The Mediterraneo Spanish Centre is a business with one purpose only to extract money from tourists while offering the minimum of service. This centre purports to provides Spanish courses foreigners. The teaching and course materials are appalling and the dirty, uncomfortable classrooms are a world away from what is claimed on the website.
If this wasn't not bad enough the Director of Learning Julio Ramirez launched a quite astounding campaign of slander and innuendo against me when he learned of my unhappiness. He falsely told other students that I owed him money and told them that I had problems' and not to listen to what I say. The only problem I had was being ripped off by this proven liar and conman.
These lies are obviously a product of someone that appears to believe that he can distract customers from his own deficiencies and those of his business. Ramirez has made similar outlandish claims to the local arbitration board. Avoid this school it's a waste of your time and money.
The lies on the website are as follows:
They Say: Big Garden Outside the School
The Truth: There is a public park within a mile of this school'. When challenged about this, the so called Director of Learning Julio Ramirez claimed that there are public gardens all around Valencia. The intention of course is to give consumers the impression that the school' is a lot bigger than it actually is.in addition to public parks, Valencia has a fine Opera House and City of Arts and Sciences. Perhaps the Mediterraneo Centre should also claim these as their own.
They Say: A Break Room with Complimentary Refreshments
The Truth: There is a rather dingy room with a couple of soft chairs and a water cooler. No more than 5 people could fit into this room at a time and there are certainly no complimentary refreshments. Given that the school' expects its students to pay for photocopying they are hardly going to provide this service.
They Say: Internet Room for Students
The Truth: There is a tiny room behind one of the classrooms containing two archaic desktop computers one of which is broken while the other has a very slow Internet connection. Further, this computer automatically stores users' personal email passwords which, of course, no public use computer should ever do.
They Say: Small Cafeteria
The Truth: There is no cafeteria in the school.
They Say: Free Weekly Dancing Lessons
The Truth: The lessons are free to the public anyway in a Salsa Club near the centre.
They Say: Air Conditioning for the whole centre
The Truth: If there is air conditioning it is rarely if ever switched on.
They Say: Service of Dining Area Next to the School
The Truth: The dining area detailed in the school' belongs to the University. The University is 2 metro stops away from the centre.
They Say: 24 hour emergency support service, 24 hour site coordinator, Pick-up service from airport.
The Truth: On arrival to their accommodation, several students found that the Director of Learning was uncontactable. The pick-up service from the airport costs 50 and is not free as is implied by the website.
They Say: Your Accommodation is always 15 minutes away by walking
The Truth: Many students found themselves up to 45 minutes away by metro.
They Say: You will receive all the study materials that you need
The Truth: The course materials consist of a series of photocopies taken from different books and bound together in a random order.in addition, the school' expects you to do your own photocopying. Several students who did not receive a copy of these materials' were brought by a teacher to a stationery shop to photocopy these handouts and were then told to pay for them! It is standard practice for the school' to give a single handout and tell the students to get it photocopied for the next class.
They Say: Maximum 8 Students per class and always appropriate level
The Truth: Classes frequently consisted of 9 or 10 students all of varying ability. Beginners are often mixed in with intermediate students, with the result that intermediate students can find themselves learning how to count while beginner students find themselves learning the imperfect and perfect tenses, often in the same session!
They Say: Mediterraneo Centre is a member of several Valencian associations.
The Truth: FEDELE, the main association for Spanish schools in Spain has stated that this school' is not a member of their association.
They Say: The Student-Teacher relationship is one of friendship.
The Truth: Several students complained of been ridiculed and verbally abused because of difficulties or complaints they made about the shoddy teaching standards in this centre.
They Say: A Level Test is Administered on the First Day
The Truth: The level test is not corrected properly. Because this centre only has two full time teachers the test plays no role in what class you end up in. Astonishingly, the Director of Learning also feels he can divulge your results to other students if you complain about the class you are put into.
They Say: Internal Mediterraneo Centre Exam
The Truth: There is no evidence of any such exam and no student attending the centre in Summer 2006 was offered the opportunity to do this exam.
They Say: Intensive Courses consists of 20 hours per week
The Truth: At 5 days per week the Intensive course should start at 9am and finish at 1pm. Typically, the course starts at 9am and breaks at 10:40am for coffee. This coffee break varies from 20 minutes on a Monday to up to 45 minutes by Friday. This time length is driven by the head teacher' Marissa Ramirez, wife of the self appointed Director of Learning. Classes then finish between 12:20 and 12:30. Even by the most generous of computations this is at most 15 hours per week.
They Say: We have more than 100 teachers'
The Truth: The above is a direct quote from the purported Director of Learning Ramirez that appeared on the Mediterraneo Centre website up until recently. There are 2 full time teachers and one part-time teacher. This claim was recently removed from the Mediterraneo Centre website following a complaint to the Valencia Arbitration Committee.
They Say: The enthusiasm, experience and professionalism of our teachers is our guarantee
The Truth: One of the teachers appears to have no teaching experience whatsoever. There are no lesson plans to speak of a key concepts such as the present continuous, adjectives and other grammatical concepts are ignored. The sheer randomness of the material in class is comical.in one session you might be learning numbers and in then you can find the imperfect, past and future tenses all rolled into one session, ostensibly to ensure that you are as confused as possible. This lack of planning transmits anxiety to younger teachers and leads to the teaching priority being to get the lesson over with as quickly as possible as evidenced by the frequency the time is checked.
This planning is the direct result of the failure of the Head Teacher Marissa Ramirez to impose any order.indeed, coffee and cigarettes would appear to be more of a priority for this lady as opposed to developing proper teaching standards judging by her eagerness to take breaks which get earlier and longer with every day of the week.
They Say: Apartments are fully equipped.
The Truth: The apartment closest to the school' has the appearance of one that hasn't been decorated since the 1970s. Problems with the water pressure and heating with the showers were reported to Ramirez and he made a ludicrous claim about calcium in the water affect the pressure. If this is an issue it is because the shower facilities are not been properly maintained. Furniture is cheap and shoddy and in some cases can be the cause of accidents as some chairs are so old and ill maintained they are prone to falling apart. Ignore the photos on the website the reality is nothing like them.
They Say: Possibility of Free Internet in the Apartment
The Truth: No such possibility was offered or appears to exist.
They Say: Arbitration is possible if you are dissatisfied.
The Truth: In a recent arbitration case Ramirez make the frankly hilarious threat to take legal action against the complainant. This is a Business Model which would surely appeal to sleazy operators everywhere offer a substandard service and then threaten to sue when the customers complain.
They Say: Optional Weekly Cleaning Service
The Truth: While there is an optional cleaning service what is not mentioned on the website is that the 'school' feels free to hold events in the apartment without your permission. I experienced this in July when Mrs Ramirez decided to hold a party for the entire school without their consent in my apartment. The filth of course was left for myself and 2 other students to clean.
They Say: Mediterraneo Spanish Centre offers accommodation in apartments of the school shared with students of the school.
The Truth: The website doesn't mention that Ramirez appears to believe that he can come and go as he pleases in the student apartments. On a number of occasions he was found to be entering my apartment when he thought no student was present at the time.
Martin
Cork
Ireland
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