SF Spanish

This is an awesome way to learn Spanish. I purchased 8 classes and really enjoyed the experience, so I purchased another 8 classes. The teachers are really kind and know how to teach really well. The best thing about this is that the classes are small, so you get a lot of personal attention.
Gracias Romina y Natalia!

My kids have been taking after-​school classes at SF Spanish for a few months now, and they love it! Romina is a wonderful, cheerful, teacher. She makes the classes very fun, and gives them puzzles and worksheets to practice with between classes. Their classroom is very comfortable, and there’s a room outside for guests or visitors to wait. Alexis does a great job scheduling classes and answering questions. SF Spanish offers a variety of class times, and I’ve found that very helpful. The times work well with my schedule, and I’d recommend it for other working parents. Best of all, my kids are practicing Spanish around the house — which is great!

I started taking private classes at SF Spanish a couple of months ago with Romina. Even though I speak fluent Spanish, I could barely write in the language! Romina helped me A LOT with this, and now even my conversation has improved tons. Her personal classes are a different price than other teachers, but I still recommend them. The office is super cute and comfy and the admin assistant (Alex) always helps with my schedule :)

I have taken semi-​private classes with Gustavo and beginner group classes with Ana D. I enjoyed the informal, friendly and conversational style of both classes. Scheduling was easy and reliable (no cancellations), and Alexis (the admin assistant) was readily available to help and answer questions as necessary (I used email so did not encounter any phone issues like others describe). I would recommend these classes as a fun but effective way to learn Spanish.

I just got back from the 10 day spanish immersion trip to Buenos Aires, and had a great time. The class size was small (just 2 of us in my advanced class), with instruction tailored to my needs. We had lots of excursions with different guides, to provide practice listening and interacting with different speakers. The excursions were all included. My favorite was the Tango show — with both a great show and great food. We also visited a ranch, a couple museums, many cafes, the Teatro Colon, and others. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. At the beginning, I was having trouble understanding my instructor and the guides, but by the end, I was understanding almost everything! I also recommending trying the ice cream (helados), the licuados (fruit shakes — peach [durazno] was my favorit), and of course the dulce de leche. I do have one complaint — I gained several pounds in spite of a lot of walking — perhaps next time restraints to keep me from the ice cream??! — Pablo

I started taking classes at SF Spanish about 3 months ago and I only have good things to say about it. Pablo is a wonderful teacher, easygoing, funny, and the classes are so entertaining I hardly notice time passing. The classes are tailored to my specific needs, we discuss themes that have to do with my universe, including professional situations in which I need to use Spanish. He doesn’t EVER let me speak English, which is great, because otherwise you never learn. After only 2 – 3 months of class I feel so much more confident using Spanish at work and I was able to communicate pretty fluently with everybody in a recent trip to Mexico.
So overall I am very satisfied and I highly recommend SF Spanish in general and Pablo in particular if you’re looking to improve your skills in this fascinating language :)

I love SF Spanish! I was looking for a place to take classes to improve my very poor high school level Spanish in preparation for a 5 week trip to Argentina, and when I found SF Spanish I knew this was the perfect place for me. I love the learning environment — small groups with classmates that are at your level and you can only speak Spanish. It is such a welcoming place to learn, everybody takes off their shoes and we sit on cushions or on comfy chairs — so much more inviting that a typical classroom setting. The focus is on conversation, and in my class we often start off talking about what we did over the weekend, that day, etc. before moving into our grammar lessons. Mariana is my teacher and she is a lot of fun as well as a great, supportive teacher, and I have learned so much in her classes.
Another reason why I knew that SF Spanish was the perfect place for me was that the Immersion program coincided with the time when I was going to go to Argentina, so I started off my trip with the Immersion program in Buenos Aires. The program was fantastic — it was a combination of grammar lessons as well as excursions around Buenos Aires, and of course, it was all in Spanish. It was a lot of fun to meet new SF Spanish friends and we had some really hilarious experiences due to language barriers all while improving my Spanish. Romina led the group, and because she is from Argentina, we were able to experience Buenos Aires from a locals point of view. I had an awesome time and would highly recommend it!

