Orientation / Placement |
Orientations are held every Sunday. The orientation is required for new students who begin on Monday. Class schedules are distributed and the program is reviewed in detail. The Spanish proficiency level and subsequent placement of each student is determined at the orientation. This is the best opportunity for students to become acclimated to their new environment, meet their new peers and receive answers to any last minute questions.
For students taking advantage of the homestay program, the orientation is also the time to meet their host families. Homestays begin on Sunday.
All tuition balances are paid at the orientation. Payments can be made by check, travelers check, money order or US currency. No credit cards are accepted.
Students enrolled in Weekend Programs who want to stay with a host family on Friday evening should plan to arrive on Friday prior to 5:00PM. If a Friday night homestay is not required, or if students have secured their own accommodations, they may arrive for class on Saturday at 8:30AM.
To arrive in Ensenada by 2:00 PM, students taking the bus should plan to leave the ABC terminal in Tijuana no later than 12:00 (noon). Students driving to Ensenada should be crossing the border at San Ysidro at 12:30PM.
Spanish proficiency levels of students enrolled in the Small Group Immersion Program must be evaluated to assure placement in the proper class. Placement is determined at the Sunday orientation.
The evaluation is conducted at two different levels.
The first level is with written exercises. Upon receipt of completed applications and deposits, students are sent a series of exercises as part of a confirmation packet. The exercises are to be worked on without the use of reference material and brought to the orientation in Ensenada. The results help to determine the student’s level of formal Spanish training and where development is needed.
The second level of evaluation is done through an informal interview with the college director. The interview identifies the student’s ability to comprehend spoken Spanish and to respond accurately.
More weight is given to the second level of evaluation.
Students are placed in small groups with others at the same proficiency level and who need development in the same areas.
Those enrolled in the Private Immersion Program and the Executive Immersion Program also are evaluated by the above mentioned methods. However because of the one-on-one nature of these programs, initial evaluations are not as critical.
“I have been studying Spanish for four years, in many different countries. I will tell anyone that asks that the instruction at Baja California Language School is as good as it gets. And the city of Ensenada is completely safe. Tourists arrive, literally, by the cruise ship load and walk the streets in perfect safety. I have travelled to Ensenada by boat, by car -- even by bicycle, and I have always felt perfectly safe. There is a wonderful “tourist district” with shops full of bargains and friendly vendors. So, whoever reads this, please don’t be put off by the bad publicity that other parts of Mexico have been receiving. It is exaggerated, and deals almost entirely with problems that people involved in the drug trade are having. People coming to Ensenada to study Spanish are as safe as they will be on any college campus in the USA.”
Jeremiah Reid Attorney San Diego, California
Baja California Spanish Language School - Offering Spanish Immersion Programs
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