Hellow fellow traveler!
Has Latin America been tugging at your hearstrings and taking up space on your travel vision board? Perhaps you've spent some time there already and are thinking of relocating but have yet to bite the bullet. Or maybe travel to Latin America isn't in the cards for you at the moment but sill feel drawn to the region, the culture, and the people.
Imagine
no longer just stumbling through your meal order at a restaurant, but rather getting to know your server and the local scoop on the town you’ve just arrived in.
Envision yourself at a dinner party with new friends in Mexico City and you crack a joke in Spanish. Everyone busts up in genuine laughter and you finally feel like you fit in.
Picture yourself
sitting next to a woman on the airplane who is struggling to fill out the customs and immigration forms in English. You turn to her and in Spanish offer to help. Before you know it, her form is filled out and she’s sharing her life story and inviting you for lunch with her family next time you’re in Guadalajara.
Imagine
traveling to Nicaragua with one of your non-Spanish-speaking friends. She starts to feel sick while in a remote town on the beach.
Instead of panicking and not knowing what to do, you walk into the local pharmacy and are able to get her the medicine she needs to feel better in no time.
The job opportunity
of a lifetime comes up in Buenos Aires but they require conversational Spanish. You apply confidently and nail the interview. Argentina, new friends, and a whole lot of personal growth and development await you!
You Spot
a beautiful stranger from across the coffee shop and there’s just something about them that makes you want to go over and say hello. They respond in Spanish and your palms sweat for a moment before you muster up the courage to dive into the conversation in Spanish. Three years later you’re setting off on a new adventure together.
You're back
in your home country and feeling outraged by the injustice happening at the border. You want to get involved but you’re not sure how. Luckily, a friend tells you about an organization looking for conversationally fluent volunteers to assist in family reunification efforts.
Your parents
left El Salvador before you were born and haven’t been back. You feel drawn to go explore your roots and even look up some of your cousins you’ve never met before to grab a beer. Your Spanish isn’t perfect but it’s enough for you to reunite with family, reconnect with your culture and begin to fill a lifelong void.
If you connected widh any or all of the above, trust me when I say
I feel you!
because I WAS you. And let me tell you, the single biggest life-changing decision I ever made was to really invest in my Spanish language skills. Once I began to live, eat and breathe Spanish all of a sudden my travels to Latin America shifted from frun, but superficial tourist experiences, to meaninfun connections, lifelong friendships, new career opportunities, and fresh outlook on life.
It wasn’t always easy and it definitely wasn’t pretty. There were times I felt overwhelmed by nerves, especially when talking to native speakers in academic and professional environments. My palms would sweat and my throat would close, turning me into a much more shy and insecure version of myself. There is literal blood, sweat, and tears in my Spanish and I’m still working on getting better each adn every day.
Sticking with it, even when it seemed impossible to advance further, was 110% worth it and I truly cannot imagine what my life would look like without Spanish.
Learning Spanish is not just about grammar, vocabulary, and a new skill to add to your resume. It’s a journey of personal growth and transformation that will open doors to new people, places, and possibilities and enrich your life in beautiful and unexpected ways.
My Spanish language learning journey has gifted me so much over the past eleven years and together with my incredible team, we want to help you connect with yourself and others through Spanish in a deep and meaningful way.
Pam Aguilar
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Chiva Castillo
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Chelsea Glass
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Luis Miguel
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Laura Castillo
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Aurelio Porras
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Nish Comte
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Joaquín Avich
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María Fernanda
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I really want to learn Spanish but I don’t have anyone to practice with and I get really shy when I try to speak Spanish, especially with native Spanish speakers. Can this course help me overcome my fears?
Yes, definitely! Learning a new language is overwhelming and for many people, the fear of making mistakes or having a bad accent holds them back. This is a natural reaction but toge- ther we will work to overcome this. Our course isn’t just about teaching you grammar and voca- bulary, rather we also work on building the moti- vated mindset needed to learn a language and get comfortable in the uncomfortable and unk- nown. Likewise, our community group in DIS- CORD will give you support as well as opportuni- ties to practice your Spanish with peers.
I know ZERO Spanish, is this the right course for me or will I be in over my head?
Yes! This course is a good fit for a variety of lear- ners including total beginners as well as folks who studied Spanish at the high school or colle- ge level but who feel like they didn’t retain much. The truth is that many Spanish courses are somewhat dry and their main focus is get- ting you through the course. Here we truly want you to learn and apply your Spanish in real-life scenarios! We will start out with the basics so if you’ve never heard a Spanish word in your life that’s just fine. However, even if you’ve had some previous experience with Spanish this course may still be a good fit for you as review and prac- tice truly make perfect. Plus, we aren’t just tea- ching your Spanish but this course is also loaded with history, culture, and travel tips that your previous Spanish courses likely didn’t include.
