Register now for our 2025 winter term!
- Multiple levels
- Small class size – max. 12 students
- Native-speaking & experienced instructors
- Affordable tuition – $380 per level
- 4 terms per year – each 10 weeks long
- Convenient downtown location or online
Learn Spanish at the International Language Institute in Washington, DC, or online.
The Spanish Language Program at ILI consists of four 10-week terms throughout the year. We offer 8 different levels from beginner to advanced. Our Spanish classes take place once a week in the evenings or on Saturday mornings. Our teachers are all native-speaking and experienced. The Spanish Language Program integrates speaking, listening, reading, and writing. We maintain small class sizes to enable adequate time for conversation in every class. To find your level, please refer to the level description or use our self-evaluation guide. If you have further questions, please call Jane Edwards, ILI’s Foreign Language Coordinator, at 202-686-5610 extension 105. Enroll now!
Live, Instructor-led In-Person or Online Spanish Classes
Learn Spanish in person or online from a live instructor using Zoom. All online classes are instructor-led, in real-time, allowing for the same live interaction as our in-person classes. Some of our classes are a combination of in-person and online students. We have 360-degree cameras in the rooms enabling online participants to feel part of the class. This hybrid class environment allows students to engage with each other and the instructor and to practice reading, writing, listening, and speaking the Spanish Language.
Schedule Register Now!
Register now for our 2025 winter term!
2025 Term: | Session Dates: | Registration Deadline: |
---|---|---|
Winter | Jan. 13-Mar. 22, 2025 | Monday, Dec. 29, 2024 |
Spring | Apr. 7-Jun. 14, 2025 | Monday, Mar. 24, 2025 |
Summer | Jun. 30-Sep. 6, 2025 | Monday, Jun. 16, 2025 |
Fall | Sep. 22-Dec. 6, 2025 | Monday, Sep. 8, 2025 |
Spanish Level Description
Offered on: Mondays: 6:15-8:45 pm ET; or Tuesdays: 6:15-8:45 pm ET; or Saturdays: 10:00 am-12:30 pm ET. Enroll now!
Objective: To introduce Spanish language to students who never took Spanish at school or had Spanish language in their lives at all. The students in this level will experience Spanish for the first time and will enjoy learning word by word in a dynamic way.
Learning Outcome: The students will be able to identify words and expressions of Spanish language. They will be able to say or express basic ideas, sentences and desires in simple present tense. They will learn enough vocabulary to continue with Spanish Basic 2.
Topics: Regular and irregular verbs in the present tense, informal vs. formal, gender of nouns, alphabet, colors, numbers, telling time, ask basic questions, use of the definite and indefinite articles, prepositions, pronouns, expressions of time and season, and imperatives.
Textbook: Complete Spanish Step-By-Step, Premium Second Edition, $30 incl. tax. Chapters 1-5.
Offered on: Thursdays: 6:15–8:45 pm ET; or Saturdays: 10 am-12:30 pm ET. Enroll now!
Objective: To introduce Spanish language to students who took beginner’s Spanish or students who took Spanish language previously. The students in this level will learn to express their ideas spoken and orally in simple present tense of the most common regular and irregular verbs.
Learning Outcome: The students will be able to readily identify the simple present tense written and orally. They will be able to say or express their ideas, sentences and desires easily at a basic beginner’s level. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to engage in conversations involving themselves, each other and their immediate surroundings; name everyday objects, expand their knowledge of Spanish pronunciation through reading and role playing. They will learn enough vocabulary to continue with Spanish Basic 3.
Topics: Definite article; noun (singular and plural); the present indicative tense (simple present tense); regular conjugations of verbs; verb endings –AR –ER – IR; simple negative; interrogative words; indefinite articles; cardinal numbers; time; dates; months; seasons; irregular verbs; prepositions a and de; ser and estar (continuation); commands; possessive and demonstrative adjectives; adverbs; stem changing verbs; complementary infinitives; direct and indirect pronouns.
Textbook: Complete Spanish Step-By-Step, Premium Second Edition, $30 incl. tax. Chapters 6-10.
Offered on: Mondays: 6:15 – 8:45 pm ET or Saturdays 10:00 am - 12:30 pm ET. Enroll now!
Objective: Students will continue to expand their knowledge of basic Spanish by continuing to build and use more difficult and much deeper sentence structures. The students in this level will express their ideas by using a solid vocabulary foundation of adjectives and adverbs.
Learning Outcome: The students will be able to have a basic conversation based on daily activities. They will be able to say or express their ideas with a full command of adjectives and adverbs. The will be able to understand and be understood in using a wide variety of expressions and action verbs.
Topics: More reflexive verbs; relative pronouns; object pronouns; demonstrative pronouns; comparison; adverbs; definite articles, professions; telling time and the 24-hour clock; making suggestions, expressing likes and dislikes; talk about everyday life, sports, restaurants, work, and entertainment.
