It’s no secret, if you live in Miami, it helps to speak Spanish. My feeling is, you don’t have to speak it perfectly, but if you know some choice words and phrases, it can make life easier.

Good news - Learning to speak Spanish has never been easier with University of Miami’s 7-Day Spanish Language Courses.

This course is designed in a 7-consecutive-day format that will help you achieve maximum results in a minimum amount of time, while enjoying a relaxed, yet stimulating, classroom setting!

Each afternoon, you’ll have a chance to put your “Spanish into Action.” By visiting local museums, businesses, or consulates, you’ll activate the Spanish language you practice in class. In addition, the group has breakfast and lunch daily together. One evening during each session, we go out to a local Hispanic restaurant to enjoy the sabor of Miami.

Spanish Program Schedule for 2008

January 5 – January 11
March 8 – March 14
May 17 – May 23
October 4 – October 23

The 7-day classes are separated by language proficiency and allow a maximum of 15 students per class. 

You can take a free placement test online. The test has two parts:

• Part I has 35 questions and is a multiple-choice test in grammar.
• Part II is a writing exercise to evaluate your vocabulary and written expression in Spanish.

They recommend allowing 60 minutes to complete the entire test, but I was able to complete Part I in 15 minutes.

If you are just learning to speak Spanish, the test is pretty difficult. Part 1 is multiple choice, but ends with this essay question:

“Hay personas que dicen que la televisión es buena para los niños. Otras personas dicen que la televisión es mala para los niños. ¿Cuál es su opinión?”

Here is my answer (with help from Google Translate):

Esta pregunta es difícil de contestar. Algunas demostraciones de la TV son buenas y algunas son malas. Realmente depende de lo que estás mirando.

Mis demostraciones del favorito TV son “La Fficina y Los Sopranos, pero no soy seguro cómo buenos están para mi cabeza.

There may be a bug with the online quiz because when I submitted my answers, I got an error message. I called the University to ask them if they received my submission and am waiting to hear back before I take Part II.

Classes meet for seven straight days starting at 8:30am and ending at 4:45pm.

The tuition is $1,750 which includes textbooks and materials, as well as breakfast and lunch daily.

I’m thinking about taking the January Intensive. Would anyone else like to take the class with me?

For more information, contact Vanessa Pons at (305) 284-4727.

Gus Moore heads up Miami Beach 411 as site administrator, where he has been helping people understand how Miami works for over a decade. See more articles by Gus >