Spanish
¡Bienvenidos!
We are proud to offer Spanish classes of all levels here at Sepia. One of the specialties of our founder, our Spanish offerings are diverse and quickly growing.
Adult Spanish classes meet 2x/week for 12 weeks and are split into the following nine levels:
Beginning 1, Beginning 2, Beginning 3
Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, Intermediate 3
Advanced 1, Advanced 2, Advanced 3
Not sure which level to pick? Schedule a virtual assessment here.
Youth Spanish classes meet 1x/week for 12 weeks and are split into the following two categories:
Youth After School Spanish (for beginners, taught in English)
Youth Spanish Immersion (for students with previous Spanish background, taught in Spanish)
We also offer an array of electives taught in Spanish that can be taken as drop-ins. We recommend Beginning 1 Spanish as prerequisite for most of these. Electives include, but are not limited to: visual arts, aerial arts (circus), beginning and intermediate conversation, linguistics, dialectology, and culture. Drop-ins may be purchased by any student as a one-off, and Spanish Study Members gain unlimited access to all of the Spanish electives on our schedule for a flat monthly rate.
Our Spanish school offers two short study abroad programs per year, one in Mexico and one in Spain, as well as both a 2-year and 3-year certificate option that include standard language courses, electives, and both of our abroad programs.
Questions? Reach out to spanish@sepialanguagestudy.com
Chelsi Milsted, Owner
Spanish and French Instructor
Chelsi has dedicated much of her life to learning languages. Beginning with American Sign Language interpreting, her passion for languages quickly spread to Italian, Spanish, French, Hindi, and others. She graduated from Portland State University in 2017 with bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and French and a minor in Linguistics, and then went on to earn a masters in Education the following year. Endorsed to teach both Spanish and French in Oregon secondary schools, Chelsi worked as a high school language teacher for over six years. In 2020, she was accepted as a candidate for the Doctor of Modern Languages at Middlebury College, a highly esteemed institution in the language world. This program, which requires doctoral level fluency in two languages other than English, focuses heavily on language acquisition and pedagogy research. Chelsi is an innovative teacher who’s instruction reflects both current research in pedagogy as well as her experience teaching in the high school classroom. She started Sepia Language Study as an outlet to teach language as effectively as she is able without the limitations of the public school and university systems.
Simon Holowatz
Spanish Instructor
Simon loves to learn about culture, history and languages. He started learning Spanish at home with his mother and grandmother who immigrated from Nicaragua. His father is half Mexican and half Polish. Simón holds a Master’s of Education from the University of Oregon with an endorsement in teaching Spanish. He has also studied at a bilingual school in Eugene. He studied at La Universidad de Oviedo in Spain for a semester and lived with a host family and graduated with a degree in Spanish and a degree in Communications from the University of Portland. He studied Spanish at Cemanahuac Spanish School in Cuernavaca, Mexico and lived with a host family for two months. He lived and taught English in Managua, Nicaragua for a year. Overall, he has taught Spanish for about 18 years with students from kindergarten through high school. For a year and half, he taught a Spanish medical terminology and cultural competency course for medical personnel in Eugene through Centro Latinoamericano as part of a federal pilot grant. He has taught adults at Penn State University as a member of their University Health Services. Aside from living and traveling in Spain, Mexico and Nicaragua, he has traveled in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama and non-Spanish speaking countries. In addition to traveling, Simon enjoys playing soccer, painting, writing fiction and playing with his two-year-old daughter. He has learned a bit of Turkish and Portuguese and loves to learn about languages.
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Standard 12-Week Courses
These courses meet 2x/week for 12-weeks and focus on language acquisition. This includes direct instruction in grammar, vocabulary, and building conversational skills.
There are nine courses in this category:
Beginning 1, Beginning 2, Beginning 3
Intermediate 1, Intermediate 2, Intermediate 3
Advanced 1, Advanced 2, Advanced 3
These are highly interactive courses; sudents may participate live in person or live online.
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12-Week Electives
We offer an assortment of 12-week electives that meet 1x/week during our regular 12-week terms.
These include but are not limited to:
Medical Spanish
Spanish Linguistics
Spanish Language & Culture
These courses are intended to provide students with a more well-rounded understanding of their target language of study in areas that are of interest to them.
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Drop-In Electives
Drop-in electives are purchased individually, in packs of 10, or through an unlimited monthly membership, and new ones are constantly being added to our schedule.
The goal of drop-in electives is not to learn the language but to use the language in real-world contexts (art, fitness, cooking, dance…)
All drop-in electives are taught entirely in the target language by instructors who are accustomed to working with language learners in immersion environments. The recommended prerequisite for most elective courses is Beginning 1 Spanish.
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Spanish Study Certificates
Our certificate programs are designed to provide adult learners with a rigorous and comprehensive world language education outside of the university system.
Our programs are run entirely by instructors who have climbed the ladder of traditional academia themselves, and who have left that world in hopes of creating something less restrictive. Certificates include our full program of courses as well as two short study abroad experiences.
We offer both a 2-year and 3-year certificate option, both of which require a part-time time commitment. Certificate students may elect to pay tuition in monthly installments or apply for scholarship funds when available.
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Spanish Study Memberships
Whether or not they are formally studying Spanish with us, Spanish learners and speakers from all walks of life can become members of The Spanish Study for a flat monthly rate to enjoy unlimited access to all of the Spanish electives on our schedule.
Memberships are about using Spanish for real-world applications, which is by far the most important piece of language acquisition and often the most difficult to achieve.
Drop in to conversation groups whenever they are convenient for you, take an art class taught entirely in Spanish, try out aerial arts in Spanish… immerse yourself in your target language right here in Vancouver.
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Study Abroad
Our Spanish school offers two annual study abroad trips:
Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico - 8 days
End of October/Early November
Experience Día de muertos
Madrid, Seville, + Barcelona, Spain - 12 days
4 days in each city
Offered during Spring Break (late March/early April)
Study abroad programs are led by Sepia instructors and include local guides and tours. Registration is open to everyone, Sepia student or not, and both study abroad trips are included in 2-year and 3-year certificate tuition.
