Frequently asked questions

1on1Spanish offers one-on-one Spanish lessons with qualified native teachers, online across the United States. Below are the questions people ask before their first lesson. If yours isn’t here, write to us and a person from the school answers.

Lessons

How long is a lesson, and why only 25 minutes?

Every lesson is 25 minutes, one-on-one, by video call. It’s short on purpose. Twenty-five minutes is long enough for a real conversation and short enough that you still take it on a bad week, which is what makes the habit survive. Four short conversations a week give you four chances to speak instead of one long session you end up rescheduling.

What actually happens in a lesson?

You talk from the first minute. Your teacher works from a curriculum built around what you need Spanish for, corrects you in the moment rather than at the end, and pushes you into the structures you avoid. Afterwards you get a written report: what worked, what to fix, what’s next. Nothing to prepare beforehand, and lessons run in your browser.

How often should I take lessons?

Most students take between one and four lessons a week, and plans are built around that range. Frequency matters more than session length, because speaking is a retrieval skill and retrieval improves with repetition. If you can only commit to one lesson a week, take one lesson a week. A schedule you keep is worth more than an ambitious one you drop in three weeks.

Do I need to know my level before I start?

No, and most people guess wrong in both directions. The free level test is a short conversation with a teacher, online, with no card required. You come out of it with your actual level and a recommendation on how often to take lessons. It works better than a self-assessment because level is about what you produce under pressure, not what you recognize on a page.

What is the AI practice partner?

It’s a conversation partner you can use between lessons, as often as you want. Unlimited AI practice is included with every plan. It exists so you can rehearse without booking anything and without an audience. It doesn’t replace the lesson: your teacher is the one who hears where you actually break down and adjusts what you work on next.

Are lessons for beginners too?

Yes. Starting from zero is a normal starting point, not an exception, and one-on-one is where beginners gain the most, because nobody is waiting for you and nothing is pitched at an imaginary average student. Your teacher sets the pace from your first sentence. If you’ve never studied Spanish, the level test still works. It takes a different shape, that’s all.

Teachers

Who will be teaching me?

A native Spanish speaker who is qualified to teach the language, not just to speak it. That distinction is the reason we say qualified rather than certified: our teachers hold a university degree in language teaching or a related field, which is a different thing from a US state teaching license. Speaking a language and being able to explain it are different skills, and only one of them fixes your mistakes.

Will I have the same teacher every time?

Not necessarily, and that is deliberate. You pick the time that suits you and book the teacher available in that slot, so over a month you will work with more than one. Every one of them opens your full record before the lesson starts: your level, what you covered last week, what you keep avoiding, and which errors are worth interrupting for. The continuity comes from the record, not from one person, which is the practical difference between a school and a marketplace where you book a different stranger each week.

Hearing more than one voice is also part of the method: different accents and speaking styles are what Spanish sounds like outside a classroom. If you would rather not be matched with a particular teacher again, tell us and we won’t. It costs nothing.

Where are the teachers based?

All of them are native Spanish speakers. Spanish has plenty of local color, in accent and in vocabulary, and speakers understand each other perfectly well across all of it. The core grammar is shared across the Spanish-speaking world, so this is a matter of accent and vocabulary rather than curriculum.

Pricing and payment

How much do lessons cost?

Plans run from $84 a month for one 25-minute lesson a week up to $264 a month for four. Every plan is one-on-one with a qualified native teacher and includes the written report after each lesson and unlimited AI practice. Full breakdown on the Spanish tutoring cost page.

What is the $1 first month?

Your first month is $1 on any plan. You get the full plan for a month, with the same lesson length and the same reports, at a price designed to remove the reason people postpone starting. After that first month the plan renews at its normal price, and you can cancel before it does.

Cancellation

Can I cancel whenever I want?

Yes. There are no contracts and no minimum term, and you can cancel your plan at any time. That’s the whole commitment model, and we chose it on purpose. A school that needs a contract to keep you is telling you something about its lessons. Details on the cancellation policy page.

Do unused lessons carry over to the next month?

No. Lessons run on a monthly cycle, and any you don’t take by the end of it expire. There is no rollover. You can book your whole month in advance, which is the simplest way to make sure you use what you paid for, and you can move down to a smaller plan for a month you know will be busy.

What happens if I need to miss a lesson?

Cancel or move it from your account up to five minutes before it starts, at no cost, and the lesson goes back into your plan for another day. Leave it later than that and the lesson is used. The five-minute window is deliberately tight in your favor: you can reschedule almost up to the moment the call would have started.

What if the teacher doesn’t show up, or the call fails?

If your teacher doesn’t appear, or a technical problem costs more than five minutes of the lesson, we reschedule it at no cost and it doesn’t come out of your plan. Report it from your account or write to us and a person handles it.

Technology

What do I need to take a lesson?

A laptop, tablet or phone and a reasonable connection. Lessons run in your browser. The free level test works exactly the same way, so if the test runs on your setup, so will your lessons.

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Still deciding?

There’s one question underneath all the others: is this right for me? The fastest way to answer it is the free level test. It’s a short conversation, there’s nothing to prepare, and you finish it knowing your level and what your first month would look like.

First month $1. No contracts, cancel anytime.

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