I should be doing some marking and planning for next week, but instead I've been procrastinating by sifting through my photos from last year's trip, and thinking about reviving my blog with some posts about studying and traveling in Central America. Before committing to reviving the blog, I've started collecting snippets of information and organizing my thoughts a bit. I thought that I may as well start by posting here, since every now and then, I see that someone on this forum is planning on studying Spanish in Guatemala.
To you I say:
go! Do it! You absolutely won't regret it!I'm a less-than-mediocre photographer and didn't do a great job of capturing everything, but I figured that my pictures are still worth at least 500 words each, if not a thousand.
Thoughts on studying in GuatemalaLast year, my husband and I spent six months in Central America, a good chunk of which we were studying Spanish in Guatemala. Guatemala is a great place to study Spanish. The accent is neutral, the teachers speak clearly, and the approach is one-on-one instruction. So instead of sharing a teacher's time with a class of 6 or 8, it's only you and the teacher, for four hours a day. This can be exhausting at first, but it also offers the opportunity to learn quickly and to forge a personal relationship with your teacher.
J, my husband, studied for a total of nine weeks. Seven of those weeks were 20 hours, and two of them were 15 hours. He worked with three different teachers in three different schools and loved all of them. On his own time, he did the homework assigned by his teacher, along with a bit of Duolingo.
I studied for a total of eight weeks. Six of those weeks were 20 hours, and two of them were 10 hours. I worked with five different teachers in three different schools, and all but one of them were fantastic. I did homework assigned by my teacher (mainly writing), along with homework I assigned to myself (reading articles, summarizing, writing discussion questions).
In addition to school and homework, J and I tried to use our Spanish as much as we could. We watched Spanish TV, including binge-watching the entire series of La Reina del Sur on Netflix. We often picked up a newspaper at the park. We talked to everyone and anyone. I also read several novels and listened to hours of podcasts while travelling on buses.
Everywhere we went in Guatemala, the locals spoke little to no English. They were open, friendly and very willing to let my husband (an absolute beginner when we arrived) practice his Spanish. We made friends quickly, by frequenting the same cafes or using the same tuktuk driver whenever we needed a ride. Our teachers also became our friends, and we remain in regular contact with a few of them.
Cost of studying Spanish in Guatemala Studying Spanish and staying in a homestay in Guatemala is very affordable. We generally paid about 100-120 US dollars each per week for three and a half hours of daily instruction (8:00-12:00, with a 20-30 minute break in the middle). A homestay with three meals and a private bathroom in Antigua was another 120 US dollars each (we paid extra to stay in a house with a comfortable bed and a private hot shower). Aside from those costs, we also spent a few dollars most afternoons at a cafe, and we ate in restaurants on Sundays.
Our homestay offered simple, delicious meals each day.While we did stay at a homestay and really enjoyed it, when we were planning on spending at least a month in one place, we opted for renting an apartment. Even though we chose more expensive apartments with more luxuries, it still ended up being cheaper than a homestay for two people. I think that a homestay is most definitely the best value for money if you're traveling as a single person or for less than a month.
We were able to afford this long trip because we saved money and then took a sabbatical. We sold our old house and bought a fixer-upper that a family member lived in, so we didn't have a mortgage to pay. We parked our cars at J's parents' house, and switched to ultra-cheap fire and theft insurance. We suspended our phones. While we were travelling, we didn't really have any expenses at all in Canada.
A day in the life of a Spanish studentOverall, our life was calm, simple and interesting. We woke up early, had breakfast, and walked to school. We were usually a 15 minute walk from school, which was perfect for waking up in the morning and decompressing after school.
From 8:00 until 12:00, we worked one-on-one with our teachers. J said that his time was generally split between basic conversation, reviewing grammar concepts and vocabulary, playing short games, and other oral language activities.
My schedule was different week-to-week, depending on who I was studying with and what I decided to work on. Here's a typical day with one of my best teachers, although each day might be a little bit different:
8:00-8:30 informal conversation – a morning chat over coffee
8:30-10:00 go over homework, with lots of discussion. My homework was very open-ended, mainly reading newspaper articles and writing short texts. I would read an article, and then write a list of discussion questions. I tried to pick articles that would allow for in-depth comparisons of Canadian and Guatemalan cultures (education, mental illness, youth employment, etc). I summarized the article orally to my teacher, and she would ask me questions to clarify or dig deeper. Then we would go through my questions, spending as long or as little on each one as felt natural.