The is the best find in all of San Francisco. I have been looking around for a way to study Spanish for some time. Everything was confused (CCSF) or inconvenient or expensive. I was looking at big classes sitting in a chair with 25 people as someone lectures on a chalk board.
Then I found SFSpanish. I don’t know how they do it, it must be out of love! I put my name on a list, and waited until they got enough students interested to start a class. We started our first class with 2 students, one more the next week and now we have 4 — Thats FOUR– students for 90 minutes with a professor. Who is fantastic. Its conversational, convenient, non-​stress. The way it is done is amazing, and it is so inexpensive. There is nothing I have done in years that is this much fun and feel this good about.

Great teachers and fun events planned. I only had time to take 8 beginner courses but while I am still too shy to speak Spanish, I can understand a lot of what other are saying which makes a big difference!

I’m an SFSpanish enthusiast and can’t recommend Romina and her teachers highly enough. The overview: 1) Consistently enthusiastic, organized, effective teachers across the board. 2) Small classes with private options. 3) Customizable, flexible program. 4) Energetic student & teaching community with lots of practice options. 5) Ridiculously cost-​effective. 6) Easy online scheduling and payment system. 7) Professional.
The details: I started four months ago taking private classes twice a week with Romina, who runs the school. She’s energetic, very organized, patient, tireless (and a stickler for pronunciation!). Several weeks ago she suggested I substitute a group class for one of our private sessions. She thought it a good idea to practice speaking with a teacher with a different accent, plus she thought I’d enjoy the group dynamic. Romina took time to select a group and it was a great fit right off the bat. She coordinated my transition and checks in with my new teacher Dolores. I really appreciate how Romina seems to watching out for all her students and their progress.
I also really enjoy all the extra opportunities to practice Spanish. Romina organizes free fiestas every couple of months with games, snacks, drinks, and lots of conversation. And the empanada class with Sandro was fun! Last week was the open house party, complete with Boggle Espanol! (Ha! It was actually a gift from a student, who modified the English Boggle game with ñ, é and ll!) There’s also a jam-​packed website full of stuff that I haven’t even tackled. Anyway, Romina has created a dynamic community of learners and teachers in San Francisco and it’s fun to be a part of it.
I am adding a third group class per week in preparation for an immersion trip to Buenos Aires, which Romina organizes at least every year.
In short: SFSpanish is fun and professional. I look forward to my classes and enjoy being part of the larger community Romina and her team have created.

I write this review with a heavy heart, and I’ll try to keep it short, as I think those are the most helpful ones to glance through.
My experience with SF Spanish was wholly unsatisfying. Very insulting.
I signed up through the website for a package of 4 classes to start — I intended to begin that same week, on a Saturday.
I received a confirmation email from a representative one day before the meeting. It was long and I was confused by the info as it said new students had to begin with 8 classes. There was some info about an assessment as well. This didn’t make sense to me as I was already charged and under the assumption that I was ready to begin like anyone else… why would such an online transaction go through otherwise?
I went to the class on a Saturday morning and no one showed. I called the company’s phone number and found that it was merely an answering service without any useful information whatsoever (seriously, nothing). They took my message and said I’d hear back from someone during regular biz hours. That never happened.
I then went through a very confusing series of emails with a representative. She was clearly trying her best to communicate, but there appeared to be, perhaps ironically, a language incompatibility. I was eventually referred to the CEO. I was relieved!
The phone call with the CEO was worst of all. Though she, too, was clearly trying her best (disgracefully), I was told the following:
1. The CEO giggled — seriously giggled — as she informed me that I did something apparently unusual by signing up through the website and not the phone number (recall that it is an answering service — indeed they can book classes, but cannot provide answers to any other questions or concerns).
2. I was then told that the website is problematic and does not function according to the limits, requirements and recommendations of the company — you might want to read that part again.
3. She insisted that I sign up for 8 classes and get an assessment despite the fact that I had not paid for that nor was I in any way prepared to.
4. I was offered a free private class due to the Saturday no-​show. That sounded good, sort of.
5. After explaining more than 3 times over that I signed up for 4 classes, only intended to pay for 4 classes (and definitely not 4 more), and that it’s not my fault or problem that the website does not function properly… I was told I would be refunded the full amount.
6. I told the CEO that I was disappointed — that a refund was not exactly what I wanted. If anything, I wanted the right to attend the 4 classes I had been charged for (as last time I checked goods and services are exchanged for currencies). She told me some things about company preferences (I won’t call them policies as policies are somehow legitimated) — that sounded fine for her, but I didn’t see what any of this had to do with the money I had already spent and how it justified the proposition that I spend twice as much as I had intended.
7. I reluctantly accepted the refund and the free private lesson only to find that when I called the «main number» to book it (mind you I had learned that signing up through the website could prove problematic), they could not confirm that I had a free private lesson and asked, again, that I leave a message. My call was never returned.
I was really excited about getting started with this company. The curriculum sounded outstanding (reading WikILeaks in Spanish? Awesome!). Disgraceful professionalism and abhorrent infrastructure lead me to pull out and find another source altogether.
Hope things drastically improve for clients and company alike.

