Lazos de Amistad

I read the previous reviews and despite what they said decided to try this company based on location alone. I started with a medium size class of students but by the second meeting 3 had dropped and 2 more dropped by the third meeting. I did feel like I was getting more attention for the small class size. However, I wanted to get more out of the class and felt that I was held back by one of the students as he needed additional help when the rest of us understood the concepts. I felt that their was no structure to the class. We would get assignments to help us learn verbs and practice structure and then the teacher would not ask for them. I would definitely look at other places before coming here again.

Pretty good language instruction, but unfortunately they are a little disorganized. We went through 3 instructors and multiple classroom/​student changes before settling in after three weeks. The over zealous building security (twenty minute check in) is guaranteed to make you late for class, which will begin with or without you. Sorry folks, ningunos reembolsos.

The only thing that saved my experience was my instructor, Cecilia. All of my dealings with Maria, the owner/​coordinator were met with a disinterested and abrasive demeanor. On Maria’s suggestion, I enrolled in the False Beginner class. When I mentioned after the first class that it was a substantial review and I didn’t feel like I was getting much out of it, she suggested that maybe I move down, not up — clearly not listening and not at all helpful.
Additionally, the building damn near requires a secret code to enter/​exit, and our classroom was constantly moving and being invaded by cleaning crews.
Cecilia however, was a delight, and the only reason I continued to attend class. She made herself available before and after class for questions, and tried to tailor homework to fit our individual interests. If you do decide to take classes here (though I would advise against it), Cecilia is your lady.

I did a Spanish immersion semester in college and was hoping this would pick up where the semester left off (even though there’s no relation between the two). I’m proficient in Spanish, and signed up for the Intermediate workshop. We spent a lot of time concentrating on the subjective tenses… which I rarely use conversationally. While it was good to study the grammar again, I bought the Groupon because I’m going to South America this month and was hoping for more of a refresher in conversational Spanish…
I’d also like to note that my class started with 7 students — a good size group for this type of class. By the time the session was over, we have four additional students come up from the false beginner class.

I paid for a workshop through one of those deals I get by e-​mail. I signed up for a class before the expiration date, but they said it was filled. And, they’re not willing to provide the money back. Horrible customer service. At least, the organization should reimburse people for their certificates if they’re saying that the workshops are filled up. Please go to another language center that follows its own policy (specifically expiration date), good customer service, and honest business practice.

I got the livingsocial deal and thought it was a great bargain– it was clear to me when I bought it that when 300 something other people have bought the thing that I needed to go ahead and register for a class so I had no trouble getting what I wanted.
I went to a false beginner class but realized at the end that I might have been more advanced than I thought when I signed up. I told my instructor that I think the class might be too easy, and she suggested that I contact the coordinator. I hadn’t even made it home yet, and the coordinator had already emailed me saying that she heard I might need to go up to the next level, and that there was a class starting a few days later that I could join. I went to the new class and it was exactly my level (advanced false beignner) and I love it. The coordinator had told the teacher ahead of time so when I came in, the teacher greeted me by name, and when the coordinator came in to collect the coupons, she remembered me and there was no hassle with switching classes. I can’t wait til my next class!
Tiffany

I was meant to start at the ‘false beginner’ level, but within the first 10 minutes of class it became clear the teacher was completely unprepared for our lesson. She had no idea what to do with the group and instead of the conversation practice their website promises she was just doing long lists of vocabulary which were as useless as back in High School when you learned phrases like, ‘the monkey is under the desk’ that have no place in everyday life & use.
The class size was small, which is nice, except that the levels were so varied it made things very difficult since one of the students barely knew 10 words while another spoke almost exclusively in Spanish the entire time.
What’s more, at the end of the class, the teacher actually told the entire group that 2 of the students were at the wrong level and would have to be moved to a lower class, which while true, seemed quite rude to do in front of the other students.
I was so looking forward to brushing up on things and being able to start below intermediate but above beginner, this place was such a disappointment!