Learn Spanish Online | Skype Spanish Lessons

Skype Spanish Lessons: Learn Spanish Online!

Whether you want to improve your Spanish speaking skills before joining a Spanish immersion course in Latin America, brush up the Spanish that you learned during your last Spanish learning vacation, or you just don't have the time right now for a Spanish Course in Central or South America, you can benefit from our Online Spanish Lessons via Skype from the comfort and convenience of your office or home in the United States, Canada, Europe, Panama City or anywhere in the world.

Habla Ya Spanish Schools are amongst the top rated Spanish schools in Latin America, and we offer you top notch online Spanish lessons.

Main Characteristics of Online Lessons

One to One Spanish Lessons via Skype (and Google Chat)
Experienced, certified and fully trained native Spanish teachers who hold language related university degrees backed up by years of experience teaching Spanish as a foreign language at Habla Ya Spanish Schools in Bocas del Toro and Boquete
Precise assessment of your current Spanish level through our Online Placement Test and an Oral Interview over Skype
Full 60 minute online Spanish tutoring sessions
Access to the AVE ("Aula Virtual de Español"), a state of the art Online Spanish Learning Platform created and used by the Cervantes Institute and leading Spanish schools and universities worldwide
Planned and customized One to One Online Spanish Lessons to suit your own individual needs
Clearly outlined Spanish levels
A proven and effective teaching methodology with a communicative approach (our main objective is to get you speaking and improving your Spanish speaking skills asap)
The best value for your money, with costs starting at only $15 per hour
All of the above in the comfort, convenience and privacy of your own home, office or wherever you are in the world

Typical Online Spanish Lesson Format

Prior to the lesson, you will receive instructions via email from your Spanish tutor about which activities you should complete through the AVE, our online Spanish learning platform
At the lesson's start time, you and your Spanish teacher will establish a video-conference session either through Skype or Google chat
Your Online Spanish Lesson will take place
At the end of each Skype Spanish Lesson, you will be given specific homework assignments to be completed through the online Spanish platform

After your Online Spanish Course, you will be able to speak and understand Spanish during your vacation to Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica or Argentina next summer. You will be able to understand and communicate with the Latino population of the Unites States. You will be able to establish meaningful relationships with your new neighbors when you relocate to Latin America. In case you're wondering what type of Spanish is taught at our Spanish School in Panama, check out this blog post about Panamanian Spanish.

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The AVE Platform: Virtual Spanish Classrooms at Habla Ya Spanish Schools

The AVE Spanish Learning Online Platform

Complimentary Online Learning Platform

The AVE, the Cervantes Institute's Spanish Virtual Classroom, is an Internet-based educational platform designed to provide Online Spanish Courses.

The AVE is the perfect complement for your Online Spanish Lessons. For each hour of online Spanish tutoring you will have in average 30 - 60 minutes of study time through the online learning platform (depends on each student), and in this way you will be able to practice and internalize the material covered in each Online Spanish Lesson (and review it whenever you want to).

To get a better idea or "feel" of the AVE, please view this video about the AVE Online Spanish Learning Platform.

The AVE is divided into 5 levels (the last level, C2, of the Cervantes Institute's standard curriculum is not provided through Online Spanish Courses):

A1 - Elementary Level, 60 hours
A2 - Beginner Level, 60 hours
B1 - Intermediate Level, 120 hours
B2 - Advanced Level, 120 hours
C1 - Proficient Level, 120 hours

Special Online Courses and material to prepare for the DELE Spanish exam up to the B2 level (including DELE Inicial and DELE Intermedio) are available. These courses provide practice for all papers, including models of written texts and compositions, videos of interviews of the oral section and useful tips for the exam.

AVE's Main Components

The AVE has activities that will reinforce the Spanish that you learned over skype

Exercises: each lesson includes at least three communicative exercises to be done with your tutor, as well as an End of Lesson Task, in which you will put all the course content that you have learned to use into practice.
Graphic Adventure: lessons end with an episode of an ongoing interactive graphic story in which students develop their communication skills in play form.
Supplementary Materials: online courses include a series of supplementary materials that allow students to consult and practise specific linguistic items: grammar, vocabulary, phonetics, spelling...
Cultural Content: one of the main aims of the AVE courses is to educate students about the culture of Spanish-speaking countries. By incorporating materials from different sociocultural sources, such as the press, literature, cinema, music and others, the courses provide a realistic reflection of Hispanic culture and society in all their rich variety.
Tests: each Online Spanish Lesson has three automatic tests that assess performance on material already covered, and four exercises corrected by your Online Spanish Tutor.

Proper Spanish learning materials are extremely important when you're learning Spanish and will make a dramatic impact on how fast you learn. Studying and practicing before and after your Online Spanish Lesson is of vital importance. As an Habla Ya online student, you will have access to the AVE, an online Spanish learning platform designed by the worldwide authority for teaching Spanish as a foreign language: the Cervantes Institute.

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Our Online Spanish Tutors

Our Spanish Teachers have years of experience

Simply the Best Spanish Teachers

Spanish teachers are the single most important element to consider when selecting with who to have your Skype Spanish Lessons. All of our Online Spanish teachers:

have university degrees related to languages
have years of classroom experience teaching Spanish as a foreign language (several of them in other schools previous to ours)
are native Latin Americans and Spanish is their first language
have undergone Habla Ya's signature training course for Spanish teachers
have been certified by the Instituto Cervantes for online Spanish teaching
view teaching as their vocation and are immensely passionate about teaching Spanish as a foreign language

With the quality of Habla Ya Spanish teachers you can't go wrong. You will learn to speak Spanish and you will learn fast. Click here to get to know the friendly faces of Habla Ya's Spanish teachers.