Textbook: Complete Spanish Step-By-Step, Premium Second Edition, $30 incl. tax. Chapters 11-15
Offered on: Wednesdays: 6:15–8:45 pm ET; or Saturdays 10-12:30 pm ET. Enroll now!
Objective: To introduce students to a variety of strategies for learning Spanish at home or office and practice at the institute. They will use common expressions and will learn much more, altogether idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs.
Learning Outcome: Students will be able to have a normal conversation based on daily events and express their ideas in written and orally ways. This level will refresh the previous knowledge about simple present tense (Present indicative) and strengthen all grammatical structures learned.
Topics: Nouns, definite and indefinite articles; neuter article lo; ser and estar; present indicative tense of regular verbs ending in -ar, -er, -ir; common irregular verb forms in the present indicative; present participle in the present progressive tense; indefinite and negative words commonly used; negation verb forms; cardinal and ordinal numbers; simple arithmetical expressions; adjective agreements; telling time and numbers above 100.
Textbook: Complete Spanish Step-By-Step, Premium Second Edition, $30 incl. tax. Chapters 16-20.
Offered on: Tuesdays: 6:15 – 8:45 pm; or Saturdays 10-12:30 pm ET. Enroll now!
Objective: This level will focus highly on the detail use of possessive, demonstrative, and indefinite pronouns as well as adjectives, and will drill on the use of irregular verbs. Listening, reading, speaking and writing skills will be addressed throughout the course.
Learning Outcome: Students will be able to comfortably explain likes and dislikes during routine conversations and plan activities comfortably. Students will acquire a wider use of idiomatic expressions using phrasal verbs and will become comfortable navigating through Spanish internet sites such as Univision.com and CNN en Español.
Topics: Present indicative; adjectives; irregular verbs; adverbs; pronouns; adjectives; possessives (singular and plural); indefinite pronouns; internet sites in Spanish; phrasal verbs; idiomatic expressions.
Textbook: Complete Spanish Step-By-Step, Premium Second Edition, $30 incl. tax. Chapters 20-25.
Offered on: Thursdays 6:15 - 8:45 pm, or Saturdays 10-12:30 pm ET. Enroll now!
Objective: This level will end covering all the grammatical structures needed to send the student into real-life situations speaking Spanish and to get them ready for the more advanced courses. To have full command of the spoken language in most common daily occurrences.
Learning Outcome: Students will be able have a conversation with native speakers about different subjects using the right conjugation and right words when talking. They will become familiar and comfortable using the most popular words and phrases. We will expand their knowledge of idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs together with the use of common prepositions of time and location.
Topics: Common prepositions of time and location; the present progressive; the imperative; Spanish internet sites; phrasal verbs; idiomatic expressions.
Textbook: Complete Spanish Step-By-Step, Premium Second Edition, $30 incl. tax. Chapters 26-30.
Offered on: Wednesdays: 6:15 – 8:45 pm ET. Enroll now!
Objective: Through new, advanced vocabulary, students will become accustomed to communicating in the preterit and future tenses as well as review of irregular and reflexive verbs. A wealth of new vocabulary and idiomatic expressions will be introduced together with exposure to new cultural/social topics.
Learning Outcome: Students will become very familiar with the future and past verb tenses, and they will be able to communicate in an ever more sophisticated fashion about daily life topics in Spanish.
Topics: Grammar such as direct and indirect objects; more irregular verbs; stem-changing verbs; adverbs; equal comparisons and superlatives; the future and past tenses; reflexive verbs; indirect object pronouns will also be covered.
Textbook: with Advanced Spanish Step-by-Step by Barbara Bregstein, McGraw Hill, $23 including tax.
Lessons: Selected sections from textbooks, supplemented by texts and materials generated by the instructor.
Offered on: Mondays: 6:15 – 8:45 pm ET. Enroll now!
Objective: Through new, more advanced and complex vocabulary, students will become accustomed to communicating in the most advanced tenses as well as a review of irregular verbs. A wealth of new and more complex vocabulary and idiomatic expressions will be introduced together with exposure to new cultural/social topics.
Learning Outcome: Students will become very familiar with various forms of the conditional, imperfect, and subjunctive verb tenses, and they will be able to communicate in an evermore sophisticated fashion, especially about Spanish speaking regions.
Topics: Grammar such as direct and indirect objects; more irregular verbs; relative and double object pronouns; imperative and past tense of reflexive verbs; and the past perfect, conditional, imperfect and subjunctive tenses, will be covered. Also, current social, economic, historical, political and other topics from varied Spanish speaking countries will be introduced and discussed.
Textbook: with Advanced Spanish Step-by-Step by Barbara Bregstein, McGraw Hill, $23 including tax.
Lessons: Selected sections from textbooks, supplemented by texts and materials generated by the instructor.
Program Details
We do not offer placement tests.
ILI is closed for the following holidays: Martin Luther King Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day. Group classes will not meet on these holidays and the missed class(es) will be made up at the end of the term.