Program Reviews

This school is located in a beautiful and comfortable family home looking over the Mediterranean. The family is warm and welcoming. Estefania and Elisabeth are excellent professors. Their approach is practical and they keep class time lively, fast-paced and interesting. They encourage students to explore topics of their own interest, current events and life in Spain. Homework assignments were interesting and helped us apply what we were learning. I found the teaching methods very creative. Carmen is a gracious host and she prepares healthy, fresh meals. The fruits and produce are from her land. Ana is a local tour guide who takes students on daily field trips. She really added to our experience and immersion in Spanish. I highly recommend this immersion program and hope to return. I attended one week and would enjoy more time there for sure!

I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to attend Agualivar for the first two weeks of October. I’ve only been learning the language for the past year so I’m still at the A1-A2 level, so naturally I had some anxiety about being able to keep up with the conversation and fitting in appropriately with the level of the other students. Everything worked out really well. Fani and Eli did a great job creating a group of three students with similar levels of grammar and vocabulary, and they conducted their classes with skill, patience, and a wonderful sense of humour.
It’s not easy completely avoiding the use of English, but we managed to do so even on our unsupervised weekend day trip to Málaga.
The setting of their family home (the school) is spectacular. Frani and Eli are wonderful teachers and their mother Carmen is a gracious host and wonderful cook. I also really enjoyed the afternoon outings with Ana, who is so kind and patient, and an excellent teacher also.
Thank you again Estefanía, Elisabeth, Carmen, and Ana, for an unforgettable experience. I hope to see you all again next year!

I had an amazing time at Agualivar. Fani, Eli and Carmen made me feel so welcome and the instructions in Spanish were so organized and fun. The caring that I received from the family was so heartwarming. Everyday we had home cooked traditional Spanish food by Carmen. The fidedua, lentejas and paella were just some the most delicious Spanish cuisine I have tasted. I learned a lot from Fani and Eli especially incorporating the process of learning Spanish to the culture of Spainish people. The accommodations were way better than any hotel. The house was amazin, lots of room, pool and view of the Mediterranean indescribable. A plus are the trips that were incorporated with lessons to the surroundings town in Malaga with Ana. The best part we shopping in the super. We visited Nerja, Frigiliana, and Torre Del Mar. Thank you for an incredible experience!

My teenage son and I spent a wonderful week at Agualivar in summer 2023. We liked it so much that we returned in spring 2024 – and we hope to make it back again one day.

The family is warm, and it is a special experience to be welcomed into their lovely home, to learn from them not just the language but the culture and to speak with Spaniards about a variety of subjects. And the home-cooked Spanish meals are delicious.

I can hardly think of a better place for a Spanish lesson than their porch, with its stunning view of the Mediterranean. In our spare time, we enjoyed long walks along the sea, and during our summer visit, the pool was refreshing.

Most importantly, we left with a much greater understanding of Spanish, especially from the conversation outside of the class sessions. My son says he learned as much from Agualivar as he did from a whole term in school.

This May I enjoyed a wonderful Spanish Immersion course at Agualivar. The family was so warm and welcoming, the classes excellent, the accommodations beautiful, and the Spanish homestyle meals were beyond delicious. 

While  at the school, you will speak Spanish 100% of the time. This can be intense at times, but is a great way to rapidly improve your language skills within a friendly family environment. 

The Spanish classes taught by sisters, Stefi and Eli, were challenging and fun. With only 4 students per class I really enjoyed meeting and spending time with the group.

Carmen (Stefi and Eli’s mother), was so much fun to visit with and is an incredible cook, who prepared us delicious homestyle meals, which we all shared around a lively table. 

In the afternoons, Anna, our wonderful “culture and field” guide would take us on excursions to various archaeological and cultural sites. We often finished with great conversation and a cool drink at an outdoor café.

I highly recommend (and hope to return to) Agualivar. It offers a true Spanish Immersion experience within a lovely family environment.

What a great week! We were certainly immersed in the Spanish language, culture and way of life. Our lessons each morning, outside on the patio, overlooking the sea, were run by Fani and Eli; fantastic hosts and excellent teachers. Everything was super organised, but in a very warm and supportive way. We all spoke Spanish absolutely 100% of the time, even though the other 3 people I was lucky enough to study with were all native English speakers. I don’t think any of us even thought to drift into chatting in anything except Spanish.
Carmen, the mother of Fani and Eli, produced delicious (and healthy) meals made from local produce, and meal times were further opportunities to chat with our teachers/hosts.
The afternoon activities each day were fun and we also had one really good evening in a local restaurant where we ate and watched a great flamenco show.
I found it a fantastic week, and would love to go back and study there again.