You have to pay for your assessment, but it is like a private lesson. I have had an assessment and a private with Dolores who was kind, patient and knowledgeable. I am taking privates, although they are more than twice the cost of groups, because the class I was placed in conflicted with my schedule so I cannot comment on groups yet. I am working to get into the next group up.
I have since had a private with Mariana and she is great as well.
I have now progressed to the Beginner 2 group with Mariana before I finished my privates which is nice. They are 1.5 hours vs. the 1 hour private, and there are 2 other students in this group. I am learning, and enjoying it very much.

I’ve been attending classes at SF Spanish for a few months now and I have to admit that I’m hooked. I’m a terrible student and not particularly disciplined, however I really feel like I’m learning great skills and always try my best to never miss a class. It’s the combination of small classes, great classmates and most importantly, really friendly and energetic teachers that make this the perfect place to study Spanish, regardless of what level you’re at.
SF Spanish also organizes social events so you can practice your Spanish and meet new people — it’s a huge confidence booster and a lot of fun.
I’ve tried a few language classes elsewhere and hands down, SF Spanish is the best. It’s also great value, given the small class sizes and tailored lessons. Thanks to Romina, Federico, Juan and Dolores for re-​igniting my interest in the Spanish language!

Folks, SF Spanish really rocks! The teachers are first class, the owner/​director is an attentive business owner and fantastic teacher. What makes it stand out from the rest of the schools however, are the quarterly parties! It’s has been so much fun over the years to get know other regular students and welcome new people into the mix! I really encourage people to sign up today and not only take advantage of the professional studies, but also the SF Spanish community. !!

I started taking Spanish for the first time a few months ago, and am about to head off to Chile and Argentina for a few months. SF Spanish has been totally great! My beginning classes have mostly involved an hour and a half of conversation in Spanish, plus some teaching of grammatical structures, and some reading aloud of writing assignments from homework. There was of course a steep learning curve while we learned enough words to complete sentences, but we have always talked in Spanish during class, which I find very practical. I have studied a number of languages in the past in more formal settings, and I wish I had more classes per week so that I could spend more time studying, but I do think that if you’re going to spring for Spanish classes, you have to just decide you’re going to also study independently. I haven’t studied anywhere else in SF.
The class has changed size week to week, as people come and go without ceremony, but our class has always been under 6 people, and I feel like we all have time to talk, listen, and ask questions. We’ve gotten to have several teachers, just through needing substitutes, and they are all fabulous, interesting people– all the more reason to attend the quarterly parties, when they come up! I wish I had gone to the one that happened right when I started taking classes, but I was too nervous (in retrospect, for no reason). Anyway, I couldn’t be more positive about my experience here, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