10:00-10:30 break. I didn't think that I'd need a break...but I really, really did.
10:30-11:30 reading a teacher-selected text out loud, which then served as a springboard for discussion.
11:30-12:00 some sort of targeted grammar activity, based on errors that my teacher noticed. These were generally very conversation-centric and very engaging: using role-playing scenarios to practice the imperative, reading and retelling advice columns in the newspaper to practice indirect speech, using conversation cards to practice if-clauses.
In the afternoon, we fell into a simple routine. When we were in a homestay, we walked home and had lunch with our family. Then we would usually do an afternoon activity. We joined a gym in Antigua, because running in the city is hard, with the treacherous uneven sidewalks and exhaust fumes. So three days a week, we'd walk to the gym, and then stop at a cafe on the way home to linger over coffee and do our Spanish homework. A few times a week, we'd join school-sponsored activities: cooking class, salsa lesson, visit to a Macadamia nut farm or a coffee plantation. When we had our own apartment (not in a homestay), we'd go to the market for fruit and vegetables. We walked a lot. Most afternoons included homework in a cafe, which is really the only place to get a good cup of coffee. We talked to everyone.
I heart conjugating verbsWe usually headed home an hour or two before supper, and J would take a nap while I read a book or finished up some Spanish homework. Then we would eat with our family, chat a bit with our host family or with the other students, maybe read or watch some TV, and go to bed early.
Studying in AntiguaAntigua is an absolutely beautiful place, with uneven cobblestone streets and breathtaking views of forested volcanoes and crumbling ruins everywhere you look. There are lots of good cafes and restaurants, plenty of parks with benches, and a few great markets.
Some people say that Antigua isn't the best place for serious students, since there's a lot of tourism and a lot of English-speaking visitors, but we didn't have that experience. Yes, Antigua has a lot of tourism, but that's because it's a special place to visit. Yes, there are a lot of English-speaking students and tourists, but it's up to each person to decide who they want to speak to. We found that most of the locals didn't speak much English at all, even in restaurants or hotels aimed at tourists. It was very easy to stay away from English – we just chose to spend most of our time talking to locals instead of other students. It's very easy to step out of the English foreigner bubble if that's what you want.
Walking to school on a quiet morningWe spent six weeks at
Antigueña Spanish Academy. This is a very big school with excellent teachers. We talked to a lot of other students, and only met one who didn't rave about her teacher. The school has a beautiful garden setting about 15 minutes' walk from the office. The garden was the perfect place to spend our mornings, with lots of greenery, chirping birds, free coffee and water, and cheap street food snacks during the break. My teacher and I would often spend five or ten minutes wandering around the garden just to stretch our legs. It was generally cool in the morning, although it got hot in the sun.
our school – a beautiful lush garden with about 50 small tables scattered aroundmy classroom – my teacher showed up early on Monday mornings to claim this shady spot for the weekAntigua during Semana Santa, with its processions and stunning alfombras, was an unparalleled experience.
An alfombra made with coloured sawdust, just a few hours before a procession would destroy itStudying in San Pedro la LagunaWe spent one week studying at
Cooperativa in San Pedro. This may very well be the most beautiful school in the world. It's set in a garden, with individual casitas as classrooms and a stunning view of the hills and lake. The teachers at this school were excellent. Most of them speak both Spanish and the Mayan language Tz'utujil, and several of them also spoke English. This school is a cooperative, which means that it's owned and operated by the teachers – ensuring better working conditions for teachers, which is important.
our school – took my breath away everytime I walked in!my classroom – imagine spending every morning here...Cooperativa sponsors middle school students who need support to stay in school and keep studying, and both of our teachers were extremely involved in the
Beca Project. J and I chose to sponsor a child through this project, and met with him and his family several times during our time in Guatemala. Our
ajihado keeps in contact via email and sends us copies of his report cards.
