Here is my review after 5 years of classes…read more TL;DR: Pura Buena Onda is hands-down the best place to build real-world Spanish speaking confidence in fun, small-group Zoom classes. Beyond dramatically improving my conversational skills over the past five years, it even helped me build wonderful lifelong friendships! Prior to PBO, I took a Spanish course through UCSD's continuing education program. That class was very conventional, with a heavy focus on grammar rules and writing. What I love about PBO is its complete focus on real-world conversation and communication. What makes PBO stand out: Small, Engaging Classes: Each 90-minute Zoom session is capped at just 6 students, allowing everyone ample time to speak. Natural Conversation: Classes feature random topics or guided question lists. Teachers let you express yourself while gently correcting grammar and pronunciation along the way. Post-Class Notes: After every session, you receive chat notes summarizing feedback and new vocabulary for quick revision. Bite-Sized Grammar: They incorporate quick "mini-lecciones" right when you need them--just enough grammar to support your communication without slowing down the flow. Community & Connection: Beyond learning Spanish, I've made wonderful friends through these classes, and we now meet regularly outside of class. What a fantastic bonus! Their core philosophy is that language is about connecting with other human beings, not being grammatically perfect. They encourage you to use everything you have--gestures, facial expressions, and whatever vocabulary you know--just to get talking and build confidence. I've been taking lessons with PBO for five years and have steadily progressed through their levels. Even though I could probably progress faster if I practiced more outside of class, I am thrilled with where they've brought me. Whenever I travel to Spanish-speaking countries, I feel excited and empowered because my ability to communicate improves every single year. PBO has been so inspiring that I've even thought about starting a school using their model for my own mother tongue! If you want to actually speak Spanish, look no further.

I've been at PBO for 1.5 years and have seen great improvement with my Spanish, have met many…read morewonderful people, and been able to attend events outside of class hosted by PBO. If you're thinking about it, DO IT! Thanks to Carolina for helping me get through A1 and A2 Spanish ‍

I've tried other conversation based learning in San Diego and Culture and Language center is light…read moreyears ahead. My teacher Izak is exceptional and Lalo, the owner , is incredibly professional, responsive and he cares greatly about his business/students. There are always extracurricular events such as trips of nights out and it great to build a community and friendships. The model is to have only 4 students per teacher and this makes a huge difference, furthermore, there is a curriculum on which the class is based on. So we spend a portion of the class chatting, a portion learning and the third part is to practice what we just learned. I always feel like my spanish improves after every class and I cannot say the same for the other conversational based learning.

My husband and I are enrolled in weekly classes here and we LOVE our experience! We both met with…read moreLalo to begin with for placement, and he was so kind, personable, and reassuring. Through my conversation with Lalo, a lot of my anxiety immediately melted away. Once we were placed, we signed up for weekly classes based on our skill level and have had nothing but a positive experience. Our teacher is Andrea - she is charismatic, professional, and skillfully integrates on-the-fly lessons to our broader goals (i.e., when we are confused by a concept Andrea organically integrates it into our lesson and explains it in such a clear way). Everything we do is in Spanish - 45 minutes of conversation, then 45 minutes of lessons/activities/homework review. The Culture and Language Center has really helped cure so much of my speaking anxiety and given me a lot of confidence - now I feel safe to speak, play, and even make mistakes. :) I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this program to anyone. If you are on the fence, you won't regret this experience!

My husband and I have been studying Spanish here for almost a year. We love our teacher, Yolanda…read more She is very helpful at explaining things and has patience when you don't quite grasp the information. She always makes it fun. Which I find as a great motivator. I look forward to going to class every week. She is great at making a personal connection with her students. My only criticism would be for the owner to include your book with the price of the lessons. It seems a little silly to charge a fee for lessons then a separate $30 for each book. The learning materials are written by the owner Luz. She clearly has thought out each lesson plan and the books are excellent. Overall, whether you are a true beginner, have a little Spanish or are Advanced this is a great place. Most of the other students we run into (from other classes) speak excellent Spanish and have been studying with them for years. Highly recommended.

Over the past 5 years, I have tried several language schools in my quest to learn Spanish. The…read moreother schools are exclusively "online teaching" and have registration systems that are difficult to work with and require questionable security commitments. I was hacked because of one of these exposures. With Spanish Language Center, you contact them, find a lesson time and teacher that meets your needs, show up and get a great person to person lesson. Payment takes place at the first lesson... in person! The owner, Luz Kutchins in the author of a complete course for Spanish Learning. Spanish Language Center is "Numero Uno"!

I am taking Korean classes now and I like it very much. I also like the parking and talking it…read moreinternational students on my break.

Wow. This company is truly awful. I called them before purchasing the groupon for 8 lessons to…read moremake sure that we were able to set up lessons. They assured us that we could start the following week. Then after purchase it took them a month to set up lessons. Rocky start but fine. Then finally we set up a date to start but apparently they have two locations, we were at the wrong one. So when we finally rushed over to meet our teacher she had no lesson plan and we discovered this was going to be "immersive" learning as the teacher didn't speak much English. Her boyfriend helped with the first class or I would have no idea what was going on. The next two lessons had a plan and were better but after 3 lessons the teacher could no longer do the agreed upon time so classes were ended. We agreed that we would start again after the holidays for everyones inconvenience. I have been messaging with Brian weekly since then with NO results and lots of false promises. He had me contact the parent company tesol training for a refund who said that there was no refund available because I already took 3 classes then stopped responding to my emails. This has been a true nightmare to deal with and I highly doubt I will be able to finish my classes so I am just out the money paid to groupon. VERY disappointing and POOR business practices all around. DO NOT WORK WITH THIS COMPANY.