SFSpanish is one of the best language schools I have ever worked with, if not the best. I have had countless language teachers, some good, some bad, but the consistency of SFSpanish’s excellence has been utterly consistent.
I personally have worked the most with Romina, also the person who runs the school, and she has a mix of qualities that make for an excellent language learning environment. She is non-​judgemental, kind, fun, and funny, all of which make for a relaxes learning environment where one can feel comfortable speaking, but the real magic is that she is able to help you with pronunciation or grammar in a non-​obtrusive way that doesn’t ruin the flow of the conversation. Furthermore, it is very clear that her priority is not making as much money as possible or as churning through as many students as possible, but rather creating an environment where students can flourish. She cares deeply about making sure that every student is a good match with their teacher (and with their group if it is a group class). This level of care is unsurpassed with other language schools.
I also have met all of the other teachers, and while I have not had classes with them, I can say that Romina has a knack (perhaps a passion, even) for finding teachers that buy into this shared set of values. Language learning is about values and culture way beyond academic ability (though she and her teachers have all of these in spades), and I think many schools focus on people who know their grammar without focusing on people who students actually want to talk to.
Languages are fundamentally about people. We learn languages to interact with others and to read and understand the things that other cultures have produced. SF Spanish gets this. They get that it’s about people so they bring together great people and let the magic happen.

After more than a year now with SF Spanish, I still highly recommend it for anyone looking to learn Spanish quickly and effectively, and have a lot of fun doing so.
Classes are informal and conversation based (entirely in Spanish) and they ensure you earn all the verb tenses and important grammar. They provide just the right amount of «formal» teaching and reinforcement with writing exercises to keep you advancing consistently. The outside activities (ex. parties, cooking workshops, videos) provide more supportive opportunities to practice and gently make you tiptoe out of your comfort zone.
The instructors are absolutely top-​notch. Alicia is my main instructor and my personal favorite. She’s warm, friendly, very easy to talk to, and prepared and willing to answer whatever questions I have. She comes up with inventive, interesting assignments that also provide good practical context for otherwise complicated concepts (the subjunctive anyone?).
All and all, it’s been a great experience — I look forward to my twice-​weekly lessons via Skype and feel like I’ve gained a new perspective on the richness and intricacies of the language.
Resources I’d had from the start:
1.
— Best web/​printed resource for spanish learning I’ve found. Highly recommend buying the worksheets that accompany the free podcasts.
2.
— Ana (instructor who is also another favorite of mine) made a really entertaining web series «Spanish Lessons» that is basically telenovela spanish lessons. FTW!

This is a great group to learn/​improve your Spanish with. The emphasis is definitely on speaking and listening through the course of normal conversation — like the way you learn a language growing up. I like this style much better than how I learned in high school where you focus on units of specific vocabulary or verbs that go together e. g «at the restaurant», «at the beach», etc. I think studying at SF Spanish is more natural and useful if you actually want to speak Spanish functionally with the people you come across in your daily life. Also the group members and teachers are friendly and the diversity of accents and vocabulary used due to everyone’s various backgrounds gives me a more well-​rounded understanding of the language.

SF Spanish is great. Romina has a remarkably strong understanding of grammar, vocabulary and the structure of language. She uses these skills to compare and contrast how to say things in Spanish. It’s really helped me to comprehend how the language works and remember how to use it.
Romina is very personable. I really enjoy working with her and look forward to class!

¡Romina es lo mejor! :-) She is the best Spanish teacher I have had (and I’ve had a lot). She is a voracious corrector and stickler for pronunciation — both very necessary qualities in an effective teacher. Romina has a fun personality — my group regularly shares more than a few laughs each session. I find the articles about current events she gives us to read very interesting (especially those about world political events) and really enjoy my weekly class. I found her randomly on Craiglist last June and am so glad I did. When I went back to Perú this past summer (I spent half of 2009 in South America) my Peruvian friends complemented me on my improved Spanish skills. I highly recommend Romina!