At Habla Ya Spanish Schools we take immense pride in our Spanish teachers. From the first moment our school was founded we have always aspired to have and retain the very best Spanish teachers. This is why our students learn Spanish so fast and this is also why we have also become one of the top rated Spanish schools in Central and South America!

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Online Spanish Class Schedule

Skype Spanish Lessons from 4 to 20 hours per week

Morning or Afternoon Sessions

Skype Spanish Lessons can be scheduled to start from Monday to Friday as long as we have teachers available. You can sign up to have from 4 to 20 hours of Online Spanish Lessons per week.

When learning or trying to improve your language skills, it is recommended to at least devote 8 hours of language learning per week. That is the minimum, but if you really want to improve quickly you should try to consistently invest 20 hours per week.

The above recommended hours include both online Spanish class time and homework/practice time on your own through the AVE, our online Spanish learning platform.

In other words, you should plan to have at least from 4 to 10 hours of Online Spanish Lessons per week.

At Habla Ya we offer 2 hour Online Spanish Sessions (but you can choose to have several per day) during the following schedules (local time in Panama is UTC/GMT -5 hours, or EST without daylight saving time):

Hours per Week	Days per Week	Hours per Day	Time Slots Available
4	Tuesdays and Thursdays	2	8 a.m. to 10 a.m. 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. 1:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
5	Mondays to Fridays	1
6	Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays	2
10	Mondays to Fridays	2
15	Mondays to Fridays	3
20	Mondays to Fridays	4

In Panama it is currently

In order to reschedule an Online Spanish Lesson a 48 hour notice is required.

If your schedule is not compatible with the available options above, please contact us and we will do our best to accommodate you.

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How to Set it Up - Step by Step Instructions

In order to setup your Online Spanish Lessons you need to:

We prefer google chat over skype for our online Spanish classes

Sign Up & Register
Take your Online Placement Test (write down your Spanish level and send it to us by email)
Make Payment with Credit Card via a secure encrypted link that we will provide you
Schedule a 20 minute online session to test connection quality and interview you to verify your Spanish level

We provide our Online Spanish Lessons through:

Google Chat or
Skype

If you would like to get the most out of your Online Spanish Lessons we recommend Google Chat, which has the same webcam, chat and video capabilities as Skype but will also allow us to easily share documents from our own database through Google docs.

Google docs will allow us to both see and work on the same document in real time: any changes that you make to it, we'll also see them as they happen and viceversa. This provides us with a true interactive experience... just like being in a real classroom.

To Install Google Chat

Open a Google Mail account if you don't already have one. If you don't please go to: https://mail.google.com/mail/
Installl the Video Chat plugin: http://www.google.com/chat/video
Add your teacher to your chat (we will give you his/her username once you have Signed Up & Registered)

You will need a working headset to learn Spanish online

Besides having Skype or Google Chat in your computer, you will also need to have a working headset (ear headphones and a microphone). You can purchase one from any computer store or purchase it online through amazon or ebay.

We still offer the option to have your Online lessons over Skype as some users already have it installed on their computers and are more familiar with the program.

If you need specific instructions to install Skype or Google Chat, feel free to contact us and we will give you a hand.

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Online Tutoring Rates for Skype Spanish Lessons

From $15 to $20 per hour

You can have from a minimum of 4 and up to 20 hours of Online Spanish Tutoring per week.

Rates for Online Spanish Lessons go from $15 to $20 per hour and include access to the AVE, the online Spanish learning platform of the Instituto Cervantes, the global authority for teaching Spanish as a foreign language.

The more hours purchased, the lower the rate.

Online Spanish classes are offered in multiples of 30 hour blocks as access to the AVE, the "Aula Virtual de Español" or Spanish Virtual Classroom is granted for 30, 60, 90 and 120 hour Online Spanish Courses.

Former Habla Ya students, who have coursed at least 60 hours of Spanish lessons at our Spanish Schools in Panama have access to a 15% discount off the below rates.

Spanish students who intend to study at Habla Ya in the future, may also have access to the 15% discount as long as they book and pay for their Spanish course in Panama in advance.

Rates for Online Spanish Lessons

Total Amount of Hours
30 hours	60 hours	90 hours	120 hours
$595	$1095	$1495	$1795

If for any reason, after the first week of Online Spanish Lessons, you are not satisfied, we will refund the remaining amount of your program (minus $50 which is the cost of the AVE platform which you can continue to use), no questions asked. After the first week no refunds are given but credits can be saved for up to a year to use later on (but cannot be transferred).

When considering how many of hours to sign up for, take into account that each of our first three levels can be completed in an average of 60 hours of lessons each, our fourth and fifth in 100 hours each, and our sixth level in an average of 400 hours more (to be just like a native). We will always make a professional suggestion based on your Spanish level, on how far you want to advance and on how fast you want to get there. To see what you will be able to do upon completing each level you can visit our level system section and if you know some Spanish, please remember to also complete our Online Placement Test (and upon completition, let us know your level).

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Panamanian National Holidays

You can have your online Spanish lessons on any day of the week except for National Holidays in Panama

As long as we have teachers available, Online Spanish Lessons can be arranged to start on any day of the year except on public holidays.

During January, February, June, July and August the school is usually very busy so we encourage you to sign up in advance. The following Panamanian national holidays are observed by our Spanish school.

2012
January	February	April	May	November	December
1 New Years Day 9 Martyrs Day	20 Monday Carnival 21 Tuesday Carnival	5 Holy Thursday 6 Holy Friday	1 Labor Day	3 Separation Day 4 Flag Day 10 Grito de la Villa 28 Separation Day	8 Mothers Day 24 - 25 Christmas Celebrations 31 New Years Eve