Just had a terrible experience at International House, Bogota. I first attended Beginner classes in November and december of 2014 when I was visiting Bogota to establish my citizenship and obtain a Colombian passport. I was born in Colombia to American

parents, but left when I was 4 years old.Now that I am of retirement age, Colombia has become a serious option for my "golden years". I returned to my home in Hawaii late December 2014 . I had hired a tutor from IH to give me lessons over Skype. She was amazing, fantastic and a wealth of knowledge. I was so enthusiastic that I decided to return to Bogota from July until September in order to take immersion classes at IH so that I would feel comfortable exploring the countryside for a small place to buy and live. I made arrangement with IH and paid for the first week. Thank God that they didn't take any more money that that or I would really be "up the creek". I took a placement test when I arrived for classes in July and was assigned to Level A-1. Wait a minute! A-1? I have been studying for over a year bith on my own, through several weeks of classses at IH last year and with a tutor from January - May. I was skeptical but went to the class to which I was assigned. What a waste of money. I was in class with true beginners, and I did not learn more than 2 new words the entire week. On the last day, I asked to be put in the more advanced class, but the instructor and I both agreed that it was a bit above my level and that I wouldn't be able to keep up. I magine my disapointment -- I rented out my house in the US, hired someone to take are of my cats, saved a lot of money to come to Colombia for school and to travel, obtained my own lodging -- all with the idea that IH would be able to place me in a class for my approiate level. According to their website and printed information, and I quote, "ll levels from absolute beginners (level 1 in the following table) to Cambridge Advanced (Level 8)". Apparently they are only offering a very few of their advertised cirriculum. Additionally, the instruction I started with did not provide any interesting, alternative material; we only received poorly copied sheets from a magazine that were hard to see and read. He spoke with a very small voice and was difficult to understand. In no way did he make learning fun. On the last day I had a female teacher who had us making conversations about various subjects, showed us videos about Colombian mannerisms, and had us singing pop songs to learn the correct diction. I learned more from "A." in one day, than I learned from "D." in the entire week. I really feel that I should get a refund. They advertise that they provide test books (perhaps invisible ones?), internet (it never worked on the second floor all week -- nor did it work last year when I attended IH), tutors and online courses. Not one staff member told me about any of the latter options. I am very dissapointed with the treatment I received at IH. I hope others will read this review and be forewarned. It is no wonder that IH doesn't rate very high in the internet search engines. It doen't have much to offer.