Student References

Our Spanish Learners provide feedback

We invite all our students to provide feedback and we pay attention to what they say. Please note that these are genuine comments from real students.

Great lesson! I tried three companies before selecting Fernanda...espero que aprendo mas rapido con ella!

I've been looking around the web for online Spanish tutoring, and came across 121spanish. From the ones I've looked at, 121Spanish seems to have the best prices, best range of tutors, most professional site, and the widest range of learning resources.

I have been using 121Spanish for only a few months but I am already a huge fan of theirs. The website is very well designed and easy to use and it enables me to pick lesson times that suit me. I am currently using two different teachers, both of whom are very good and they make sure I do plenty of talking, which is what I want practice in. Having a personal teacher is not only the most efficient way to learn, it is also the most fun because it's rather like having a chat for a whole hour!

Read this personal account of the learning experiences of one of our students, and why he chose to learn Spanish with 121Spanish.

I have been using 121 for more than a year and I love it! I have tried a couple of other language schools, but this is by far the best. Craig Jull, the owner responds personally (and very promptly) to any requests and goes out of his way to make sure that everything runs smoothly.

I have had three teachers so far - Evelyn, Danitza and Hernan. They have all been wonderful. Not only did they teach me Spanish, but I got fascinating insights into the life, culture and customs of Guatemala, Peru and Colombia! And yes, my Spanish is improving by leaps and bounds! Nothing beats having a personal tutor teach you at your own pace!

I was impressed with Natalia. She has a good understanding of teaching principles and being able to learn and retain what you learned.

Just wanted to thank you very much for providing such a great service. The children's classes and time flexibility are exactly what we've been hoping to find. I'll be signing up for the intro lesson now and hope we end up being long term customers. Thanks again!

Hello Craig. I just finished a lesson with Maria and she asked me to give you feedback. Overall, it was a very good session. I've used several of your teachers over the past year and Maria was the easiest to understand when she was using her natural cadence of speech. Maybe it's the Colombian accent, or lack thereof. She was cheerful, patient and astutely caught patterns of errors that I was making. I found her very helpful with pronunciation drills and vocabulary.

Hi Craig. Thanks for setting me up with Maria. I liked the class yesterday - although it was a little late for me. She is an excellent and dynamic teacher. I will purchase some classes and continue with her or another of your teachers.

Here is a link to the Internet Spanish language classes [ 121Spanish.com ] I take from teachers in Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, and Argentina. I highly recommend this way of learning to speak Spanish. You set the conversation themes, or let the teacher interview you. You can focus on grammar, writing or speaking. You can have as many different teachers as you want and set the frequency of lessons at any pace that is convenient.

I just had my class with Hernan and I'm happy to tell you that he is a very good teacher. This was my first conversation with anyone in Spanish and needless to say, I was really nervous... Anyway, Herman was patient, he didn't push me, and most importantly, he allowed me to think through what I was trying to say to him. You have a good man there...

I am so happy with the instruction from my teacher Hernan [ and it's great value for money ] ... Best Regards!

Craig, I just want to let you know that I am having great success learning Spanish at 121Spanish. I have tried courses from books, DVDs, and other online sources and none of them worked. This is by far the best! Glad I found 121Spanish.

I have been working with Carolina (maestra037) for about one year now and have had tremendous progress. I started out as a novice and have gained excellent knowledge about the Spanish language and culture with the guidance from Carolina. She is a very friendly and dynamic teacher explaining things very well, has lots of patience, and gives me time to think through and compose what I want to say in Spanish.

She is always very helpful with grammar, writing, pronunciation drills, vocabulary exercises, and in drills to describe scenes from everyday life. I feel that I have made great progress under her guidance and would recommend her to any of your students. I enjoy the touch of a personal tutor in exploring this new adventure that 121Spanish gives me. Thanks and I am glad I found 121Spanish.

I love your lessons, they are great! I'll be signing up for more soon...

I'm happy in every way with Odilia and your booking system...

As a 3+ year veteran student, it is possible that I have been a 121Spanish student longer than any other. Moreover, I have had at least one class, if not many, with almost all of your tutors. Furthermore, from time to time, I've experimented with other, competing online Spanish schools. So, I do feel somewhat qualified to evaluate the service.

Obviously, I'm pleased, or I would have quit long ago. 121Spanish continues to be the best value in online language education that I have found. An enormous advantage 121 has over competitors is the online calendar. I can't compliment you enough on the booking system. To my knowledge, no other online school even has tried an electronic calendar and they clearly underestimate it as a product differentiator. It's just fantastic.

On the subject of tutors, there is some variation in the quality of talent, teaching skills, multilingualism and tutor's Internet speed. However, 121 has much better consistency (less variability) among tutor quality than its closest competitors. Overall, I rate 121 tutors very good to excellent. While the online calendar is important, tutor selection is critical. 121 has done an excellent job.

By the way, just to name the top 3 tutors, para mi, and not necessarily in order: Wilmarys, Micaella and Aurora. Carolina R. would make the top 3 list but her availability is limited and, at times, a bit intense.

Concerning teaching material, it seems to be the personal decision of the tutor which materials will be most effective. This is a good thing, as students' needs vary and a student's individual needs change (some of us more than others.) I think it is very important that tutors have the discretion to choose materials and that they have a wide range of materials available. The decision of which materials to use with a given student on a given day should be left to the expert opinion of the tutor.

