Prácticas o Voluntariado

I enjoyed my classes at the Taronja school. I had nice teachers (Ne, Sa, Ya) and learned a lot of Spanish. I got a lot of attention from the teachers, the interns and the organizing staff. There are a lot of younger students (18-30) but I am sure middle-aged or older students have a lot of fun as well. I felt a little bit like back in school 18 years ago. I enjoyed this feeling.There are many activities during the week. You get the chance to talk a lot of Spanish (if you want to talk Spanish). I can't understand most bad recommendations. If you want high-educated native speakers with classes of 4 persons and the very same Spanish level someone has to tell me a country in Europe where you get this below 800 Euros a week! The price-performance ratio is very good, in my opinion. I am sure for the money you pay you get a Spanish boost and a good time (I can't say anything about the accommodations, because I stayed somewhere private). I sometimes have the feeling that in the eyes of foreigners spanish teachers and staff are expected to work for small salaries (instead of a fair salaries). Maybe this is something to reflect on and everybody is free to invest in private lessons. The new school building is very, very nice! I strongly recommend this school (also for students older than 30)!

OVERALL As a school teacher (of Maths and some other things), I had supported the Spanish trip here with my pupils in April 2023. I could see what a transformative experience it was for them so much so that I wanted it for myself. My time at Taronja can only be described as excellent. Everyone at the school tries to ensure you have the best time possible which is impressive based on the carousel of students who come-and-go each week. All the staff treated me with kindness and respect. Thank you to Maxi and Fernando for running such a unique place. The last 4 weeks at Taronja have been exciting, interesting, eventful, busy, enjoyable and compact with information. The last time I studied a language was 14 years ago. I was not very keen on languages in school but my time spent at Taronja has made me believe that I can learn a language to a much higher level than I ever thought possible. That alone has been worth it. LEARNING EXPERIENCE The teachers were fun and engaging. As an absolute beginner, I did the Intensive course + conversation class + private lessons. That helped with my exposure to the language and the private classes were helpful in ironing out some issues. I did this for the first three weeks, then extended by a week and "dropped down" to "only" the intensive course, which is plenty. If I were building up for an exam I would definitely pick up the private classes again. And the conversation classes were energetically delivered to give you important insights of Spanish conversational etiquette. Overall, I was able to enjoy lessons taught by patient, *knowledgeable* and kind teachers, who have reminded me about the importance of these characteristics in my own teaching practice. Teaching beginners must be tough and it was done with grace, style, poise and importantly, a smile. Thank you Laura, Carmen, Antonio, Miguel Angel, Nestor, Carol, Jenny, Nerea, and especially Mica and Paula for your infectious energy and humour. ACADEMIC ADMIN The organisation of the timetable and classes was clearly communicated in advance via WhatsApp. I know some people didn't feel as though they were in the right class for their level and changes were made almost instantly to help. This was managed by the academic team. SUPPORT Organising, arriving, and extending my stay was made very easy by the ladies at the front desk, in particular Elena and Roza! Emails were responded to promptly and they were always so helpful. Waving to them in the morning and getting a wave back made things feel a bit more like home! SOCIAL Plenty of opportunities to socialise with others at the school. Most people I attended school with were between 19-25. But there was also a considerable contingent of older pupils too (e.g. 31, 40 and 70!). This is all taken into consideration when forming classes and social activities. There are activities organised by the school for every day of the week. I went during high season (i.e. the summer) so there were a lot of people. Some activities are linked to other language schools which broadens your pool of potential connections. A lot are free. Many are heavily subsidised. Because there is a fluid change of people from week to week the extent to which you find things socialable will depend on who you share your time at the school with. But similarly minded people would pay money to attend a summer school, so it's likely to be fine for you, as it was for me! As an over-27, I was added to a WhatsApp group for additionally organised activities. BOCARIOS (Interns) An excellently led intern team support the activities and were a good group to talk to in general. Very helpful! GENERAL THOUGHTS When in Spain and doing things, there is a naturally occurring opportunity to practice the language. Whether you decide to is your own choice! And indeed your experience in general heavily depends on you 😇 . Approach it with an open heart and fresh eyes.

