Cleveland Spanish School & Academy – Children’s Spanish Classes and Summer Programs

Cleveland Spanish School & Academy – Children’s Spanish Classes and Summer Programs offers children’s Spanish classes, Saturday children’s Spanish classes, children’s private Spanish classes, and summer children’s Spanish programs. The program uses 100% immersion Spanish classes with an immersion methodology focused on learning Spanish in Spanish, and classes use activity-based, age-appropriate activities in every class. Children can also take Spanish classes through the program at their own schools and preschools when those schools partner with the academy.

• Price: Group classes are $16 per hour

The program is led by Director (Directora) Maria Elena Penzol-Pauer, and a local entrepreneur founded the business together with the school’s first director from Mexico. The staff includes experienced, native instructors who are 100% fluent Spanish speakers, and the native staff is described as local, experienced, and certified. Staff credentials include a BA in Spanish and Political Science from OSU and Foreign Language K–12 licensure candidacy in Spanish from CSU, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and Management, and a Master’s Degree in Applied Linguistics in Spanish as a Second Language. One teacher studied Early Childhood Education and Secondary Education at the Universities of Granada and Madrid, and another has been teaching Spanish for 13 years to students of varied backgrounds, including college students and Canadian Ambassadors.

The Cleveland Spanish School & Academy is an Ohio business that started together with the Cincinnati Spanish School & Academy in 2004. In Cleveland, children’s classes were first offered in the Broadview Heights area in 2011, and the program expanded and moved to a permanent home in Lakewood in 2013. The organization states that they have been experts for more than 10 years.

The mission of Cleveland Spanish School & Academy is to serve English- and Spanish-speakers with products and services that offer educational, linguistic, cultural, social, and communication benefits. The mission includes serving adults, children, and organizations through Spanish instruction, translation, ESL instruction, interpretation, social networking, study abroad, and print, broadcast, and online publishing, and it states that this mission will bring people together while encouraging tolerance, understanding, and exploration of new languages, cultures, and ideas.

Cleveland Spanish School & Academy partners with local schools and preschools and provides Spanish classes at 9 different schools and preschools. It is described as a proud partner of Lakewood Schools and other area preschools and programs to offer Spanish curriculum, and local organizations use its services.

Parent and student testimonials describe the classes and teachers. One parent reports that “the teachers are absolutely AMAZING” and that after just one class, her daughter had learned a lot and experienced a fun, very interactive class that kept the attention of all of the children. Another parent shares that a son who began the year disliking the idea of Spanish class later said he could not wait for Monday because he had Spanish and came home after every class with new words to teach the family. A parent of a 4-year-old says the child looks forward to Spanish class every week, runs around speaking Spanish at home, and that the instructor relates to the children and makes them feel comfortable to learn. Student comments mention a conversational-based curriculum that focuses on speaking, understanding, and reading Spanish, small class sizes, and the value of native Spanish instructors for cultural impact and authenticity.

Last updated July 19, 2026.