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SPANISH CLASSES IN PORTLAND, OREGON

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SPANISH SCHOOLS ABROAD
(Students' Testimonials)

ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA

I attended the Escuela de Español Cooperación for one month in the summer of 2007. I had a mixed experience at the school, as did many other students I met; satisfaction generally depended on which teacher each student was assigned to. The school location itself was about a ten-minute drive to the neighborhood of Jocotenango, in a nice garden. It was a little extra trek to get to the location—we would meet at the office in Antigua and be driven to the garden—but it was a nice place.

This is one of the least expensive schools in town, and lessons are slightly less expensive if you study in the afternoons instead of the mornings. It is possible to study for 5 or 6 hours, but I would not recommend it—most students I met who originally signed up for 5-6 hours found it to be too much.

Because the school is very small—there were generally 5-10 students while I was there, which was during a busy season—extracurricular activities are limited: we had a weekly salsa class, plus an occasional excursion around town. Friday mornings were usually spent on a small trip in place of class; this trip was optional, and some students chose to study instead.

The best part of my trip was the homestay, which was arranged by the school; I stayed with a wonderful family whose house was about a ten-minute walk from the center of town. You do not need to be a student at the Escuela de Español Cooperación to stay with them (or a student at all); you could contact them and arrange a stay on your own. I recommend them very highly. Here is their contact info:

Nidia Porras
Colonia Hunapú No. 15
8321613

If you choose to study with this school, my recommendation would be to specifically request Mily or Cece, whose students seemed very satisfied. If you are not able to study with either of them, I would sign up for one week, and at the end of the week, if satisfied, sign up for more time; if not, you can look for another school. There are lots in Antigua, and many students sign up for classes the Saturday or Sunday before they begin studying.

Antigua is a gorgeous colonial town with TONS of tourists—I heard about as much English spoken in the streets as Spanish. People are very friendly, and I felt safe. The weather is also pretty ideal, as it is high up in the mountains—although it was the rainy season, so make sure you take an umbrella if you go in the summer.

Information available online at: www.aboutguatemala.com/archives/cooperacion-spanish-school.php.
E-mail: escuela_coop@yahoo.com

Carrie B.


I attended the school Fundación PLFM ("Proyecto Lingüístico Francisco Marroquín") for a month in 1995. I had a very good experience, as all instruction is one on one. The prices have almost doubled since then, but still seem reasonable.

Web site: www.langlink.com/plfm/index.htm.

Lacy L.


I studied for a month at an excellent, inexpensive school: Tecún Umán Spanish School. Delightful location, too.

I was there for a month between October 31 and December 13, 2006 (I traveled around Guatemala the remainder of the time). I had two teachers, both excellent. All instruction is private, one-on-one, so it can be tailored exactly to each student's level and needs. The director, Mario Castellanos, is very personable, accessible and helpful. Premises are simple but comfortable. Pleasant classrooms, both in- and outdoors. Safe location. Antigua is a safe city too, very easy to travel in.

I progressed a LOT (pretty comfortable with subjunctive now, finally!), studying either 4 or 6 hours per day. Nice array of extracurricular activities (see the website for details).

The accommodations were a mix between a local family's home and a hotel. Only drawback for my accommodation was not having enough Spanish speakers there. Very comfortable and well set up for students, however.

Antigua is a city of 30,000 people, probably 5-8,000 foreigners at any one time. Mostly Spanish is spoken, but the non-Spanish speaker (or beginner) can find English speakers as needed. Great weather, not too hot because it is at an elevation of 5,000 feet. VERY friendly people. Lots of native Mayans, great artisan and crafts. Guatemala is a wonderful country in which to travel; inexpensive too, which is nice. I would recommend that the visitor gets a travel guide before going—there is too much to see to capture in a recommendation like this.

GREAT program and location all around!

Web site: www.tecunuman.centramerica.com.

Jana S.


COCHABAMBA, BOLIVIA

I enthusiastically recommend the following school: Instituto de Idiomas Maryknoll.

I attended from January through May of 2005 The school is located on a pristine piece of land in the southern part of the city. The Institute is run by the Maryknoll fathers, and has been open for 41 years serving students from across the world.

The classes and facilities are in great condition, and the class sizes are limited to only 2-3 students. The teachers are local people with lots of experience and expertise in linguistics, culture and indigenous practices.

I attended a 5-month intensive course that offered four classes a day for five days a week. Shorter, more advanced programs are also available. Outings and seminars on Bolivia and South America were offered on weekends and during the week.

Cochabamba is a great place to study. It is bursting with local cultures, has a great climate, and is located in the center of the country, with easy access to other cities in Bolivia. The locales are friendly and willing to engage with foreigners.

Homestays are offered for all students.

Highly recommended. Will not disappoint!

