The Instituto Superior de Español, established in 1988, is a great choice for tourists who want to pick up some Spanish language while staying in Ecuador. There are six locations, all easily accessible.

Flexibility is key when choosing a Spanish school in Ecuador. At the Instituto, students can choose from either individual or group lessons. Additionally, an interesting option is to pick up Spanish while exploring the Galapagos Islands.

The teachers are university trained, and they accompany students on optional excursions. According to past students, Eugenio Cordova, director, is an excellent resource about Ecuador. Homestays can be arranged.

Location
Quito school: Darquea Terán 1650 y Av. 10 de Agosto, Otavalo school: Sucre 1110 y Morales, Galapagoes school: Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz
Quito, Ecuador

This Language School teaches:
Spanish

Contact Information:
Phone: Quito: +593 2 222 3242, Otavalo: +593 6 2922 414
Fax: Quito: +593 2 222 1628, Otavalo: +593 6 2922 415
E-mail: superior(at)remove-this.ecnet.ec
URL: www.instituto-superior.net

Academia Latinoamericana - Learn Spanish in Quito, Ecuador All levels. The most effective methods. University credit through New Mexico State University. Reasonable rates & more www.latinoschools.com

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Reviews

Traveler Reviews of Instituto Superior de Español

Spanish on the Galapagos

Rating: 100%

Just got back from a great holiday in Ecuador which included a weeks Spanish class on the Galapagos. It was great! One-to-one teaching for 20 hours in the week meant I made enormous progress in my Spanish and the teacher was excellent. Added to this, the school organised everything extremely well. A very good hotel, a super day's trip to another island with a qualified guide and other excursions during the week meant that I could enjoy the animal and bird life on the islands and learn a lot of Spanish at the same time.
I had a completely different experience to the contributor from Sept 2008 and thoroughly enjoyed what was an exceptionally effective week!  OK, its more expensive than a course on the mainland but that's also because the teacher flies out to the Galapagos with you and you are obviously paying that fare as well. But I found the combination of one-to-one teaching and doing that on these unique islands great value for money. I can recommend it whole-heartedly.

By V!VA User from Germany, Aug 12, 2009

Spanish Lessons

Rating: 100%

We studied spanish for one week at the Instituto Superior de Español and were very impressed. The school was clean, organized and very efficient. Our teachers were very pleasant, always friendly and enthusiastic. And the staff went out of their way not only to make our learning experience as effective as possible but also to help with our other travel arrangements in any way that they could. They did everything from picking us up at the airport to organizing taxis and hotels in other towns. The staff at the school certainly take their jobs very serious and are keen to have the students advance as much as possible over their short stay. Overall our experience at the school was top-notch and we would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a spanish language school in Ecuador. 

By V!VA User from Canada, Jul 06, 2009

Good teachers really bad organisation

Rating: 25%

If you take the program to learn Spanish in Galapagos, find some other school. This school is really trying to get as much money as possible from you. For example, in the Galapagos they charge you $30 a day for food at the hotel, even though the price of breakfast is included in the price of the room. The school overcharges you $12 a day just for food. Also, teachers do not follow you on guided tours nor accompany you anywhere after the classes, but many other schools do this. Their methodology is also based on learning from a new teacher every week, though in Quito I had the same teacher for weeks. Their methodology is good but they do not use any books. Also some important parts were missing on my final day, simply because different teachers do not want to teach the same things. The school in Quito is rather noisy, they have small booths for all the classes and you can hear the noise from all the other rooms due to very thin walls. I will return to Ecuador, but definitely not to this school. They don't pay any of the transit cost, like airport pickup, even though the school information mentions this. Plus, I never received any diploma or certificate after my studies. The school charges you for afternoon excursions around the Galapagos, nearby your hotel. These are without guides and when I complained, I was told that "you are a grown up person and should manage yourself." I saw other language schools who had arranged local guides for these excursions. At the Quito location, there is only one weekly activity. While I was there, we went to the same restaurant every time, there should be more variation. There was very little information about other activities. When I asked my teacher, they were not interested in helping and I had to go to the tourist information.

By V!VA User from Europe, Sep 13, 2008