About Us
About Rias Bajas School
Learning languages with Escuela Rias Baixas is an immersive experience, you will discover a new culture, land and cuisine, whichever language you come to study with us.
You can participate in organised outdoor activities and other events with our students and staff. We encourage our students to meet for language exchange between themselves. We organise these exchanges through WhatsApp groups and in-house facilities. You won’t limit your language learning experience to the classroom, but will learn to use it in more ‘natural’ settings. Escuela Rias Baixas is not a place where people come to study, check in, check out and leave. Our teachers, just like the owners of the school are much more hands on; your experience with language is more active. For instance, we go with our students on excursions, for dinners, to museums and other cultural visits. This is a very warm and open environment, because our love for this place is part of the school as much as the roof above the school building.
Our History
In 1986 we set up Rias Bajas school, a summer school for students of Spanish. We’ve created a space for students around the world who wanted to learn Spanish in Spain. But we also wanted to give our students a different feel of Spain. So, we decided that a town on the Spanish Atlantic Coast would be perfect for our aims.
Time has proved us right. Our students fall in love with the town of O Grove just like we did. And, what’s more, our students come back to spend their summers with us. It’s very true that once you get to know this small Spanish town, you cannot get enough. In addition, many of our teachers from Germany, the UK and other parts of Spain decided to stay and live in O Grove. Not only during the summer months, but all year round.
During the years the school started to give lessons in other languages, apart from Spanish. We work with native teachers of English, German, French and Italian.
Rudi and Ana, the original school owners, still run the school. Now with some help from the ones who fell in love with the project. We believe in a sustainable model of education and tourism. In other words, we want to show all the amazing things this part of Spain has to offer, without converting it into massive touristic compounds.
In the past 10 years, we have lived and worked in many parts of Spain and Portugal. There we saw how destructive the massive model is to the environment and local communities. We strongly believe that our school should design its activities around the idea of integrating our students into the local community. We work with tailor-made solutions for each student.
Above all, we do not deal with masses. We deal with people.