Escuela Montalbán - Granada, Granada

Szymon O.

Muchas gracias por todo. Quiero volver a usted!🫶🏽

Samantha F.

I spent a week at Escuela Montalban. I started with practically no Spanish at all.... And ended up with a much expanded knowledge of Spanish.... it's amazing how much they teach in a week...

The teachers, and everyone at the school are wonderful people, they really know how to make you learn.

There's extra activities outside of the school, trips and excursions. And you can pre-book activities such as tango and cookery lessons when you book your course.

I had tango lessons. Which were fabulous.

I stayed the week in a local family home, which was welcoming and fun.

And Granada is a beautiful chilled city.

My first time learning a language overseas and I would come back here again.

Steve S.

I spent a wonderful week here just before Christmas. All of the staff are so friendly and welcoming and the teaching really is first-class. Funny I know, but I am addicted to language school holidays so I am in a good position to make a comparison - Escuela Montalban is really great. I learnt so much during the week. Thank you!

Susanne B.

Exzellente Schule mit sehr kompetenten und engagierten Lehrkräften und herausragendendem Kursangebot. Ich habe hier einen zweiwöchigen Kurs "Cultura Al-Ándalus" absolviert, der aus einem Intensiv-Sprachkurs (C1/C2) und einem speziellen Programm zur maurischen Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur in Granada besteht. Ich hatte vormittags sehr guten Unterricht bei Marisa und José und jeden Nachmittag umfassendes und faszinierendes Programm in Form von Workshops und Exkursionen bei Francisco sowie Partnern der Schule (z.B. einen Arabisch- oder Kochkurs). Die von der Schule vermittelte Gastgeberin Concha hat mich wie eine Freundin aufgenommen, so dass ich auch in meiner Unterkunft täglich Spanisch sprechen konnte. Ich habe sehr viel gelernt und dabei sehr viel Spaß gehabt. Unbedingt zu empfehlen!

Bas R.

I went to this school forabout 3 months, and I can definitely recommend it to anyone that wants to learn Spanish but at the same time have an amazing experience!! The teachers here, are just amazing. They always find ways to keep classes interesting as well as make sure that you book progress as fast a possible. Besides the school, Granada is also just a beautiful city to spend some time in. Whether you like culture or you are more of a nightlife kind of person. Granada has it all. AND have i mentioned yet that with every drink you order here you get your meal for free !!

Carmen R.

I trained in TEFL so my experience of the language teaching at the school is from a different perspective.

I also think I may have been unlucky with the week I enrolled, as I was told I had joined at a different part of the course compared to other students who had been there for longer, and I was not in the same 'rhythm' as them.

Overall, the teachers are very nice people, it feels like a family there and the classes are a good size and casual.

However, the lessons were not planned in a very dynamic way and not many modern language techniques were used, particularly for grammar lessons.

The lesson was solely the teacher writing grammar rules on the board while we copy, then a tonne of gap fill exercises. This went on for 90 minutes every morning! He didn't try and mix it up or make it interesting, it was the same process everyday single day.

Despite this, the most useful part was that he spoke in Spanish the whole time when telling us the rules, which was good for listening skills - but this is minimum standard practise anyway in language teaching.

The speaking lessons were more enjoyable, but the grammar we were taught in the morning was not used and it was a very 'free' practise - which is good for some, but I would personally prefer for there to be some link between what we learn in the morning and what we practise saying afterward.

Despite this, I had a good time on the last day, as the school organised a really good trip to the Alhambra's, there was a great tour guide that spoke in Spanish for the whole tour and who was excellent at illustrating the place with words. He pitched it at a good level for the group and did some good storytelling.

Pavel B.

I was 3 months at Escuela Montalbán in Granada doing an Intensive Spanish course, which included 2 classes of grammar and 2 conversation classes per day. I started from the very beginning and improved my Spanish very quickly thanks to a professionalism of the teachers and very well selected groups. In fact, I was able to communicate with other students with the same level of Spanish, which helped us learn Spanish more efficiently with a help of a teacher and have fun as well.

The staff of the Spanish school was extremely friendly and helpful, especially Paco. In the first day they helped me with my accommodation, informed me about different possibilities and important places in the city, and helped me get my debit card in a bank, which was incredibly important as well.

The accommodation was provided by the school. In the apartment I lived with 4 Spanish persons, who helped me boost my Spanish and experience Spanish culture and traditions. They were very friendly, kind and open-minded.

On the one hand, teachers were very professional and provided well-structured content. On another hand, they were very funny making a lot of jokes. Thus, they delivered a great combination of serious and funny content, which helped us feel comfortable and learn Spanish in a great atmosphere.

Another important part of learning Spanish language and culture took place outside of our classes. The school organized different social and cultural activities in the evenings and on weekends. In the first week we went to the Arabic bath, which helped me relieve stress from the first days of my adaptation to a new country. Moreover, I discovered an incredible art-form, which was born in Granada and called Flamenco. The flamenco show included very emotional and expressional music and dance. I fell in love with it and would love to experience it again. Another incredible activity was a tapa tour with the teacher Marisa, when almost all the students went out together to explore the tapas culture in different local bars. There is a tradition in Granada to give tapas for free when you order a drink.

I would definitely recommend this school to everybody, who wants to learn Spanish and discover a great culture of the beautiful Granada and Spain in general.

Philippa M.

I took a week's Spanish conversation classes at Montalbán with one private afternoon conversation class too. I had two great teachers - I was in a group of eight in the mornings with Adela and we had good fun practising our conversation skills. We were all of a similar level in conversation and got plenty of directed practice time on the things we needed to progress. On one afternoon I had an hour and a half with Maria, purely to practise conversation which was enjoyable and helpful.

I found that Montalbán's strengths are the division of grammar and conversation which for me meant I could just choose to work on conversation which was what I felt I needed right now. It also allows people to be set into different level groups for conversation and for grammar so if you are much stronger in one area than the other you can work at your level for each subject. Some reviews have commented on the fact that the grammar sessions do not 'lead in' to the conversation lessons but this is why, so it depends what your priority is on this.

I did find that for a one week course Montalbán was quite expensive as there is a high administration fee which would be diluted if you were to book several weeks in a row. I have given it five stars and I will probably return at some point for another course.