The Spanish Course Online that Really Works

"The Spanish course online that really works". That´s a pretty strong claim to make, isn´t it? But it´s not Internet hype, it´s the truth: the Web Spanish online program will not only help you learn Spanish, but you will improve faster than you ever imagined.

I am the founder and general manager of Web Spanish and my own story might sound a little like yours. I first studied Spanish in college where I took two basic level courses which I enjoyed, but while they did a good job teaching me basic vocabulary and grammar, I floundered whenever I was called upon to speak. I can´t blame the teachers; after all, they were trying their best under the circumstances: a sterile classroom brimming with twenty students – with varying language ability, motivation and interest. In fact, the teachers were fine, but the environment was all wrong. I began to feel frustrated with my slow progress, and I developed the hunch that if I wanted to really learn Spanish, these "circumstances" would need to change.

A few years later, in 1995, I had the opportunity to move to Lima, Peru, to take a job. All of a sudden, I was totally immersed in Spanish. If I wanted to go shopping, I needed to speak Spanish; if I wanted to order a meal, I needed to speak Spanish; if I wanted to rent and apartment and hook up cable and telephone, I needed to speak Spanish - so speak Spanish I did, using the few basics I had picked in the classroom, and flying by the seat of my pants. My strategy was simple: I kept a notebook to write down the new vocabulary I came across - which I reviewed any chance had – and I pushed my nose into my old college textbooks from time to time to review the fundamentals of grammar. I was amazed at how quickly this simple recipe worked, but even though I could feel my fluency improving by the day, I knew that I was still missing a final piece of the language-learning puzzle, because there were areas of grammar and pronunciation that I just couldn´t seem to master. That extra piece to the puzzle was a private tutor.

Now, you might think that it would be easy to find a good Spanish teacher in a large capital city in South America, but finding the right person with the right qualities proved to be quite difficult, and during the course of the search, I learned one simple truth the hard way: just because someone is a native-speaker of Spanish does not qualify them to teach their language. One after another I took classes with teachers who looked looked the part and who sounded confident, but over time I saw that they didn´t understand the workings of Spanish well enough to teach it. It took half a year of trial and error, but finally I found a teacher who really understood her grammar, and new how to teach. She was the first of three private tutors that helped me to reach fluency and I will always be grateful for their guidance and encouragement. Having a great teacher take an interest in my progress was exactly what I needed.

I ended up getting married in Peru and I took the decision to live here permanently. The job that had brought me to Peru in the first place ended, so I took a bet that I wasn´t the only foreigner living in Peru who could benefit from studying at a top-notch Spanish school, so to make a long story short, I founded the "El Sol" Spanish School in 2001. It was the first Spanish school in Lima to truly offer a immersion experience, and it was an immediate hit with tourists, diplomats and business people. Now, just more than 10 years later - we have surpassed the 4,000 student mark, and "El Sol" continues to be the leading Spanish school in Lima.

Then, in 2005, thanks to new developments in Internet telephony, we began to offer course online. This was the birth of "Web Spanish", an online Spanish school that connects students all over the globe with trained and qualified Spanish teachers located in Peru.

I knew that if we wanted to teach Spanish online, we needed to create an entirely different methodology so we started from zero and rewrote the curriculum and developed brand new materials that "go-with-the-flow" of an online class. It was a tremendous amount of work for our team, but I am proud to say that the materials we use today are perfectly compatible with computer-mediated instruction and they are unique on the web.

Since we launched Web Spanish in 2005, other "online Spanish schools" have popped up. We welcome the competition, but if you scratch under the surface, you´ll notice that Web Spanish offers you features that other programs don't: · An online campus where you can manage your program. Every student has a user-name and has access to a campus where they can manage their course material and homework. · We also give our Web Spanish students the possibility to integrate their online Spanish course with a study-abroad experience at the "El Sol" Spanish school in Lima. They enter with discounted prices, and we waive the entrance exam · We are constantly producing new audio and video Spanish lessons to complement your program. In order to make sure that our students are truly learning, we also provide regular evaluation and testing. This lets you measure your progress, which is often a huge motivational boost.

The other difference is that most teachers you find on the web are freelancers. Some of very good, but a great many are not. They are Spanish speakers with little or no methodology. On the other hand, Web Spanish promises you a professional language teacher with a proven track record.

Before we assign a teacher to work with you, be assured of a couple things: · Your teacher has passed a rigorous selection process

• Your teacher has been trained to teach online
• Your teacher is supervised and receives constant feedback from an academic coordinator

My experience as a language school owner has shown me that great teachers are only part of a great school, the administration and student services department is also important, and school policies need to be simple and clear. · Our administration will respond to you within one business day

• Your payments are made through PayPal. This keeps them secure
• Web Spanish doesn´t charge any hidden fees

When you begin with Web Spanish, you will be working smarter, not harder and you'll see the results start to materialize after only a few lessons. Not only that, you will see that every one of your Web Spanish lessons will be effective, convenient and fun and your teacher will help you discover the love of learning a foreign language.

It´s easy to get started with your online Spanish lessons. The first step is to enroll for a discounted trial class. This is a fifty minute sampler that will show you how our program works, and what you can expect to get out of it.

Say… have you ever seen web pages filled with testimonials and doubted their origin. Unfortunately, it is a common practice on the net, so I want to assure you that every single student testimonial you read here is legitimate and sincere. The Web Spanish program really works, and our students know it.

So in conclusion, if you are serious about learning Spanish - and you are willing to put in the time and practice – let us help and you´ll learn Spanish faster than you ever imagined. Take the first step today: register for a trial class and get started. I guarantee that Web Spanish will address your unique needs and will give you the structure and encouragement that you need to make steady and measurable progress. That´s because every single lesson will give you the opportunity to practice speaking Spanish and learn from an expert who will take an interest in your progress. We look forward to welcoming you to our program!