Reviews of Costa de Valencia, Escuela de Espanol, Valencia

I spend four months in Costa de Valencia and I truly had the time of my life! I met hundreds of people and I am sure that some of these friendships will last for a lifetime. The teachers were very friendly and easy going and studying was very easy in the cozy atmosphere. When I arrived to Valencia, I had a lower intermediate level of Spanish and just a month ago I passed an advanced level language exam thanks to the enthusiasm and professionalism of my teachers in Costa de Valencia!

Next to the classroom activities, I got to know the country and the culture through those many many free time excursions and activities that the school has organised. I went to Madrid, to Barcelona with the school, but I also got some once in a lifetime opportunities to participate on activities such as the Tomatina or a Real Madrid football game! The school and therefore my accommodation too, were very close to the bars, discos, the city center and to the beach as well!

From all the cities I ever visited in Spain, I liked Valencia the most. It is a beautiful city right on the beautiful sandy shore with many many palm and orange trees. I can only recommend Costa de Valencia to everyone. I could not ask for any better language programme or vacation. I can’t wait to go back as soon as I can!

My Gymkana evening with the Spanish language school Costa de Valenica
When I was this spring with my school class at Costa de Valencia, we had done many different excursions and activities by which we could get to know the city of Valencia, its environment and the Spanish culture. What I liked the most was the Gymkhana evening that our Spanish school in Valencia “Costa de Valencia” had organised for us.
During this competition, my class was split into 5 different groups and each of the groups had to find different places in the centre of Valencia in order to solve the different tasks. First, the people from the school described a certain place to us. Then we had to find it and afterwards we were assigned different tasks that we could only solve by asking several passers-by and noting down their answers. For example, we had to discover which ingredients a paella contains or which heraldic animal Valencia has. During the talks with the passers-by we had to overcome our shyness and speak Spanish because no one spoke English to us. It surprised me very much that we could really talk with them and that we found the answers without any language problems. This language success is also the reason why I liked this evening so much, it was one of the best activities during my whole language stay in Valencia. On the one hand, we could use our Spanish language knowledge, which we had acquired during our stay in Valencia doing the intensive Spanish course. On the other hand, we developed a linguistic sense of achievement that has given us more self-confidence during the following days.
In general, the whole Gymkhana evening worked very well without any problem. The language school had organised everything perfectly, so that the evening became all in all a big success.
I strongly recommend a stay at the language school in Valencia and also for school trips Costa de Valencia is the perfect partner.

Excursión en bici a la playa de El Saler con la escuela de idiomas Costa de Valencia

Durante mi estancia en Valencia he disfrutado de la gran variedad de posibilidades que esta ciudad ofrece. Aunque debo decir que una de las mejores excursiones de mis vacaciones lingüísticas en Valencia fue la que nos llevó fuera de la ciudad, cuando fuimos en bicicleta a una de las playas más tranquilas y bonitas de toda la costa este de España.
El propósito de esta excursión no fue únicamente visitar una maravillosa y tranquila playa, ya que el paseo en bici hasta allí ya era muy gratificante. Los alrededores de Valencia ofrecen a los ciclistas vistas únicas y espectaculares de pinadas, campos y lagos. También tuvimos muchas oportunidades para mejorar nuestro nivel de español en diferentes conversaciones con otros estudiantes durante el tour en bici y el descanso para comer. De esta manera, pudimos mejorar nuestro español sin apenas darnos cuenta. Me gustó mucho conversar con estudiantes de otros países porque el español era la única lengua en la que todos, mejor o peor, podíamos hablar. Así, empezamos a superar nuestra timidez a la hora de hablar español y cada día lo hacíamos mejor. Cuando estábamos llegando a la playa de El Saler, muchos nos quedamos si palabras, porque la vista de las dunas, aparentemente intactas, era extremadamente impresionante; puedo asegurar que es uno de los lugares más bonitos de España.
Esta excursión, junto con muchas otras que la escuela Costa de Valencia organizó para nosotros, ha contribuido a que mis vacaciones lingüísticas fueran un éxito rotundo. A la gente que le encantaría adquirir diferentes impresiones sobre la ciudad de Valencia y sus alrededores mientras realizan un curso de español, les recomendaría que fueran, sin lugar a dudas, a Costa de Valencia, porque en esta escuela de español se está en buenas manos.
Anne-Pauline, junio 2010

