Spanish Lessons The Virtual Way
Way back after college, my brother decided he wanted to put in the effort to really learn Spanish. He traveled to Central America and found a language school in Guatemala - Ulew Tinimit. He spent several months there and was able to finally master the language he had been learning since seventh grade. Not only did he learn Spanish, but he also developed a relationship with the teachers and the founder of the language school. Since then, he’s traveled to Guatemala several times and reconnected with his friends there. Fast forward 25 years to this year and the pandemic. My youngest decided to use the pandemic as an opportunity to learn Spanish. My brother was so impressed by his efforts that an idea formed in his head: What if he could connect his nephew with his language school in Guatemala?
My brother had always told his nephews he wanted them to travel to Guatemala with him when they were older, so he could introduce them to his friends and host family there, and provide his nephews with a multicultural experience. The pandemic and the advent of Zoom allowed him to reshape his focus and develop a new plan. After some coordination with the school, he set up a language lesson via zoom for three of his nephews. My sister and I joined in as well. We all started in the lesson together, and then he broke us into Zoom rooms for our individual lessons. (My sister and I were each paired with a nephew for the lesson.) We had such an incredible experience, all of us wanted to pursue individual lessons going forward. We were each assigned a teacher and we set up weekly lessons. My family decided to do two lessons each per week, while my sister's family is doing one lesson per week.
The result has been fabulous! The individual lessons provide a very comfortable learning environment. We are each able to learn at our own pace. The teachers have specific lesson plans and exercises, but the lessons are not rigid and we are able to focus each class on the topics we are most interested in covering. My youngest is making tremendous progress because he also spends 1-2 hours a day practicing Spanish in various forms on his own. For me, the most meaningful part of the lessons is the intercultural exchange occurring between my teacher and me. We have extensive conversations about our families and our experiences and we are each learning about each other's lives. She corrects my grammar and provides me with vocabulary words when necessary, but I have found I am able to convey my message effectively, even if my grammar and pronunciation are not always pretty. Moreover, it brings me immense joy to be able to understand her stories and learn more about her life. Of course, the times I don't understand or use the completely wrong word make us both laugh, which is fun too!
One of our most ambitious post-pandemic goals is to plan an extended family vacation to Xela, Guatemala so we will all be able to meet our Spanish teachers and their families in person. Our ultimate goal is for us all to be fluent in Spanish when we travel. That will require some effort on my part for sure, but my boys are well on their way!
Fortunately, it is now quite easy to arrange for virtual Spanish lessons. In fact, you can book lessons on their website: spanishguatemala.com Classes are typically $18 per hour.
