Academy don Quijote — Local services in Madrid

When I first got there, they actually did not give me an exam, for some reason the lady gave me someone's schedule with names on it. I have no idea why she gave this to me and I didn't ask for it. So I was sitting in the test room for a good 20-30 minutes without an exam because they didn't give it to me and my Spanish wasn't good enough at that time. So they were a bit disorganized from the beginning. When they asked me why I don't have an exam, I just told them no one gave it to me and they just gave me some staff member's schedule, and that's when they gave it to me.

I was placed in B1, which was probably too challenging for me, because when I first went into the class, I couldn't understand anything because they were in the middle of a lesson, and it wasn't even lesson 1 so I was confused as to why I'm starting halfway through the book. I couldn't read half the words on the chapter and when she asked me questions I couldn't understand anything. I feel like if you're going to start a semester, you need to start from lesson 1. It doesn't make sense to start in the middle of a chapter. Also if I didn't know English and didn't understand what they wanted from me, I would've been even more lost.

Another complaint I have is the lack of vocabulary. The books don't have a glossary or index with words and their translations in different languages. I think the books NEED translations in other languages because people come here from all around the world, and I can't learn vocabulary without learning the definition in English. When I asked for everyday vocabulary, they just told me to figure it out on my own and I should already know it because I'm in the B level. That's not helpful at all.

I'm not the only one with a complaint either, multiple people in my class were complaining about how some of the lessons were boring, useless, and not teaching them anything. I think if you're starting from A1 you might learn more, but if you're starting in a higher level, you're not gonna learn much.

Oh and not only that, they even REPEATED some of the lessons as well. I understand they're doing it for the new people, but it's annoying and tiring for everyone else that already learned it. That's why it's not very organized to start class in a middle of a lesson. Some of the lessons had nothing to do with the Spanish language or the culture, so they were useless.

The pros would be a lot of the teachers are really nice, funny, and caring. They go out of their way to help you understand the lesson and I really appreciate that. They even helped me with learning new vocabulary and conversation.

Overall I did learn a lot more than before, but the flaws and weaknesses should be addressed so that's why I have to give a low rating. It would help tremendously if they had a "cheat sheet" with everyday Spanish vocabulary and their definitions in other languages. There needs to be more...

The experience with this school is horrible and I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT FOR ANYONE!

Starting from the communication after the payment is made finishing up with the whole learning system - it is not worth it at all!

The course counselling was super helpful, but once the payment was made I have not received any clear communication, had to ask for the same questions million times, was not informed neither about the level of my Spanish UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE, neither of the reduction of my class, nor did I receive the book prior to the class. Instead of sorting these issues fast, it was almost implied from the coordinators that it was my fault of not receiving any of this.

The teacher was trying to make up for it by being extra sweet, but since the class was reduced, there was no special adaptation to teaching the course - exercises were for a group and I had nobody to practice nor discuss new material with except the teacher.

Let's also talk about the whole system of booking THAT MAKES NO SENSE. The school forces you to make the payment 2 weeks prior the start of INTENSIVE COURSE, without making sure that there will be a group interested in this course. If there's not enough people, they reduce the class for 50%. So my INTENSIVE COURSE of 4 weeks and 8 classes in total has with 1.5 hour has been reduced to 4 classes per month. This sounds nothing like INTENSIVE COURSE and I doubt I will improve my Spanish at all during this time, I won't even have any opportunity to practice what I am learning since there are no students learning with me.

Instead of making sure that there will be students in the course, the school makes you pay for the course that they won't be able to provide with the quality and proper standards, the reduced hours are not adapted for the individual approach, I am receiving the book during the class, not even prior to it to prepare any questions and make these 4 "INTENSIVE" classes worth the pay. I paid 300 eur for 4 classes...

THIS IS SIMPLY UNBELIEVABLE AND DECEPTIONAL, THE WORST EXPERIENCE OF STUDYING A...

I withhold my recommendation of this school and advise others to read all the reviews with healthy criticism.

My primary complaint with this school is the obvious disregard for your proper placement in a level of Spanish class. I was placed in a class with the majority of students who had a greater capability in speaking Spanish so the professor accommodated that higher level for the other students. I was continuously left behind in understanding and became increasingly frustrated. I became a dead-weight on the other students, that is neither fair nor correct. It is bad a pedagogy.

The professors were very nice but failed to provide a preparation list of new words to learn and did not slow down AT ALL to explain context. As others have said, the text book is used very, very quickly if at all. Don Quijote seems just wanting to gouge you for 45€ There is no linear process in the teaching which makes for terrible confusion and frustration. That is not good pedagogy.

I was told to wait for after the first day because it is "normal". Also, I was told that if I moved class, I would waste another day taking a test. That is not language instruction, that is test taking.

It not normal to waste 1/5 of your experience because Don Quijote failed to do proper placement. When I made mention to the office manager Pedro he attempted to blame me for doing well on the placement test even though I told them I can understand the gist of Spanish but need serious help in speaking Spanish. The conversation class (which is extra € of course) was less conversation but more ask and tell. There were too many people in the class to have successful dialogue skills.

Don Quijote seems to be a business scheme, one that works aggressively to sell you a product then fails to deliver properly. I am a retired professional and have experienced quality educational programming and content...