Taking Spanish Classes In Central America

I have recently had a disappointing experience with taking Spanish classes in San Pedro Guatemala. In part due to my not doing enough research before signing up. I would like to share some tips on what to look for when choosing a Spanish School and deciding to take classes in the hopes that it will keep someone else from making the same mistakes that I made.

There is no point in mentioning the school as they all teach pretty much the same thing. I wanted to take 2 weeks of classes so that I can speak and understand enough Spanish to get me through the next 2 months of traveling in Central America. I found that the classes they offer are not travel specific, if you are taking 6 to 10 weeks of classes they are probably okay (learning the finer points of grammar etc.) or if you already know the basics. However for 2 weeks it was a waste of time and money for me, I knew very little Spanish going in so I was looking for things like "how do I get to the bus station" ordering in restaurants, getting a room etc.. The course materials are all about your parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters and school subjects like what courses do you like, what sports do you like. Nothing really travel related so as a result I ended up spending 3 hours a day translating sentences with words I will never use and conjugating verbs that I will never use on my travels. Some of the verbs will be useful, however many will not.

A sample sentence from the text book that took 20 minutes to translate by hand and the results from the google translator below so I couldn't really speed up the process much. Internet charges per hour are about 9 Q here.

A Enrique le gustn mucho los juegos de mesa. Practica con mucha fiecuencia y es el campeon del equipo de la ascuela. Prefiere el juego mas dificil y exingente.

Enrique you love board games. Practice often and is the champion team of the school. Rather the game more difficult and demanding.

I also ended up with an instructor that would have me read through sentences the entire class so he could spend the class texting his friends on his cell phone. Some of the others in my class got to play games and go on field trips to the market with their instructors.

1. Assess your needs

How much Spanish do you know?

What do you want to learn?

How long do you have to learn it in?

Will you be taking more classes or is this a one time thing?

2. Ask to see the course ware they use to make sure it covers what you want to learn

3. Be very clear on your goals and objectives in taking the course and make sure the school can meet them.

4. Meet your instructor before registering/paying

Ask lots of questions and see how they respond. Teaching methods vary between instructors it is important to get an instructor who teaches the way you learn.

Make sure there is a good connection between the 2 of you. It's hard to learn from someone you don't relate to or like

5. Ask to pay on a daily basis rather than weekly

If something changes or things don't progress the way you want you can change schools or quit without loosing your money or feeling obligated to keep attending