The program looks amazing but it sounds like a heavy time commitment, what will be expected out of me?
Great question! Once you’ve purchased the course you’ll have lifetime access to the pre-recorded videos, PDF workbook, Quizlet exercises, and any extra content hosted on Teachable. The refore you can study at your own pace and get started whenever you want once the course goes live in January 2022. However, starting January 11th, 2022 we will have 90-minute group calls once a week for 8 weeks which we HIGHLY recommend participating in or watching the replay. Likewise, you will have access to the Discord Community group for 3 months, starting on January 11th, 2022. In order to get the best results, we recommend dedicating 6 hours a week to your studies for the first 8 weeks as this course is designed for people who are truly passionate about learning Spanish and committed to doing what it takes to achieve results. Of course, everything is optional and you’re welcome to study and participate as much or as little as you’d like. At a bare minimum, we’d suggest having 3 hours to dedicate to your studies a week, even if it’s broken into shorter study sessions.
I’m not very tech-savvy, will I be able to navigate the learning platform?
Yes, however, it might take a few days to get used to it. Don’t worry though, we are here to help walk you through it and can even jump on a one-on-one call if needed. Additionally, on the first live call, Maestras Chelsea and Pamela will show everyone how to use the course, plus there will also be a tutorial video posted in Teachable that you can revisit at any point during the course. The four platforms you’ll need to learn how to use in order to fully participate in this course are Zoom, Teachable, Discord, and Quizlet.
I’m on the fence because Maestra Chelsea’s not a native Spanish speaker and I’ve heard it’s better to take classes from native speakers. Is this the right course for me?
Yes, however, it might take a few days to get used to it. Don’t worry though, we are here to help walk you through it and can even jump on a one-on-one call if needed. Additionally, on the first live call, Maestras Chelsea and Pamela will show everyone how to use the course, plus there will also be a tutorial video posted in Teachable that you can revisit at any point during the course. The four platforms you’ll need to learn how to use in order to fully participate in this course are Zoom, Teachable, Discord, and Quizlet.
Is the course taught entirely in Spanish?
No, not at the Basic I level. Due to the virtual nature of this course, there are certain classroom tricks that are harder to execute in pre-recorded videos. Therefore we utilize a fair amount of English in the first two units (out of five) in order to arm you with the basic vocabulary and listening comprehension skills to understand instructions and explanations in Spanish. As the course progresses there will be less and less English. However, English can still be heard throughout the course even at the end of the Basic II series.
I’ve taken some Spanish classes before but they are all so boring and focus heavily on grammar. How is this program different?
Slightly unpopular opinion - but grammar matters! I see so many learners looking for ways to dodge the inevitable and many programs catering to this trend. However, I truly believe that while grammar is NOT everything and does not need to be perfect to communicate effectively, you still need to learn the general structure of the language. Even as native English speakers we are taught grammar in elementary school making our spoken English not only “acquired” but also learned. What makes our program different in regards to this topic, however, is that we don’t teach grammar in a boring and overwhelming way. We give brief but thorough explanations and then provide you with ample opportunities to study this grammar point as much or as little as you’d like. You will then utilize your newfound grammar knowledge and skills in a variety of dynamic vocabulary, reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and writing exercises. Also, remember that learning Spanish is not the only thing that this program is about. We are also here to teach you about Latin American history, culture, and current events as well as responsible travel practices. Therefore, grammar does not represent a dominant majority of the content seen in this course but we will have 3 - 4 grammar classes (25 - 40 minutes long) per unit.
Can I get high school or college credit for taking this course?
At this moment, we unfortunately are not accrediated. However, we hope to be in the future! Until then, we are happy to write a letter to your educational institution (or employer if applicable) detailing the nature of the course to see if they will approve it in exchange for credit. We have done this before for our trips and had travelers get university credits or trip payment assistance from their employer in the past!
Content Covered in Basic I and Basic II
Basic I
| ABC’s & Pronunciation Tips & Tricks |
| Greetings & Introductions in Spanish |
| Geography and Latin American History |
| Question Words in Spanish |
| Colors |
| Numbers |
| Days of the week |
| Months of the year |
Basic II
| ABC’s & Pronunciation Tips & Tricks |
| Greetings & Introductions in Spanish |
| Geography and Latin American History |
| Question Words in Spanish |
| Colors |
| Numbers |
| Days of the week |
| Months of the year |