Excursión a la Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias con la escuela de español

Esta primavera he estado 3 semanas realizando un curso de español en Valencia con la academia de español Costa de Valencia. Durante mi estancia en España, esta escuela me dio la oportunidad de participar en divertidas excursiones en las que podía practicar el idioma, así como la ocasión de aprender muchas cosas interesantes sobre la tierra valenciana y la cultura española.
El punto culminante llegó, sin lugar a dudas, con la excursión a la Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. Esta pequeña ciudad en Valencia te deja sin aliento con tan solo contemplar los edificios desde fuera. La organización y distribución de los diferentes edificios, proporciona una vista tan impresionante que solo es comparable con el escenario de una película de ciencia ficción. La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias está compuesta por 6 instalaciones diferentes: el extravagante edificio para la ópera llamado Palacio de las Artes Reina Sofía; el Hemisférico, que es un cine IMax 3D con planetario y laserium y su diseño está inspirado en un ojo que se abre y se cierra; el Umbracle que encierra un cinturón de vegetación desde el que se puede divisar una maravillosa panorámica de la CAC; el interesantísimo Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe; el Oceanográfico, que es el acuario más grandes de Europa y finalmente el edificio Ágora, donde se celebrarán en los próximos años los 500 torneos de tenis de la ATP, entre otras cosas.
Durante mis excursiones con Costa de Valencia pude visitar el Hemisférico con mis amigos del curso de español y un profesor que nos acompañaba, allí vimos una película sobre el océano. A cada uno de los visitantes le dieron unos auriculares para que pudiera seleccionar el idioma de la película. Esta fue proyectada por toda la bóveda curva del interior del edificio, lo que conseguía que el espectador se sumergiera en la película y tuviera una experiencia mucho más real.
En la siguiente excursión visitamos el Museo de las Ciencias, que ya con solo ver la entrada de este merece la pena la visita. Lo más curioso es que no hay ni un solo ángulo recto en todo el edificio y las columnas de la entrada forman ángulos de 45º, lo que produce una sensación de vértigo y desequilibrio.
En el museo encontramos muchas y diversas leyes de la naturaleza explicadas con descriptivas demostraciones. En cada piso se trataba un campo de la ciencia diferente y había una gran cantidad de actividades interactivas que eran de todo menos aburridas; podíamos realizar pequeños experimentos una y otra vez.
Pero lo que más me gustó de todas las excursiones fue el Oceanográfico. No había visto hasta ese momento un acuario tan grande y tan bien organizado. Y yo no fui la única en pensar que era impresionante, porque todos mis compañeros de la academia de español en Valencia se quedaron maravillados. Los diferentes hábitats estaban organizados de acuerdo con los continentes y las zonas naturales de la Tierra. En el nivel superior, se podían observar animales marinos, tales como focas y morsas, y diferentes tipos de pájaros. Mientras que en el nivel inferior se encontraban los animales subacuáticos, como las ballenas y morenas entre otros.
En su conjunto, el parque estaba subdividido en una gama de 10 centrales diferentes.
En las áreas marinas se reflejaban los hábitats del Mediterráneo, las zonas Polares del Ártico y Antártico, los mares en los Trópicos, los mundos de las islas y las aguas de las zonas templadas como la del Mar Rojo. Por otro lado, el parque tenía un delfinario y diversas plantas que componían las zonas ajardinadas, donde se encontraban también las innumerables especies de pájaros y sus correspondientes hogares que, durante el día, siempre pueden disfrutar del sol de Valencia. Estas divertidísimas excursiones, organizadas y dirigidas por el personal de Costa de Valencia, junto con las magníficas clases recibidas en esta academia de español, han contribuido con creces a que mi nivel de español haya mejorado muchísimo y que mi estancia en Valencia haya sido inmejorable.
Sandra L., 05/2010