La maison est spacieuse, chaque étudiant a sa chambre qui fait face à la Méditerranée. Les repas sont délicieux avec un souci de présentation. Carmen et ses filles Éli et Fani préparent les repas qui sont variés et qui représentent bien la culture espagnole. Tout est bon. L’ambiance est agréable. Pour moi ce fut l’occasion de PARLER la langue 24/7 …..une immersion totale qui m’a permis d’améliorer la capacité à converser.
La facilité de se rendre à l’école en taxi organisé par les professeurs. De plus tous les moments passés avec Ana la jeune femme tellement gentille qui s’occupait de nous sortir, les étudiants, tous les jours de 16h à 19h pour découvrir différents lieux aux alentours. Un vrai bonheur.

English:
The house is spacious, each student has their own room facing the Mediterranean. The meals are delicious with attention to presentation. Carmen and her daughters Éli and Fani prepare meals which are varied and which represent Spanish culture well. All is well. The atmosphere is pleasant. For me it was the opportunity to SPEAK the language 24/7…..a total immersion which allowed me to improve my ability to converse.
The ease of getting to school by taxi organized by the teachers. Plus all the moments spent with Ana, the very kind young woman who took care of taking us, the students, out every day from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. to discover different places around. A real joy.

I spent the first two weeks of April 2024 at the Agualivar School of Spanish Immersion. The setting is the family home/farm of the teachers, Eli and Fani, and overlooks the Mediterranean Sea just east of the city of Malaga. The school’s atmosphere is relaxed and intensive at the same time, because of the concentration and focus necessary to adopt your non-native language 24/7.

Fani and Eli use teaching methods that are instructive and fun. Both teachers are also exceptional in their ability to explain Spanish grammatics, sentence structure, parts of speech and colloquialisms.

Each morning is dedicated to didactic lessons and each afternoon involves excursions with family friend, Anna, to nearby landmarks/towns and/or cultural experiences, e.g., beachside refreshment huts for beer and tapas.

Anyone looking for serious exposure to the Spanish language, mixed with a very comfortable family home atmosphere and top flight Spanish instructors should seriously consider Agualivar Spanish Immersion School as money well spent.

En Español:
Pasé las dos primeras semanas de abril de 2024 en la Escuela de Inmersión en Español de Agualivar. El entorno es la casa/granja familiar de las profesoras, Eli y Fani, y tiene vistas al Mar Mediterráneo, justo al este de la ciudad de Málaga. El ambiente de la escuela es relajado e intensivo al mismo tiempo, porque la concentración y el enfoque necesarios para adoptar tu idioma no nativo 24/7.

Fani y Eli utilizan métodos de enseñanza que son instructivos y divertidos. Ambas profesoras también son destacadas por excepcionales en su capacidad para explicar la gramática española, la estructura de las oraciones, las partes del habla y los coloquialismos.

Cada mañana se dedica a lecciones didácticas y cada tarde incluye excursiones con Anna, una amiga amable de la familia, a lugares/pueblos y/o experiencias culturales cercanas, por ejemplo, chiringuitos para tomar cerveza y tapas.

Cualquiera que busque una exposición seria al idioma español, combinado con un ambiente hogareño muy cómodo e instructores de español de alta categoria, debería considerar seriamente la Escuela de Inmersión en Español Agualivar como dinero bien invertido.

What a fantastic experience ! Fani, Elly and Carmen welcome you into their beautiful home and make you feel right at home. Lovely, comfortable, clean rooms and beautiful surroundings . Delicious home cooked food every day prepared and shared with the family .
The daily Spanish lessons are excellent , well planned and fun. In addition to the lessons you are taken out and about locally each day for further tuition by the lovely Anna.
This is total immersion and very full on. Absolutely no other language than Spanish . A brilliant way to test your Spanish skills and gain confidence .

Exhausting but well worth it.

I recommend this course to anyone who is serious about moving their Spanish to another level 😊

I had an amazing experience with the Agualivar Spanish Language Immersion program. From the beginning, everything was perfect: Fani very kindly setup travel for a fellow student and I, and we had a really enjoyable taxi ride with the friendly driver to and from the school. We were shown to our rooms, which have balconies and spectacular sea views as well as private bathrooms.

The meals were delicious, with fresh food and warm conversation. There were four students the week I was there, and I appreciated how much care and attention we each got. I was the least experienced with communicating, so it was not always easy to keep up with everyone, but I never felt anything but encouraged. Fani was always so kind and encouraging, as well as expressive, so adept at being understood. She made sure I had as much opportunity to talk as anyone else. As the least capable, it would have been easy to be overshadowed by better students, but that never happened, and I really appreciated the effort Fani made for me to participate equally.

The coursework is well-designed, with a personal touch that encouraged us to speak and question. We had homework every day, and time to rest in our pretty rooms, so took that time to immerse in the language even when taking in a quiet moment. There was even time to take a dip in the pool while I was there.

We had several really fun outings to see some lovely sights. I really enjoyed everything about Agualivar. The week was spectacular, and don’t think you could find a better Spanish immersion program.

My goal was to push myself to grow to the next level, and thanks to the skill of Fani’s teaching and her warm encouragement, I feel greatly improved speaking and understanding Spanish. I have even stayed in touch (communicating only in Spanish of course) with one of my fellow students. It was hard work and a glorious experience.