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I am of Puerto Rican descent. As you may know, Puerto Ricans play a lot of baseball. In fact, I had the opportunity to teach English to one of our more famous Puerto Ricans, Javier López, catcher for the Atlanta Braves.

One thing I remember about baseball tryouts was that the coaches always assessed our abilities at the beginning of each season. They wanted to see how well we could throw, field, run, and hit.

It is very important before you begin a Spanish learning program to assess your Spanish learning abilities.

Many people maintain beliefs about their learning abilities that simply are not true. I have had people tell me they are great language learners when, in fact, they are not. Others are more humble and say, I am terrible at learning languages. The fact is many of these same people are great language learners!

We can accurately say that a proper assessment of your ability to learn should be done before you begin a learning course. This way, a Spanish learning program can be designed that will me your particular learning abilities and styles.

There is no way for a teacher or Program Director to know how to meet your learning needs if he or she does not know what type of learner you are. This is critical. I am totally 100 percent opposed to someone signing up to learn Spanish before taking an objective Aptitude Assessment. If you already speak some Spanish, you should have a professional verbal evaluation of your existing skills so you are properly placed into a Spanish learning program. This is in addition to the Aptitude Assessment.

Where, you ask, does one find such an evaluation? I am glad you asked. Bilingual America administers both Aptitude Assessments and Proficiency Evaluations for all new students entering the school. In fact, our Aptitude Assessment is available to you FREE on-line!

What exactly are we assessing?

Six Things:

1. Learning Personality
2. Learning History
3. Communication Skills
4. Non-Verbal Skills
5. Memory Ability
6. Logistical Considerations

I will not go into a lot of detail here about how these Assessments are built because, unfortunately, there are some unscrupulous people in this world who would actually take that information and copy it. Basically, there are values that are placed on many different questions and scenarios that allow us to get a very accurate understanding of your ability to learn language.

We can actually tell you before you begin a course of study how well you will learn. We can also customize the learning process to meet your specific learning needs based on the findings of the Assessment Process. The Assessment Process is based on a 10-point scale, 10 being the perfect learner.

If you score 9-10, you are an Outstanding Learner.
If you score 8-9, you are an Above Average Learner.
If you score 7-8, you are an Average Learner.

• Six out of 10 people are average learners.
• Three of 10 are above average learners.
• One of 10 are outstanding learners.

Thankfully, very few people assess less than an average learner! In these cases, we are very careful about starting the process with a new student. We do, however, explain all of the options and solutions available to the potential student who scores very low in Assessment.

The on-line FREE Aptitude Assessment takes most people 15 to 20 minutes to complete. If you would like to take it, click here. I would encourage you to finish this book first but I understand, curiosity is a very powerful motivator!

For those with Existing Spanish Skills:

I would also highly encourage you to read Chapter 13 of this book entitled, What To Do When You Already Speak Some Spanish.

In the event you choose to consult with us directly, we will administer a verbal placement proficiency evaluation to determine your present level of skill.

Please click on Chapter III, The Fruit and the Root, in the left-hand navigation to continue.