La Escuela de Espanol

Buenas tardes amigos. It recently occured to me that I have written very little about my experience at Spanish School. Antigua is home to 30 or more Spanish schools which accomodate as few as 5-10 students up to 60-80 students. All of the schools offer one-on-one instruction with optional group classes. I basically chose my school, Tecun Uman http://www.tecunuman.centroamerica.com/ off the web, knowing that once in Antigua I could easily switch my teacher and/or school. Upon arriving in Antigua last week I was dropped off at what I thought was the Spanish school- A beautiful open air building with a few tables and many plants. However, I soon learned that the edifice serves as the school´s office and that the majority of the school`s students study at another location. My "school" is actually nothing more than a couple of cement rooms, barren with the exception of several plastic tables, as well as a small field of artifical turf. Mi maestra, Olga, prefers to sit outside, and each day we attempt to find a bit of sombra (shade). Even though the morning air is cool, the Guatemalan sun is quite strong and I will probably go through a few tubes of sunblock before my two months here are through. Olga is a Mayan woman, probably in her late 30´s who sells natural and herbal medicines on the side. We have had many cool discusions about medicine, nutrition, religion and anthropology. Still, I will probably ask to switch teachers after next week as I don´t think she is the greatest at coming up with alternative explanations when I am stumped. Learning Spanish from someone who doesn´t speak English takes a lot of patience on both parts (mostly the teacher´s in my case.)

Most Spanish school students study for 4 hours per day, which is really 3.5 hours because of the a 30 minute break from 10-1030. The siesta is much needed- after 2 hours of one-on-one grammar lessons my head is spinning. It´s also fun to socialize with the other students and teachers. The classes are organized into several levels and I started in level B (2). Olga teaches me from memory and out of one ancient spiral bound book. The school provides a few handouts with verb conjugations but nothing more as far as materials go. I have found this to be frustrating, and this week I began shopping around for other schools. While the location and a few of the amenities offered by each school may differ, my impression is that the quality of a student´s education really depends on the individual teacher. All of the schools seem to follow a similar lesson plan and provide afternoon cultural activities such as a cooking demonstration, beginning salsa lesson, or a trip to a local macadamia nut farm or to a coffee plantation. They also provide agua pura, coffee (with my beloved coffee mate) and tea. Today I visited a school which seemed luxurious by Guatemalan standards. Just for asking about the school I was given a packet of local postcards and the school provides books and wireless access. However, while talking to the school employee in Spanish, I realized that in just 7 days at Tecun Uman, my ability to speak has greatly improved (I am still far, far from fluent). Maybe the fancy amenities are not necessary after all. If I don´t practice speaking or sit myself down and study my grammar and vocab, I won´t learn Spanish no matter how fancy the school. Plus, at many schools tables are crammed quite close together and although I study on a soccer field, I don´t have to try to talk over 6 or 10 other students and teachers. Because I don´t receive worksheets for homework, after school I attempt to write a story using my new vocab and grammar. My latest masterpiece is about my jeans buying trip at the market. My goal for tomorrow (Sunday) is to master all of the irregular verbs i have learned so far (yeah right). Perhaps I will have to find a cafe to study in, as I am not sure I can take another Sunday of the horrible church music....

Hasta Luego,

Julia