Tandem Santiago - Escuela Violeta Parra

Important course for my learning in Spanish.
School with competent, welcoming teachers who use an effective methodology for mastering the language.
Native teachers who helped me speak more easily.

The classes were very familiar, a lot of speaaking. There were a lot of acivities besides the school, some paid some free where you could visit the life in santiago and acitivties closeby.

The location is ideal in a quiet safe little street.
I liked the yellow and blue house when I arrived.
I liked the warm smile of Jasmin when I arrived the first morning and that same smile every day.
I felt welcomed in a very nice way.
I had already taken the test so I was given my textbook and received the indications of my class room.
I liked both my teachers very much. Ivana for one week and then Alejandra for the 4 other weeks.
I liked meeting all the new students on the first day at the little welcome reception after class.
I liked that activities were offered at a reasonable price on the weekends and free activities during the week.
It all felt like home away from home.
I liked the classes and the lessons and especially all the opportunities to interact in Spanish.
I absolutely made enormous progress during my stay and even though I’m not fluent , I dare to speak to other people in Chile.
I liked the way Astrid took care of us during our activities and how she made us feel comfortable in the activities-group. She has a wonderful personality and knows how to spread a fun atmosphere.
All in all I had a great time.
What I did not like was my experience with the family and fortunately I only had asked for one week.
I think II am too old for such an exchange. Airbnb was better for me which I did afterwards.

It was good. I met a lot of great people and the teachers were very pedagogical. Also the activities were well organized. I would recommend taking the course to anyone coming to Chile and Santiago.

I had excellent teachers and the school's facilities were brilliant. I can't fault this place. I'm very glad I took the Intensive course, I only wish I'd stayed for a second week! The location is in a really cool and safe area of Santiago, with an excellent cafe round the corner.

There was nothing I didn't like. Can't rate the social activities as I didn't partake but there was something on offer every day.

Tandem Santiago was a great experience. Very small classes, good instructors. A bit heavy on grammar but that's to be expected. Would highly recommend.

The system of how to sign student level is bad,I felt been wasted 3 weeks due to put in wrong class,the school doesn't have good sense how to treat student from total different language system(like mandarin,japanese or korean).

I'm very surprised that them do not teach pronounce at all,even after finishing 10 weeks classes I'm still confused about "P,R,L",during 10 weeks classes,only 1 professor told me what letter I should pay attention when I speak,I even heard other student speak terribly wrong, but teacher did nothing about that,it's barely understandable his Spanish at all.

Teacher changing a lot,due to their way of selling class,in 10 weeks I been through 5-6 different teacher and different class,different classmates,it makes my learning unstable too,so if for students prefer class and teacher all the same all the time,I STRONGLY RECOMMEND DO NOT CHOSE THIS SCHOOL, but if student who like change a lot, then it's good ,every week you might see new people.

When there is national holiday ,they only offer one option to re-do class,without consider students might have other thing to do can not attend class out of the time we expected(for example afternoon),so I missed around 4 classes because they put in that time I was unable to attend and didn´t leave me another choice.

I established good grammar knowledge in this school,teachers in Tandem Santiago are really good and having professional grammar sense of Spanish those are the thing really hard to study by yourself,after taking classes here I finally understand what is happening when I watching Spanish TV.

If you report a problem they usually fix it quickly,I feel they care about your problem if you come to them which is good,as an asin I tend to observe what happend and response slowly,but when I go to their director to complain things ,I feel be heard.

It's hard to say if I recommend Tandem Santiago because it really depends what you want from learning,for people just want have a good time to learn not much but basic sense I feeling this is not the right place,and for the price I paid and too many bad experience I been through,if it's my friend I'd not recommend him or her this school.

Everyone at Tandem school is wonderful.
Thanks to them, I was able to live comfortably in Santiago.
There is an environment where you can interact with many people.
I was able to know not only the language but also the culture of Chile.