It's not an ordinary language school, it's way more than that! If you want to feel the real Spanish atmosphere, if you want to learn, be surrounded by positive people, have fun and make new friends this is your place! Don't chose just a language school, chose an entire experience! Hope to come back very soon! ☀️☀️☀️

After being with Taronja for a couple of years now online I decided to take the plunge and do their immersion course in Valencia, which, for a 54 year old, filled me with apprehension !! I have to say it’s one of the best things I’ve done to progress and improve my Spanish, the schools new location was ideal situated at the edge of the old town near the Turia park. The facilities in the building and classrooms were excellent with information screens, whiteboards and air conditioning also there is great chill out space on the ground floor to relax in !! The standard of teaching was excellent with varied topics and wide ranging conversations and discussions with time taken to explain things if you weren’t quite sure or needed clarification on vocabulary or grammar. I had 4 teachers in total, including the conversational workshops, and I can’t praise them enough, they were all absolutely fantastic. I must also give special mentions to the reception and activities teams who were friendly, professional, helpful and a joy to deal with on a daily basis with nothing being too much trouble. All in all a fantastic experience one which I hope to repeat in the future.. Well done Taronja ☺️

Super week learning new language, remembering forgotten fragments and updating old phrases. The course was really well structured and delivered and great fun. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. The Spanish cooking and singing sessions were the icing on the cake and the sun shone on the beautiful city of Valencia every day.

Had a fun week learning Spanish with friendly and interesting people. There were social activities for all and I had some lovely evening s of wine a tapas organised by Sue and Melo who made sure all were welcome. Highly recommend

It's been 50 years since I went to 'school' and it was with much trepidation that I booked to go to the Taronja school. I had imagined that I would be the old man amongst youngsters in the class, but although I was the oldest there, I found we represented a good cross section of ages. The first couple of hours in class was rather difficult, but that was because I felt a long way behind the other students regarding ability. There were 2 reasons for this, firstly the first subject of the day was about regular and irregular verbs, which is, at least for me and some of the others, difficult, but I soon began to make headway thanks to the excellent teacher. Secondly, I really should have attended the previous week as well; purely my mistake when I booked online. When I look back at the week at the Taronja school and the amount I have learnt I am very impressed and I would go back for more but unfortunately it's a very long way from home and being a family man I just can't justify it but if it was within daily travelling distance I would be happy to spend many weeks there. I am considering using their online courses, but we'll see. For anybody thinking about going to the Taronja school, just do it!

Beeindruckend! Ich bin wirklich beeindruckt von dieser Sprachschule!
Sehr gut ausgebildete, sympathische, junge Lehrer, die auf unser Sprachniveau gut eingehen, geduldig und humorvoll sind und jeden im Kurs (wir sind 9 SchülerInnen) auch "zwingen", zu sprechen, ganz wesentlich für mich!
S. hat uns sogar mit seiner perfekt gespielten Gitarre ein Lied gesungen - im Text mussten wir die fehlenden Verben in der richtigen Zeit einsetzen und durften dann mit ihm nochmal gemeinsam singen - also auch einige Talente gibt es hier! 🙂
Die Lernmethode ist intensiv, anders und im richtigen Maß, um schnell Fortschritte zu machen.
Die Schule, die Korrespondenz mit ihr, die Informationen, die wir bekommen, die Organisation generell ist super strukturiert und durchorganisiert - estupendo! Noch nie in dieser Weise erlebt!
Ja, und sogar auf meine Reklamationen bezüglich meines Appartements (einige!), in dem ich hier lebe, geht man geduldig und liebevoll ein und es ändert sich auch was!
Freue mich schon auf die zweite Woche und auf weitere Lernerfolge hier!
Muchas gracias por sus esforzias, Taronja School! 🙂