Stuvisor.com had a chance to have a short interview with Frederic from CLIC during the Spanish Language schools B2B Meetings held in South Korea. 

Stuvisor.com: Welcome Mr.Parrilla! Thank you for your time with the interview! Can you briefly introduce yourself? 

Mr.Parrilla: My name is Frederic Parrilla and I work as a Marketing Director of CLIC International House Seville, Malaga, and Cadiz since 2008. I was born and raised in France where I studied Applied foreign languages and after various work experiences in Documentary, film production and Marketing, I've joined the language industry.

The Person: Interview

Mr. Frederic Parrilla

Marketing Director

CLIC Spanish Language School

Seville, Cadiz and Malaga

@ Spain

Stuvisor.com: Can you tell us about CLIC as well?

Mr.Parrilla: CLIC story started in the '80s when Bernhard Roters, a young German traveler, fell in love with Sevilla and decided to set up the first Spanish Language school in Seville. With the tenacity and perseverance of Bernhard, the school slowly but steadily became one of the largest Spanish Language schools in Spain. With over 4,000 foreign students every year in Seville, Cadiz, and Malaga, CLIC has become one of the most renowned Spanish Language schools in more than 40 countries around the world.

CLIC in Seville, Spain

Stuvisor.com: What was your purpose for participating in this academic tour as a Language school, and especially Asian region including South Korea and Japan? Is there a special goal you expect from this tour?

Mr.Parrilla: As per Korea, It was my 5th trip to this country. We're lucky enough to have a good number of Korean students who chose to study with us mainly in Seville, Cadiz, and Malaga following.

Korea has always been one of my main targets for several reasons: The good Profile and Strong motivation Korean students have, The diversity and Cultural enrichment they bring to our multicultural groups of students, and their great openness and capacity to communicate and share their ideas. In addition, Korean students are most likely to come to Seville with the purpose of higher education in Spain. This makes them become excellent ambassadors who contribute highly to the Language and higher education industry in Spain.

Students studying Spanish in CLIC

Stuvisor.com: Let's more talk about CLIC! I want to know about the Spanish education curriculum CLIC is currently providing. Every student has different purposes for coming here to learn Spanish such as just conversational skills or Spanish Exams. How the curriculums are running for each student at CLIC?

Mr.Parrilla: We provide a complete curriculum that covers 3 main aspects of the language: conversational skills, theoretical and grammatical skills, and last but not least cultural skills. As per the DELE exam, we motivate all Korean students to take the DELE exam as official exam centres in our city. Passing this exam is not the only way to obtain an official language diploma but definitely, the best way to prove students' efforts. It's renowned and recognized globally.

In order to guarantee the results, our school started providing additional tutoring based on their mother language. This is possible because CLIC has one of the most prestigious Spanish teacher Training Institutions in Spain where we train teachers who will be sent to many different countries. Those teachers learn and tackle all the difficulties encountered by Korean speakers while approaching Spanish: Structures and Phonetics etc. This experience has clearly boosted the better results of Korean students.

Stuvisor.com: How many students are currently enrolled in each branch? Where are they usually come from?

Mr.Parrilla: Seville, Cadiz, and Malaga welcome an average of 5,000 students every year. The nationality mix is variable according to each city. Nevertheless, the main nationalities in CLIC are North American, German, Dutch, British, Italian, and French. In the case of Korean students, they represent 4% in Seville, 2% in Malaga, and 1% in Cadiz.

Students in CLIC

Stuvisor.com: If a student is considering studying Spanish in one of the CLIC, the housing can be another problem. Do you provide a dormitory or any aid for housing for international students?

Mr.Parrilla: We provide accommodation for students in the family, school residence,s or shared flat. The most popular option among Korean students is to share flats. In our case, we provide shared flats with Spaniards. This is important since it allows the students to be fully immersed in the language, habit,s and cultural customs on arrival.

The big advantage of Seville compared to other larger cities like Barcelona or Madrid is that it can offer lower prices and shorter distances. In our case, for example, we provide accommodation no further than 20 minutes walking distance from the school. Korean students initially book only 4 weeks and find their own shared accommodation with locals. The average price for a shared flat in Seville is 400 euros per month.

Students enjoying Art Class in CLIC

Stuvisor.com: Apart from learning, a cultural program or touring program can be another important factor when it comes to choosing where to study! Do you have any programs or activities outside of class for international students to enjoy and learn more about Spain? Any recent one?

Mr.ParrillaWe does give cultural and social activities a priority in CLIC. Actually, we are one of the only schools that has a position of Cultural Coordinator: a staff only dedicate to creating daily activities depending on the time of the year. This cultural program is renewed weekly and includes guided visits, tapas routes, visits to businesses and companies, team sports (of course, mainly football with clic football team), concerts or very specific things such as tile painting, for example.

Each weekend, an excursion outside of Seville is organized: mainly to Granada, Cordoba, Cadiz, and every 2 months a trip to Northern Morocco. There is a cherry on top: many of our activities are carried out with Spanish students joining, and students then learn English, French, German or another language with us. We also have more than 1500 Spanish students learning languages in our schools.

Students in CLIC

Stuvisor.com: This is the very important and realistic question. How much does it cost per week on average to study in Spain and Andalucía?

Mr.Parrilla: There is a wide variety of prices in Spain or in Andalucía. Of course, the prices to study and live in Seville are cheaper than in cities like Madrid, Valencia, or Barcelona. It also depends on the quality of the school. Like any other consumer product, there is a range of low to medium or high-quality services in Language schools.

The cost right now in our schools for a full week of Spanish intensive course, sociocultural activities and single room accommodation in a shared flat is all together: 260 euros a week in Seville and 240 euros in Cadiz or Malaga.  

Stuvisor.com: Last but not least, Are you planning to participate in another tour like this time?

Mr.Parrilla: This is somehow a tricky question. Of course, yes! 

Tour or alone. I've been touring Korea on my own more than once. The tricky aspect of the question is that it's a never-ending cycle. To be able to welcome Korean students to our schools, we need to visit Korea often! 

On top of that, personally coming to Korea is always a pleasure for the country, its people, and of course amazing food. 

Stuvisor.com: Thank you for your time today!