ACTIVE LEARNING
ALA provides programs where active learning components and opportunities are available to our students.
Interactive classes
In our programs, taught at our Academic Centers, ALA emphasizes the importance of students’ participation in the development of classes, and interaction with other students, faculty, and lecturers. Students make presentations in class; develop projects and write papers based on their interviews with people in the streets and acquisition of information and opinions from different sources. Round tables, scholarly discussions, and use of different technology in the classroom complement our interactive classes.
Onsite visits
All our classes possess this component. Classroom studies are supplemented by visits to organizations, entities, companies, and agencies. This enables students to utilize the city and its people to learn in an active way and experience what they are learning.
Professional lecturers
ALA invites outside lecturers to provide professional perspectives on topics covered by faculty.
Academic Field-trips
Our students participate in selected academic fieldtrips related to the culture, history, and art of Spain, which complement lessons and topics dealt with in the classrooms.
Service Learning & Volunteering
ALA has agreements with different NGOs that provide volunteer opportunities to our students. In this way our students participate actively in social and humanitarian projects enabling them to grow as human beings. ALA also has specific programs with a strong service learning component. For example, our students may spend days immersed in projects and services initiated by local city halls and other organizations.
Immersion activities
From interchanges with Spaniards, to visiting local museums, architectural landmarks, organizations and institutions, to participating in a typical ruta de tapas, ALA students have all the tools to participate in daily local activities and get to know local people and their habits and customs.
Housing
ALA provides various types of housing which take into consideration students’ different personalities, and in all of them students gain valuable experience. In a home stay students learn about how a Spanish family lives, eats, and behaves, as well as providing them with the opportunity to practice their Spanish. In a Residence students interact with other international students gaining a different type of experience. In an apartment students may live more independently taking responsibility for certain aspects of their daily lives.