Over the last month, I've been booking 2 consecutive 1 hour sessions each day. I wish I had thought of this a couple years ago because my skill level has really spiked as a direct result. There is no question in my mind that 2 consecutive hours are 3 or 4 times as effective as two 1 hour sessions separated by a day or several hours. The longer duration 1) requires longer concentration in Spanish, 2) relaxes the pace by removing time pressure, and 3) allows enough time for both grammar and conversation during each 2 hour session facilitating utilization of lessons learned. For me, Wilmarys seems exceptionally well suited for these longer sessions as she has a plethora of resources instantly available regardless of where my ADD-addled brain my lead us. Wilmarys is your superstar! She's always excited to teach and never gets frustrated .... believe me, I've tested the latter.

We are thrilled with 121 Spanish...this morning I was talking about it with my friend and he was amazed at my discovery. The booking system and tracking system of classes is perfect, so easy, I love it. And I like how you can cancel and reschedule a class if you have a sudden conflict. We try not to do that, but sometimes life gets in the way.

The fact that my son wants to continue doing Spanish lessons during his school year speaks to his learning experience with 121 Spanish and, more importantly, Odilia. He is very happy with the study material and is very fond of Odilia. He says that before Odilia, his comfort and confidence to speak was 6/10. Now he has moved up to 7/10 with just 5 lessons. We can also see/hear these results.Last weekend we went out of town to a beach and he was bored but he found some boys playing soccer and he went up to them to ask them to play.It turns out that they only spoke Spanish so he said he had no problem commuicating with them.I think this experience was a big turning point for him. He admitted that he felt really cool that he could communicate with the boys.

The booking system is nice in my opinion. I have been taking classes for some time now (2 years) from 121 and I am satisfied with the content. My spanish level is high intermediate/ low advanced so conversation practice is beneficial for me personally, and most of my classes consist primarily of conversation. As such is the case I can't give a lot of analysis regarding grammatical lesson content. I have had a few grammar lessons which have been helpful. I will say that I tried a few other services before I settled on 121 and 121 at that time was the best in my opinion, a lot of that depends on the maestra, my regular teacher is very good. I have tried some other teachers at 121 and they have been pretty good also, with maybe one exception. There are a lot more Skype Spanish services available now and 121 is actually tending toward the higher priced end, but if the recent cost increases are going to the teachers as was stated, I am in support of that.

I have no complaints with any of the tutors I've tried. I find Danitza and Paola Obando to be particularly outstanding. I would recommend your site to other Spanish learners, and intend to continue using your services for quite some time. My personal learning method is conversation and translation (I don't have a lot time and it works for me). All tutors have provided and/or told me about available study materials/assignments. Occasionally, I do an assignment during the lesson.

In fact, a particular recent assignment that Danitza kept kindly encouraging me to do, despite my recalcitrance, turned out to be enormously beneficial for me.

Well I actually booked four classes with Willy yesterday. He is an excellent superb instructor who is dedicated to helping me learn Spanish. Willy always has a lesson plan for our classes and he listens to my particular goals for the class so we can customize the class as necessary. Primarily we work from the online book and everything taught from the book is appropriate to my current level of spanish. Willy also teaches me spanish grammar and we also have classes for improving conversational skills and listening skills.

I typically book around 5-10 classes with Willy per week; I find that my spanish is improving beyond my expectations and I find that my confidence in learning a second language becomes a little closer in reach each week. I like the professionalism I receive from all members of 121spanish, and I really wish I had joined up years sooner. I'm glad there are many teachers available to help me with improving my spanish skills; however, I find Willy to be an excellent teacher/ coach, and I will continue working with him as each person's schedule permits.

I hope this update is useful. Ever since I have joined your online school/ language exchange, I have booked at 41 lessons each time because I do take my learning seriously and enjoy the quality of services provided. Keep doing what you do, and I will keep being a student as long as it takes. Thanks!!!!!

Odilla is awesome! I have taken classes from several different instructors and she always impresses me. All of your instructors have been really good, Odilla is just my favorite :)

All my classes have been simply amazing. I am making progress and learning everyday. Micaella is the best!

I discovered your webpages via Google as I urgently needed to refresh my Spanish. My Spanish is quite good and I just needed to become more fluent, professional and formal in preparation for a very important professional meeting. I am an executive and wanted to learn specific words related to the financial industry and management.

With my greatest surprise I found in Willy a more then an excellent teacher! He not only completely satisfied all my needs, he did even more by sending me a couple of very useful emails, preparing all lessons, not only with respect to contents but also by using all electronic tools. In addition to that, the conversation with him was pleasant, professional, at super high level of content (management, finance, etc), polite, smiling, and he didn't waste my time, not even for a minute!

I speak five languages and it is the first time in my life that I have found such high professionalism! Last but not least, the use of Skype is really comfortable, easy and saves a lot of time! For sure I will come back and also recommend Willy and 121Spanish / TimelyBooking to my friends.

Hello! I just wanted to let you know that I have had several lessons with your wonderful teacher, Willy, and I am very impressed . He deigns very practical lessons for me and is encouraging yet forces me to do difficult things as well. As a busy professional, I really don't have time for things that are not effective. Willy is always well prepared and I am more than willing to dedicate the time to his class because he has such a passion for teaching. As an educator and lawyer myself, I know that it is not always easy to find smart people who are also good teachers, but you have a star in Willy!

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