Web site: www.redfish.to/bolivia/institutomaryknoll.

Eoin B.


GUANAJUATO, MEXICO

We have attended this school three times and we like it a lot: Don Quijote.

. Dates attended: In 2004, 2005, and 2006.

. Evaluation of premises, teachers, administration: Very good. The teachers understand students' needs well and know the best way to address them. The site of the school is the former barracks of the revolutionary army.
. Evaluation of course(s) attended: Excellent.
. Extracurricular activities organized by the school: Outings, dances, cooking classes, movies, other social activities.

. Homestays arranged by the school?: Yes.
. Evaluation of this experience: Marvelous. Now we are friends of our hostess.

. Characteristics of the city: The area has around 250,000 inhabitants. Guanajuato is a colonial city whose economy was based on mining; it was also an important site during Mexico's war for independence. Guanajuato's natives are very nice. There are not many tourists, except in summer, and at any time many of them are Mexicans visiting the city to know more about their national history.

Name of the school: Don Quijote
Web site: www.donquijote.org.
Address: Calle Pastita #76, Barrio Pastita
36090 Guanajuato, Mexico
Tel: 34 923 27 72 00
(The company, "Don Quijote," is from Spain, and has more schools in Mexico and Spain.)

Bruce C.


HEREDIA, COSTA RICA

I am happy to recommend a school I attended in January 2006, the Instituto Professional de Educación DAZA.

I had a wonderful time there. The school's owners, staff and teachers were all very friendly and personable. In addition to classes, there were optional activities: dancing lessons, day trips to outdoor sites, dinner out with other students and teachers, etc. The owners David and Zaida included us in informal ways, too. I went grocery shopping one day with Zaida, for example.

I liked my teacher and found her to be easy to talk with. Our time was spent mostly in conversation, with discussion about language occurring as we went along. When she made corrections, she did so in a way that did not interrupt the flow of our conversation.

Students had the option of doing a homestay with a family or staying in a hotel. The hotel they recommended and arranged for me was inexpensive yet quite nice. It was almost like doing a homestay because the owners invited me in for breakfast or dinner with them many days. All the other students stayed with families and said they enjoyed them very much, although some did say they felt their homestay made the experience a little intense—to be at school all day and then to have more interaction at night. This is the reason I chose to stay in a hotel, to have downtime and flexibility.

Heredia is a very nice town. Large enough to have a variety of resources and people, and a university. It is close to the capital San Jose and so it is easy to make excursions into the city. The climate in Heredia is very comfortable since it is on the high plain. There were nice cafés and restaurants. I went to one small restaurant many mornings for breakfast and the owner sat down with me every day and chatted.

I would recommend Costa Rica in general. I found that everywhere I went—large and small cities and rural areas alike—people were very friendly and treated me very respectfully. I never felt uncomfortably "targeted" because I am a tall, white woman who is obviously a foreigner. This is in contrast to my experience when I visited the area around Cajamarca, Peru, where I felt constantly harassed by vendors anytime I walked down the street in both towns and the countryside.

Another thing I really enjoyed about Costa Rica was the number of people there from all over the world. I met people from Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Australia, and Brazil.

Name of the school: Instituto Profesional de Educación DAZA
Web site: www.learnspanishcostarica.com.
Call toll free: (888) Si Hablo, (888) 744-2256 (Please call between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. from Monday to Thursday)
Fax: (506) 237-1801
E-mail: ipedcr@racsa.co.cr

C. R.


HEREDIA AND MONTEVERDE, COSTA RICA

I recommend a school called Centro Panamericano de Idiomas (CPI). They are located in Costa Rica and have campuses in Heredia (outside of San Jose), Monteverde, and Flamingo Beach (on the coast). I was there for 3 weeks in March of 2002, and for 4 weeks in July/August of 2003.

I learned a ton. When I got there I knew less than 30 words in Spanish—I started with the alphabet. The teachers are variable: for the most part they are excellent, but there are a few that are not as good as the others; you change teachers each week anyway. When you get there you take a test to determine placement. Classes are small (4-5?), and there is a set curriculum. They also offer additional 1-2 person conversation classes in the afternoons.

I studied in Heredia and in Monteverde. (I never felt the urge to brave the heat of Playa Flamingo. Now that I'm a surfer I may feel differently.) I think that the best teachers are in Heredia. I get the impression that more students go through that site. It's a true "tico" town. The school offers excursions in the afternoons and on weekends for sight-seeing, etc. Some were great, some were not. Monteverde is my favorite location. It's in the cloud forest and temperatures are cooler. It's a bit of a tourist town—there's a lot of ecotourism there. Good local flavor remains, though.

They offer (and I highly recommend) placement with a local family. Staying with the family was a life-changing experience for me.

Costa Rica is beautiful and it was a great place for me to travel alone. I felt safe, etc.

