Learn Spanish Travel Spanish Blog

A review of Academia Falcón in the city of Guanajuato, Mexico.

Months ago, while planning our February trip to Mexico, Bill and I closely examined school websites and read many reviews of Spanish language schools in the cities where we were going to visit.  In Guanajuato, there were two schools that appealed to us.  Both had programs that sounded interesting.  One was located in the central historical district of the city and the other, Academia Falcón, was located away from the central area in a quieter section of the city.  Everything we read about the schools rated them similarly, but we finally chose Falcón because we thought it would be quieter.  (This choice was based on a previous experience in Buenos Aires where our school was located in the heart of the central historical district and the classrooms were so noisy from traffic and other city sounds that we had trouble hearing the teachers and other students).

The building:
The school was in a bright blue building with a steeply peaked roof. It was perched on the side of a hill, sandwiched between and set back from neighboring buildings.  It  looked a little beat up, but that is sometimes part of what makes old buildings charming, so we weren’t too concerned.  There was a local tale of witches living in the house and the building is sometimes called ‘casa de las brujas’ (house of the witches), so the look added weight to the story.   Two long staircases, one approaching from each side of the front of the building, led from the street to the front entrance of Academia Falcón.  Once inside the first entrance, you must climb yet another staircase to reach the office and a view of the “complex” of other buildings.   The  ‘porch’ opens up into a wide sidewalk that leads past an open cafe and meeting / WIFI area, through yet another building and then into a second open area where there are two multi level terra cotta colored buildings that house the classrooms.
If you have difficulty climbing stairs, this school will definitely be a problem for you, especially since it’s at an elevation of about 6000′.  To reach any of the classrooms, you must climb yet more stairs.
The courtyard was large.  One section had some built in stone tile benches that were nice and there was a large fire pit / grill built in another area.  It was chilly while we were there, so we enjoyed taking breaks out there in the sun.  However, it was not covered, so when the climate heats up, it would only be useful for evenings after the sun sets.  The courtyard was under construction,   In fact, they were building a putt putt golf course and there were piles of rocks here and there.  The week that we were there, it was pretty much a mess. (The miniature golf thing?   We never did figure out the why on that).

The orientation:
After classes on our first day of school, there was an orientation.  It was pretty boring as the leader (one of the teachers) handed out information sheets and asked us to take turns reading them to the group.  There was no sense of enthusiasm and very little information provided.  They  could have accomplished just as much if they had simply handed out some flyers for us to read to ourselves.  It was disappointing. And a taste of things to come.

The school:
This was my fourth language school and the third one in Mexico.  I went there just after a spectacular three week experience at Español Interactivo in Oaxaca, so it was following a hard act.  The people in the office were helpful, but I always felt a little like I was intruding when I walked in.  Maybe it was just because of the way the office was arranged.  No one was rude or unpleasant and they were helpful when we had a specific question, so I can’t really say why I felt that way.  We took our own computer and were a little surprised when they told us there would be a fee to use their WIFI as past schools had provided it without an extra charge.  It wasn’t expensive, just a surprise.   When I thought about it, I realized that it made more sense to charge only the people who actually use the service rather than build it into the cost for everyone.  On the other hand, I don’t remember reading anywhere that there would be a fee when they advertised that they had WIFI.
There were books needed for some of the classes.  The cost was $300 pesos to buy a book, or a $300 peso deposit could be left at the office to borrow a book.  The money was refunded at the end of our time at the school.  This is their policy as long as the book isn’t written in and is kept in good condition.  It was nice to have the rental option.

Day 1.
Our first day, we walked into the office where we were welcomed and immediately given both a written and a verbal exam for placement.  The written exam was sent to us via email before we arrived, so we had already completed it.  This expedited the placement process and we finished it well before our first class was scheduled to begin.  Both of us felt that we were placed in the correct level classes for our current skills.

The classes:
The classes were small, which was what we wanted.  Both my first morning conversation class and my grammar class had only three students each.   The conversation class wasn’t very structured, and as a result, it was dominated by the one student with the best vocabulary.  That frustrated me as it seemed more like a conversation between that person and the teacher and not an opportunity for everyone to practice.   The teacher just didn’t do a very good job of guiding the class and so I didn’t get as much out of it as I had expected.   It was a disappointment.
My second class of the day was a grammar class with two other students and I felt that our skill level was evenly matched.  In this class the teacher did not use a book.  Instead, he wrote everything on the whiteboard as we copied his notes for ourselves.   Once this process was completed, we practiced using the concepts that we had just written down.  The teacher asked each individual to make up a sentence and share it with the class.  When he felt that each of us had sufficiently demonstrated that we understood the concept, we moved on to another one.  This class was a little dry and one of the other students told me that she thought the class was boring, but I did feel that some of the forms of the subjunctive became just a little bit clearer for me that week.
My final class of the day was another conversation class.  It was the largest class of the day with 6 students.  The teacher was well prepared with written topics of discussion for every day and made sure that each student was given a turn asking and answering questions.  As we talked, she gently corrected our language errors.  This was my favorite class.

The cafeteria:
The cafe was more of a place for snacks such as small quesadillas, donuts, coffee and other drinks..  It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad and the people staffing the area were friendly and hard working.

Summary:
On the whole, I was disappointed with this school experience.  There was a depressed atmosphere in the school and I didn’t feel any of the usual learning excitement that I had encountered at the other schools.  If this had been my only language school experience, I wouldn’t have felt very excited about returning for another.  The school wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t expensive, and it’s location wasn’t bad, but I won’t return to it and I cannot recommend it to others.
I should say, though, that we both loved Guanajuato.  We would go back there in a heartbeat.  But we would find a different language school.

Tags:   Academia Falcon · Add new tag · choosing a language school · Español Interactivo · Guanajuato · immersion · Immersion school · Immersion Schools · Learn Spanish · Learning Spanish · Mexico · speak Spanish · Travel SpanishNo Comments