We only studied in San Pedro for one week, but that had nothing to do with the school and everything to do with the town. It was the high season and we couldn't find an apartment that worked for us. Were we to start again, we might stay longer in a homestay, but we really wanted our own apartment, especially because my parents were planning on joining us for a month. While studying, we spent a week in a perfectly quiet, inexpensive guesthouse that was only a 15 minute walk from the school, but we needed cooking facilities for the long term.
The view from our guesthouse tucked between San Pedro and San JuanThat said, we didn't particularly like the tourist scene in San Pedro. It was a strange place, full of young European and Australian tourists, some of them unkempt and barefoot, frequenting bars and restaurants operated and staffed by other young Europeans and Australians. We felt that some of the tourists were disrespectful to the locals, walking into grocery stores with dirty, bare feet. There's a definite stoner vibe on the tourist strip. Go North of the lake and the tourist strip to find the "real" San Pedro, where people who aren't expats and tourists live.
Studying in PanajachelWhen we first went to Lake Atitlán, we had no intention of staying in Panajachel, a place with a reputation for lots of tourism. On the shuttle from Antigua, a dad told his son in Spanish that we were entering “Gringotenango”. But we ended up falling in love with Pana. Yes, it can be a bit overwhelming with its crowd of pushy vendors and shoe-shine boys and its over-abundance of tourists, but it's easy to walk just five minutes out of the tourist strip and find a whole new town. If you stay away from the touristy strip that leads to the water, Pana is a really interesting town filled with friendly locals. It makes a great base from which to explore the lake, since it's really easy to travel to the the other towns by boat or by bus. Our garden was full of hummingbirds, flowers and avocado trees. We were able to do some volunteering with a spay and neuter clinic. We were also pleasantly surprised by the hiking at Reserva Natural Atitlán, just outside of town.
Lake Atitlán as seen from our apartment.I spent one week and J spent two weeks studying at
Jabel Tinamit, a lovely school tucked away on a street outside of the touristy part of town. From the outside, it's nothing but a metal door, but walk inside and you'll find a big, beautiful garden with indoor and outdoor classes scattered across three floors of the building. The teachers there were excellent. I ended up studying only two hours a day, all of it teacher-directed. I read excerpts of Guatemalan literature, and learned a lot about the culture, history and politics of the area. The school was just a few minutes' walk away from the local market, where we stopped most days to pick up fresh fruit or vegetables.
our school – hard to photograph, because it's a 3 story building with a lush garden.my classroom – Pana can get cold, but luckily there are little rooms and nooks and crannies tucked all over the placeWhat happened to our Spanish?J started at zero, and was able to communicate comfortably in Spanish - although he still made a lot of mistakes. He was able make phone calls, ask questions, make friends with cab drivers. He basically had no fear of speaking Spanish and he has a really engaging personality that made it very easy for him to make local friends. He found the schedule exhausting at the very beginning, but once he settled in, he really enjoyed school.
My Spanish absolutely improved, although the improvement was much harder to measure. Three of my five teachers were very demanding - in a fun, friendly way - and I got the most from my time with them. I worked on grammar that I was a bit sketchy with: past subjunctive, hypothetical "if" clauses, and so on. The biggest change in my Spanish was probably that I no longer went through that shy, hesitant stage when I first started talking to a person that I didn't know. By the end of our stay, I could confidently say that I would have absolutely no problem living in a Spanish-speaking country and living/working in Spanish (although I did still make lots of mistakes). A few times I had locals asking me if I were a native speaker from another country (a Nicaraguan thought I was Spanish, a Guatemalan thought I was Costa Rican, a Costa Rican thought I was Colombian). That was fun! There's no way that I would have been able to keep up the facade past a few sentences, but I won't deny that it was an ego-boost when it happened. Oh yes, and my accent changed. I no longer use the Castilian "distinción" when speaking, although I do sometimes read in my head with a peninsular Spanish accent.
Would I do it again?In a heartbeat! If I could get on a plane tomorrow, I would.
I think that I've gained all that I can gain from Spanish school, though. If I were planning a second long Central American trip, I wouldn't sign up for Spanish school again. Instead, I would volunteer in the morning and hire a private tutor for an hour every afternoon. J would definitely sign up for more classes, especially now that so many months have passed since he last studied Spanish.
Planning on visiting Guatemala?Please don't hesitate to send me a PM if you want any more specific information - including the best cafes for doing Spanish homework!