I have two friends who attended CPI at different times than I and they also had great experiences.

I am actually considering attending their Medical Spanish course. It's three weeks with classes for part of the day and visits to local clinics/hospitals the other part of the day.

Web site: www.cpi-edu.com.

Rebecca N.


MAZATLAN, MEXICO

Name of the school: Centro de Idiomas.

. Dates attended: 1/19/07 - 2/20/07.

. Evaluation of premises, teachers, administration: The school is located in the central historical district of the city, a very nice location. I really liked my instructors.
. Evaluation of course(s) attended: They cover a lot very quickly. Your tuition covers the textbook, but I also recommend bringing a dictionary and a verb book.

. Extracurricular activities organized by the school: Conversation club Friday nights.

. Homestays arranged by the school?: Yes.
. Evaluation of this experience: The school helped me find an amazing homestay family. They lived very close to the school, and treated me like a member of their family. They spoke only Spanish, which helped me advance much more quickly. Overall I found it to be a very good experience. I definitely recommend doing a homestay if you have the opportunity.

. Characteristics of the city: Mazatlan is a great city, very easy to get around by bus. The historical district is my favorite area, but many people like to visit the Golden Zone as well (this is the area where all the resorts are). There are lots of beautiful beaches. The weather was in the upper seventies when I was there, but it apparently gets very hot and humid in the summer.

Web site: www.spanishlink.org.

Amy P.


QUETZALTENANGO AND NUEVO SAN JOSE, GUATEMALA

Name of the school: Proyecto Lingüístico Quetzalteco de Español, also known as La Hermandad Educativa.

. Dates attended: January 2001 for one month (one week in Quetzaltenango and three weeks in Nuevo San Jose)

. Evaluation of premises, teachers, administration: All fantastic. Staff was very helpful and friendly, instructors quite knowledgeable, and advanced students were placed with teachers at ease with explaining advanced grammar. School settings are spacious and comfortable.

. Evaluation of course(s) you attended: Fantastic

. Extracurricular activities organized by the school: I didn't volunteer, though many others did, but I did go on some of the many field trips offered, including a trip to a coffee cooperative, a collectively run glass-blowing factory, and to some hot springs. The school also is quite near some beautiful hiking trails, one of which leads to a gorgeous waterfall with flocks of parakeets wheeling around overhead.

. Homestays arranged by the school?: Yes. In Quetzaltenango students live with a family and have their own room. There is one student per household, so as to ensure greater use of Spanish. In Nuevo San Jose, students live two-to-a-room in a group house, as the nearby community is quite poor and doesn't have space to offer, but all meals are taken with a local family (one student per family), and students rotate to a new family each week.

. Evaluation of this experience: It was excellent. Clean places, friendly people, spacious room in the city. In the countryside the rooms were fine, but I did speak much more English since we were all together more of the time. Also, the food in the country was sometimes excellent and sometimes not so great, but there is a market nearby and we were able to supplement our meals with fruit and vegetables.

Web site: www.hermandad.com.

Jennifer R.


YELAPA, MEXICO

In October of 2006, I spent a week studying Spanish intensively with YESI (Yelapa English Spanish Institute). I found the organization through the Internet. There are other good teachers in Yelapa, and a Web site that discusses other Spanish learning opportunities there is www.palapainyelapa.com.

If you have a sense of adventure and like things a bit off the beaten track, I highly recommend studying Spanish in Yelapa. Yelapa is a small town on the Bay of Banderas, south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. There are no cars in Yelapa. You need to arrive by boat, which you can find easily in either Puerto Vallarta or Boca de Tomatlan. There are many activities, including swimming, snorkeling, hiking, bird watching, horseback riding, and more! The highlight of my visit was the homestay. I was the only student staying with the couple that I lived with. They were very friendly and were always available for conversation and tips about the area. We dined together on simple but deliciously prepared fresh food. I was looking for a place that would be safe for a woman traveling alone, and that would have lots of opportunities to speak Spanish with a variety of people—I found both in Yelapa. It was very affordable to stay there and the classes were reasonably priced as well.

Yelapa has opportunities to volunteer in a variety of settings with both children and adults. The Web sites talk about these. I found plenty of chances to help out and interact without formally volunteering.

There is a noticeable American/Canadian contingent in Yelapa, and many tourists come to the beach areas for a few hours each day. This didn't really distract from my experience and did not interfere with opportunities to practice Spanish.

The classes were for 3-4 hours each day, and I had homework between times. The materials were well chosen and adjusted to my level. My teacher allowed my preference and focused mostly on conversation. We both studied at her site and walked around the town, where she would point out things of interest, tell me stories, and talk about Mexican history. (I had a local for a teacher as Jean, the regular teacher, was still in Canada when I was there.)

Web site: www.talkadventures.com.

Shawn C.