Six Years of Jaleo: From a Bar Terrace to Our Own School

“I think we should start our own school.” Never underestimate the power of statements made on a bar terrace. A casual conversation, a few too many beers (or maybe too few), and, above all, a strong desire to do things our own way were enough to spark an idea. This April marks six years since that offhand comment turned into reality, and we couldn’t be happier. A school founded and run by teachers may not seem like a big deal to those who weren’t part of this journey, but for us, it means everything.

Six years ago, we didn’t know what face masks were, and we certainly couldn’t ask an AI to design a business plan for us. So we did what we knew best: we taught. No premises, no initial investment, no certainties—just a lot of enthusiasm. Our first classes took place in cafés, because our plan was simple: if Steve Jobs started in a garage, Jaleo could start at a table with two coffees and a notebook. And it worked. Within a few months, we had groups, classes, and something that resembled a structure. Every email inquiry felt like winning the lottery.

But then March 2020 arrived.

We spent the COVID period worried, though healthy. While the world came to a halt, we moved faster than ever—online classes, endless calls, new ideas every day. It was a pivotal moment, so much so that we decided to bring in another partner to help us. And when we finally returned to in-person teaching, we realized that cafés were no longer an option: students didn’t want to go, and cafés didn’t want students sitting for hours with their notebooks. So we made the biggest decision of our journey so far—we found our own space.

That change was everything. We grew, we learned, we got organized. Another partner joined, along with the best teachers a Spanish school could dream of. And, eventually, we also earned the Instituto Cervantes accreditation—something we never could have imagined when we bought our first student a coffee for her first class.

Life has changed a lot since that improvised comment on a bar terrace, but one thing remains the same: our enthusiasm. We’ve loved sharing these years with every student who has chosen to learn Spanish with Jaleo, and we would love to keep doing so. If these six years have brought us this far, we can’t wait to see what’s next.