The class sizes are at a comfortable level of 4-5, so there's plenty of opportunity for each student to participate and be thus be put through one's paces.
I at first voiced concerns that I felt I belonged at a higher level than I was put in for my morning classes, but was told the class would soon move up a level. Although this was in fact the case, I still couldn't help but feel wrongly placed, being in a beginners class with 3,5 years of prior skills. Perhaps a different kind of placement test could be administered on site, rather than the same one once more.
In the end, the morning classes became a repetition of what I had once learned in school. However, having realised that I had forgotten much of that, perhaps that wasn't so bad after all. One-on-one lessons were sufficiently challenging as well as rewarding. A minor bone of contention: I asked both my tutors to give me a reading assignment for homework, so that we could discuss the text the next day - as this is good exercise for me - but we never got around to that.
In fact, both for morning classes as well as one-on-ones, I think more homework would not have been amiss.
The school's location is superb and comfortably close to a metro station on a main line, close to city center. The building itself is quaint, if a bit dated. However, the use of gas heaters indoors did not really sit quite well with me.
I was quite fond of the weekend excursions and even the dance lesson, but fail to see the point of the movie screening, if I'm honst.

Fantastic school! They were all very receptive and attentive to the students. The teachers were excellent. I would recommend it 100%.

My experience was fine. Nothing special to say about it.

I took a basic course of 60 “trial” lessons, because, of course, it all depended on your needs. Tandem was suggested by my friends who passed courses for starting their careers in Chile. The place is well-located, near the metro station, and inside you will find everything you need: water, coffee, snacks., and others. There is also a nice room outside for time-off and chat; it is really comfortable and worth the money you pay.

This place has different activities. If you are new here, I really suggest you take excursions to see Santiago; these are different depending on the time of the year. I did not need to rent a room, so I can’t give my advice on this, but some of my classmates were happy with their renting.

The teaching process was the most important thing for me. In Tandem, there were different teachers. During my classes, we changed teachers twice. I do not know exactly why. Each of them was professional but in different ways. After 1 week of classes, you will fill out a questionnaire for Tandem, and there was an option for where I preferred to change my teacher. As you can see, Tandem is a flexible team, and they really care for your opinion. This option for changing teachers also helps to keep all teachers qualified to make classes more interesting, alive, to keep the cooperation during class time, and to create a good atmosphere. I liked it. For me, it was really helpful for start my first steps in Chile.

I want to mention that at the end of my classes, I received some job offers and I passed successfully. Nowadays, I work in Santiago, so I guess, with my own experience I can say you "just do it".

What did I not like? Well, everything cannot be 100% great. That is impossible. It was just the really small things that bothered me, which I even do not remember now. It all depends on your attitude, desire to study, and your own motivation.

Kind regards,
Kateryna

I had a really good experience at Tandem. The teachers were really nice and tried their best to help me improve my Spanish.. which I did! I learnt a lot.

Tandem Santiago has a phenomenal staff who ensures a rich language, cultural, and social immersion experience.

The language classes were fun and challenging. The teachers were well-prepared and organized, and explained new information very clearly. The curriculum and materials were outstanding. I made tremendous gains in comprehension, speaking and grammar in a short amount of time. The staff was attentive and helpful to housing and tour needs, and the cultural activities offered by the school were engaging. I recommend this opportunity to colleagues, family and friends; enrolling in language school and living with host families is a great way to immerse oneself in a new culture. You can attend classes in the morning, do sightseeing in the afternoons, and have fabulous dinners and conversations with your host family in the evening.

Tandem Santiago's program offers an educational and economical vacation for families, singles, or couples of all ages.

I liked the classes and the teachers. There could have been more activities. I liked hanging out every Friday night with other students and going out with them, but not that many would attend; The school should make the activity more attractive for students to come.

The class goes really fast.

They will teach you half the book within one week, and after two weeks, you will start the intermediate class.

I recommend to have take the class for one week and pause during the next week.

The classes were great! I loved the teachers! They were very helpful and joyful, the location was really good, it was near a metro station and it had a lot of restaurants nearby. The school activities were also very interesting, I had the chance to go to a museum and a vinery. The housing was a downside. It was not very clean and at my first week I was at a room really small.