Hot Rhythms to learn how to speak Spanish
Because I did want to learn Spanish, I went to Spain to do a Spanish course in the Spanish school Costa de Valencia. Soon I realized that not only my Spanish lessons were excellent to learn how to speak Spanish, but I also come to see how useful all the activities that Costa de Valencia offered to us were. During my free time I practiced my language skills and I could learn to speak Spanish fluently in a daily life situation.
For me it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered that I could join the salsa lessons in Valencia, because I have always been interesting in this exotic dance. I had the pleasure to participate in all the parties that almost all Wednesday nights took place in Tucán club. In this club everybody lost all sense of shame and even the most monkey one went to the dance floor to enjoy these Latin rhythms, which also represent a great aspect of the Spanish culture. After all, salsa has been a source of inspiration for people of all over the world during decades and I could not find a better occasion to learn these Latin rhythms than the Spanish night life, where you can see how people breathe this music.
These salsa lessons were the perfect way to have fun, while we were also learning many things about the Spanish culture and its language. To learn how to speak Spanish was not so difficult for me in such a good environment. In moments like these, without caring much about it, your Spanish comes out automatically when you try to speak with someone else. I think that it was so easy for all my friends from my Spanish course and me to learn to speak Spanish, because we all were from different countries and our only way to communicate with each other was this language. And if you really want to learn Spanish, it is not such a big deal.
Although, we were sometimes out until late, we did not have any problem to follow the lessons the next morning. With Costa de Valencia it is always fun to learn to speak Spanish and all the Spanish classes are very interesting. Everything is so well organized that you can never get bored and it is impossible to fall asleep in any of the lessons.
The people from Costa de Valencia teach you not only how to speak Spanish, but how to enjoy this language and its culture. I highly recommend these Spanish classes if you really want to learn Spanish and enjoy the marvellous city of Valencia.
Thorsten 03/2010

My first day at the Spanish school Costa de Valencia

Up to now, the idea of my first day at school has always evoked rather negative associations: the holidays are over; you are surrounded by many unknown classmates and teachers and, as a result, you sometimes feel a little bit lonesome.
However, my first day at the Spanish school Costa de Valencia was quite different and has changed my opinion on first days of school in general.
When I began my Spanish course at this school 3 weeks ago, I soon realized that I was in good hands and that you cannot feel lonely here at all. At Costa de Valencia, one immediately gets to know many nice people and in the friendly atmosphere of this school, it is not difficult to make friends. Already before the placement test, which was written at the beginning of my first day of school, I got into contact with many nice people. The classification test itself also went quite well. According to the results of the test, I was assigned to the class which corresponded exactly to my level of Spanish.
Because my first lesson began in the afternoon, I took a guided tour, which is offered by the school every Monday, after the test. This was a good opportunity to get to know the city centre of Valencia and the most important places of interest. For example, we visited the bullfight arena, the central market and the historical city centre. But I think the most impressive building was the imposing cathedral of Valencia. Some of us climbed the 202 steps of the steeple and had a fantastic view of the town. There, I noticed how huge Valencia is. Usually, with its comfortable atmosphere, this town does not give the impression of being a gigantic metropolis.
After the guided tour, my first lesson began in the afternoon, which has also surprised me positively. In my course there were three other students so that the contents could be conveyed much better than in my Spanish class in Germany, where there are 29 other pupils. My teacher was also absolutely nice and open-minded so that, in no time, a personal relationship developed between her and us students. This way, it was actually fun to learn properly!

In the evening, a welcome paella party took place. Here, I got to know the other language students whom I had not met yet. While eating the tasty paella, we began to talk with each other. When I came back to my room in one of the school flats that evening, I finally realized that my panic concerning the first day of school in Spain had been groundless. At Costa de Valencia a lot is simply better than expected!

05/2010