SpanishVIP

Summary

SpanishVIP is a service that connects students and teachers of Spanish for online video lessons. It offers an “unlimited lessons” model for a monthly subscription and could be extremely cost effective for learners that take several lessons per week. It’s best suited for learners of Latin American Spanish at any level that want to improve their listening and speaking skills. It might not be the best fit if you’re mostly interested in Iberian Spanish or if you live in an Asian time zone.

I Like

• Highly-personalized classes.
• Great teachers.
• It’s affordable.

I Don’t Like

• There could be scheduling limitations for some students.

Price

In total there are 9 different subscription options with SpanishVIP: three for group classes, three for private classes, and three for SpanishVIP+ classes . Group classes come with a 7-day free trial, though you’ll still have to provide payment information upfront.

Group Classes – 1 Month: $99 3 Months: $249 6 Months: $399.

Private Classes – 1 Month: $149 3 Months: $399 6 Months: $699.

SpanishVIP+ Classes – 1 Month: $249, 3 Months: $649, 6 Months: $1,195.

Mention ALR to get a free month of group classes with any private class purchase.

Rocket Spanish

Summary

Rocket Spanish is a pretty good Spanish course, but it’s not my personal favorite. Although I find the lessons tend to be very boring, the content is well structured and fairly comprehensive. There is a good mixture of listening, speaking, grammar, and review activities.

I Like

• Lessons are well structured and use increasingly more Spanish as you move up.
• The streamlined interface makes it easy to navigate lessons and activities.
• You’ll certainly learn a lot if you complete the exercises and review activities.
• Speaking practice is emphasized in the audio lessons and in numerous exercises.

I Don’t Like

• I found the audio lessons to be painfully boring.
• I thought the cultural lessons were poorly done and felt lazy.
• Although the reinforcement exercises are helpful, you’ll likely get sick of them.

Price

Level 1 costs $150.99. Levels 1 & 2 cost $300. Levels 1, 2 & 3 cost $450 (though you can often find discounts).

Lengalia

Summary

Lengalia is an online resource for learning Spanish. It offers extensive material at all levels and across a wide variety of focuses. There are courses for those learning Spanish for business, for travel, and general Spanish. Lengalia also offers official CEFR certifications for students that complete a course.

I Like

• It has good material for advanced learners.
• The translation tool is very helpful.
• Lessons are structured well.

I Don’t Like

• The practice opportunities can get repetitive.
• There are some mistakes in the material.
• There isn’t much of a communicative aspect.
• The tutor feature is misleading.

Price

A subscription to one course, without videos or podcasts, is $34.99/month. A subscription to all 24 courses, with access to videos and podcasts, is $133.98/year.

Gritty Spanish

Summary

Gritty Spanish is a resource for learning real-world Spanish with audio lessons. The lessons employ voice actors from various Spanish-speaking countries and the dialogues are very informal and realistic. Transcripts in both English and Spanish, along with notes on certain language items, are provided to help with your study. It’s available on the web, for iOS, and for Android.

I Like

• There is a wide variety of accents.
• Culture-specific language points are helpful.
• The material is lively and engaging.

I Don’t Like

• There are no evaluation exercises.
• There isn’t much structure.
• Very limited grammar explanation

Price

There are different options for subscribers. Basic starts at $29.99. Beginnings start at $34.99. The starter pack is $64.99. An orginal pack starts at $44.99. While Part 2 costs $49.99. The advanced combo pack is $94.98. To get all the packages it is $159.99. The original censored package is $35.99.