I have been using Ms. Susan tutoring services since 2019. First with my 8th grader who has special…read moreneeds and for the past year my oldest high schooler. Meeting her has been one of the greatest gifts, especially during the pandemic, she allowed my daughter to maintain and improve her reading level. She provides weekly assignments and progress reports. My daughters enjoy working with Ms. Susan, she is fabulous, patience with my children and reliable. I would highly recommend her services.

From the owner: With more than 15 years' experience tutoring English and English as a Second Language, I specialize…read morein evaluating my students' strengths and needs. I do my homework in preparing individual lesson plans that will help each student progress seamlessly in conjunction with his or her school curriculum. I have a Master's Degree in Special Education, Area of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing and am capable of basic ASL. I am professional, knowledgeable, friendly, and motivated. Your satisfaction and learning are my priorities. Please feel free to contact my former students to hear how Susan Tutors' can help you read, write, and speak better in English. I also can help with organization of your response to assignments and test preparation.

Juliet has been working with my three children for awhile now and all three of my kids really enjoy…read moreworking with her. Juliet has a lot of experience in education and quickly figured out the strengths and areas needing improvement for each of my children. She has tailored her time with my kids based on their needs. She has her own curriculum and is flexible to allow other materials into her work with my kids. My kids find Juliet funny and makes the work fun yet challenging. They look forward to her visits. I would definitely recommend Juliet to other families in need of tutoring services.

From the owner: Hawk Educational Solutions of San Diego, CA provides Award-Winning Courses for Test Prep, SAT Prep,…read moreACT Prep, and College Essays. College Admissions Counseling is also offered to help shepherd you and your child through the undertaking to find the best overall institutional fit. Passionate and dedicated, Juliet Hawk and her team of test prep instructors, college consultants, and private tutors offer effective results-driven services that produce real results for K-12 university-bound students. Well aware of the increasingly competitive college admissions process, Hawk Educational Solutions personalizes all tutoring and prep courses for each individual student to ensure your child can take the first step toward scholastic achievement.

What a great experience I am having in my current class at From English to French!" Our teacher,…read moreManali, is fantastic! She teaches the class with a mix of conversation, grammar, very useful exercises and homework, and she makes the classes fun and the French very accessible! I feel like I am going to be well prepared to really use my French in real conversations about life and travel situations, and to make new friends!

Can't recommend this program enough. The owner, Sophie is easy to communicate with regarding needs…read moreand flexibility. My instructor is Nathalie. I love taking classes from her. The class size and gathering is perfect. Super easy and safe location.

Very structured, dynamic, fun group of people. Very inviting and kind. I've attended 3X as a guest…read moreand have not spoken yet. However, I definitely have learned a lot and feel more comfortable with speaking soon. If you're wanting to gain confidence, become a speaker, or presenter, this is a great space to be in.

I've been a member for a few months now and I LOVE IT! I highly recommend checking out the club!…read moreIf you are looking to become a better leader and more confident speaker and meet some amazing fun people, then this club is for you :) The meetings are every Thursday evening from 6:30-8. Be prepared to laugh a lot and have a good time!

Since a week or two before the safer at home orders took affect I have been learning Brazilian…read morePortuguese with Claudia online using Skype. I am so thrilled with learning this language with Claudia, she is a great language instructor! She is fun with a big FUN! She is also very talented in many mediums of integrating you into the Brazilian culture. For example we worked on improving my vowel pronunciation today using song while she played the guitar and not only taught me pronunciation but also how to sing in the melody. I appreciate her patience ;). I look forward to every class with Claudia. I can't imagine my life without this experience right now as I am having so much fun learning the language, culture and geography of Brazil. Funny thing is I learn more about the U.S. and English in the process. If I'm not careful I'll know more about Brazil than my native country. I challenge myself by matching tidbits about Brazil with the same tidbits about U.S. If you have an interest in Brazil I highly recommend Claudia!

From the owner: BRAPA - Brazilian Portuguese and Arts Programs offers Portuguese Language Tutoring and Brazilian…read moreCultural Programs since 2008. Based in San Diego, BRAPA provides - 1) Tutoring in Portuguese Language (private and group) with certified Language teachers and creative classes. 2) Acoustic LIVE MUSIC for your event with professional musicians...yes, bossa nova, samba-canção and much more, LIVE, at your event to make it an outstanding event. 3) We offer Kids shows based on story telling which includes live music and circle games with loads of Brazilian kids songs, Capoeira and audience interaction. 3) Educational Outreach programs in collaboration with Arts organizations that hire our art teachers to share Brazilian culture at school in San Diego. Art is proved to raise school academic performance!! This is a huge part of the business.

Great hair cut Website not able to access ? Or person on…read morephone . Other than that dog grooming great!

We wanted to take a moment to share some feedback regarding our recent pet grooming experience. We…read moreoften find that while a haircut can look great immediately after an appointment, the true test is how it holds up over time. We are happy to report that three weeks later, our pup still looks fantastic. This was our first visit, and we specifically requested that a lead groomer work alongside the students. We were fortunate to have Sean oversee the session. He is clearly an expert; not only does the cut still look wonderful, but our dog has experienced no irritation--there has been no biting at his paws from the nail trim or licking at his coat. We have never been happier with a grooming service and truly appreciate the care Sean and the team provided. We look forward to seeing you again for our next appointment.