AIL Madrid Reviews

I attended AIL Madrid last summer and it was awesome! I took the Spanish and Dance course which was Spanish lessons in the morning and dance lessons in the evening. I could choose between a variety of dance classes and although I tried each one once, I mostly just did Salsa. It was so much fun and the dance lessons helped me to meet new people and practice my Spanish. Madrid is a really cool city, I enjoyed it so much that I am thinking of taking another course at AIL this summer!

Upon looking for a language school to learn Spanish, there were many options and too many choices. However, after attending Ail Madrid for a 4-week intensive course; I knew I had definitely made the right decision. When I first arrived in Madrid, I felt as though I would never make friends but on my first day of classes, I met some of the most interesting people and some of my best friends. Every day I looked forward to seeing my friends at the school and the teachers as well. All of the teachers were excellent and I learned more Spanish in 4 weeks than I have in 8 years of taking other Spanish classes. No matter what question I had, they were always willing to answer it in complete detail, which helped improve my Spanish tremendously! Ail Madrid also has an excellent location, as my commute was only 15 minutes by metro! There are great restaurants and shopping near the school, which I loved especially. Great location, beautiful school, awesome teachers, and an all-around fantastic experience! Definitely Ail Madrid is MUST if you want to learn Spanish!

I took and intensive course in AIL Madrid a few weeks ago and I would definitely recommend the school. My Spanish progressed a lot and it was fun at the same time because I made friends with fellow students and the staff were really friendly. The social and cultural activities were a great chance to practice Spanish and also have fun…especially on the “noche de copas”.

Last summer I took a 12 week course at AIL Madrid and had the most amazing summer! Apart from the obvious amazing Spanish weather and culture that I enjoyed, my Spanish classes were definitely the highlight!

Susana was my teacher and she was so helpful. I started at a low intermediate level and, although I felt my reading and writing was ok, I struggled with speaking and understanding “real” Spanish. She spoke so clearly though and was always happy to repeat if I didn’t understand something, and after my first week I already noticed the improvement in my comprehension and fluency because the classes are so small and you can participate constantly.

The themes of the classes were always different – usually we had a new topic every lesson that we focused on and based activities on this. Sometimes the topic was to get us to speak, sometimes an aspect of grammar – it really varied. I never found myself bored in the lessons, and after 12 weeks of classes I can’t even describe how much my Spanish has improved! I have no problem speaking now and feel confident interacting with Spanish people.

The school was also a stone's throw away from Retiro Park (which was handy for after class sunbathing!!) and was just 10 short minutes on the metro to the centre of Madrid.

There were also free activities offered by the school everyday, which meant that I saw so much more of Madrid than I ever imagined! (Personal higlight was the noche de copas every Friday with all of the students and some staff - great way to practice Spanish and have a good time at the same time!)

I also stayed with a host family while I was there and they were so kind and welcoming. On my first day they made me feel like a part of the family and they made the most amazing food – I’m definitely missing that right now!

Really can’t recommend this school enough, had an absolutely flawless 3 months and was very sad to leave. If I felt like I needed any more Spanish classes I’d be back there in a shot!

En AIL Madrid pasé una semana y fue estupendo. Quería mejorar sobre todo mi expresión oral y comprensión auditiva y creo que, a pesar de poco tiempo, realmente hice un progreso. Durante las clases todos los estudiantes tenían la oportunidad de hablar y la aprovechaban. Mi maestra Susanna era maravillosa, una gran profesional con mucha experiencia de enseňar, siempre de buen humor y sonrisa en la cara. Asistí también a las clases de actividades culturales por las tardes y fue estupendo también. Me encantó la clase de interpretación de canciones espaňolas donde me enteré de muchas cosas nuevas de la historia de Espaňa. Otro día disfruté mucho de la excursión guiada a la ciudad de Alcalá, fue muy divertido. Durante el curso conocí a muchas personas nuevas, estudiantes de todos los edades y de varios países del mundo. En total, me enriqueció mucho, gracias a toda la escuela!

En AIL Madrid pasé una semana y fue estupendo. Quería mejorar sobre todo mi expresión oral y comprensión auditiva y creo que, a pesar de poco tiempo, realmente hice un progreso. Durante las clases todos los estudiantes tenían la oportunidad de hablar y la aprovechaban. Mi maestra Susanna era maravillosa, una gran profesional con mucha experiencia de enseňar, siempre de buen humor y sonrisa en la cara. Asistí también a las clases de actividades culturales por las tardes y fue estupendo también. Me encantó la clase de interpretación de canciones espaňolas donde me enteré de muchas cosas nuevas de la historia de Espaňa. Otro día disfruté mucho de la excursión guiada a la ciudad de Alcalá, fue muy divertido. Durante el curso conocí a muchas personas nuevas, estudiantes de todos los edades y de varios países del mundo. En total, me enriqueció mucho, gracias a toda la escuela!

I cannot believe a month has already passed since I came to Madrid. I thoroughly enjoyed the one week that I spent at AIL Madrid. My teacher, Ana, was excellent and overall I received a very favourable impression of AIL. It is difficult just parachuting in for one week but and my school teachers over here say that it has given me a lot more confidence with my Spanish (in fact my teacher has been considering sending her own daughter to do something similar with you next Feb.)

I would also like to thank you for finding us such wonderful accommodation. Lourdes was an absolute star and so kind, making me vegetarian food every evening. She is an extremely nice woman - and her son was lovely too.The position of her flat was great. Our accommodation really couldn't have been better.

I studied 6 weeks in AIL Madrid, and I improved my Spanish a lot. Thanks to my great teacher, which I think was the best teacher I have ever had in my life. I learned Spanish really good, and I understand and speak Spanish now in such a short time quite good. The classes were really good, absolutely!!! Beside that the school organizes many other things and they help the students in all kind of issues. When I came to Spain I did not expect that there a school can be so professional. The staff is very friendly, and for every question they will help you. So go to AIL Madrid!!! You will see that you did the right choice!!!

I recently spent 2 months in a super intensive course at AIL and had a really fun and rewarding experience. While I was in the process of researching and choosing a school in Madrid, Lara, the course advisor, was super responsive, answered all of my questions, and helped me choose the best course to meet my rather vague goal of simply “improving my Spanish.” My group class professor Blanca was incredible – she has a great sense of humor and brought so much energy and creativity to the class every single day. I was exceptionally happy with the individual classes that I took in the afternoons. I worked with a variety of professors and each one was prepared, motivated, and really pushed me to improve. Initially I was a little nervous that I would be in a school with only younger students, but there was a great mix of ages, nationalities, and personalities, and overall I found that while we all had a good time, everyone worked hard. I was in a class that committed to speaking Spanish together outside the classroom as well, which is not always the case when there is more than one English speaker in the group. In the end, I greatly improved my ability to speak, read and understand Spanish, and I have a lot more confidence with the language. I highly recommend the AIL experience and would definitely return!

I have recently finished a four week intensive as a complete beginner. I wanted to say that I had a fantastic time. The amount of structure combined with friendliness and flexibility from all of the staff gave a fresh and professional feel to the school. I felt welcome in a place which has the potential to be rather intimidating to a new learner of Spanish, so many thanks- one to pass on to all of the staff.

By far the most important component to this, however, was Lucia. She was my teacher for the four weeks and was an exemplary teacher. I am not sure that I saw her become frustrated even once. Her activities and demeanor were always fun and engaging. She would go out of her way to give me extra material when I asked and would happily mark this work or sit with me to go through it. She was accomplished at recognising needs and tailoring activities to specific persons when required.

As a teacher myself it was refreshing to see and experience this from Lucia and the staff as a whole.