professional situation must of course be clarified before you book. How long can you take leave for your Spanish language study trip? Is unpaid leave possible? What about financing? Also consider the following points:
You should start planning a language study trip to learn Spanish about a year in advance. Language courses and individual accommodation, such as student accommodation in halls of residence, are booked up very quickly, especially in the high season, and flights are often cheaper if you book early than shortly before the start of your trip. However, you should take action at least six months before your planned arrival date, especially if you want to complete your language study trip not in Spain but in another Spanish-speaking country in Latin America and want to stay in the country for longer than three months, as visas are required in some countries.
When looking for a suitable language school for your language study trip abroad in a Spanish-speaking country, you should above all take your time and inform yourself thoroughly. Language travel is not an inexpensive vacation, so you should have thoroughly researched the destination country, your goals and the possible schools in advance. It's best to decide on the country you want to travel to first. Spain is an obvious choice for learning Spanish, but Mexico, Guatemala, Panama and other Latin American countries are also good options for language vacations. Use our contact form to find out which language travel agencies offer language schools in the respective countries and find out where they are located.
Once you have the information you need, it is best to first decide on the city or region you would like to travel to and select schools in this way. Depending on the city, there may still be a lot of schools left, but you can now take a closer look at them. Get all the important information about the language schools, the language courses on offer, leisure activities, accommodation and prices and compare them in detail. Clarify the following questions for your language study trip:
In some countries, a visa is required for a Spanish language study trip and stays of 90 days or more. This means that you have to apply for a visa here in advance. Whether this has to be done by post or in person depends on the destination country. Special regulations apply for Cuba and Peru. Please contact the relevant embassies directly for more information.
