Hi
this is my first post on this Board. My wife and I are thinking about flying to La Paz leaving my airplane there and taking a language class for about
a week. We have been looking at this website http://www.cicclapaz.com/
Does anyone know about this? or can you recommend a better one? we are looking for a bargain that is good.
Thanks in advance.
Dongnukid - 11-6-2010 at 08:19 AM
I would be careful and not pay in advance, go there when you arrive and meet the people and ask some questions first. I know many of the schools have
issues at times, instructors come and go. Go and see if there is a school in operation there before you pay and compare prices.
Immersion technique is what everyone goes through when you go outside in Mexico.
I have no experience with this school directly.DENNIS - 11-6-2010 at 08:27 AM
Welcome to BajaNomad, Don. My advice would be to immerse yourself in the culinary offerings around La Paz. Concentrate on Fish Tacos, enjoy the trip
and learn what you can of the language from the streets. After all, you only have one week. Why make a job out of it?bajajudy - 11-6-2010 at 08:31 AM
I went to Se Habla...La Paz many years ago for several weeks. It is not cheap but the school is in a beautiful setting and the teachers were very
well trained. I would definitely live with a family or you will not learn much in one week. They have very nice families to live with and they will
help you learn by not speaking english to you.
I would consider at least two weeks. http://www.sehablalapaz.comMcRV6A - 11-6-2010 at 09:03 AM
Ok Thanks for all the info. My wife and I both have taken many classes in the us and also one other emmersion school that was good and lived with a
family. We would live with a family again. Also we will be flying to other places in mexico after the class & even perhaps central america? We
want to kick start our speaking skills before hand.
Thanks again and we will keep looking.
Don & Joanstanburn - 11-6-2010 at 09:07 AM
Back in 2006 I took 6 weeks of classes from CICC and thoroughly enjoyed them. The classes were 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, and I learned alot. I
give them credit for overcoming my fear of speaking incorrectly.
Lupita, one of the owners, is an instructor at the University.
I found them to be a bargain.gnukid - 11-6-2010 at 09:12 AM
Great comments, If you are serious about learning, most are not, you can read up on the immersion technique and put it use on a very strict schedule
which is required. As Dennis mentions instead of giving $300US to some person in order to make you immerse yourself, take the $300 and go to
restaurants, markets and stores and use the money to engage yourself in life.
It requires 100% commitment and time spent without another gringo to depend upon, if you are with a friend you must make a promise to not speak in
english-if you truly want to benefit. Basically the system works like this, as soon as your body becomes frustrated, desperate and hungry you will
eventually learn to assimilate, speak and understand the symbols and sounds around you at a rapid pace.
The more comfortable you are the less of a chance you brain will be required to learn. So, the immersion technique requires a restricted and tight
schedule, you must engage the people all day from morning to night without someone to come to your rescue to interpret for you. It will seem like you
are learning very little but in the process your brain will put words and symbols together and intuitively learn to speak and understand how the
people around you speak and understand.
Generally you won't feel good about it until much much later after your trip has passed a week or more. You will still be assimilating in the weeks
and months following, and you will improve if you continue to expose yourself to Mexican culture and language.
I hope this helps, personally I have used the technique in many places and I find that keeping your money and spending it directly on the local
economy is a far better and effective use for immersion than to give that money to someone that speaks and understands your language and therefore is
a stumbling block to true immersion-(this is a difficult concept for Americans to grasp-there is no quick pay method, you need to take the long route
and suffer to learn.)
Once more, read up on immersion technique, bring a dictionary and grammar book and put it to use 24 hours a day, it will be very hard, very
frustrating and suddenly it will all begin to make sense at a far faster rate than paying a teacher-who in fact will be getting in the way of your
immersion.
Additionally it does hep to have formal training in spanish over time-forever. The basics include learning the irregular verbs first and then the
regular verbs with conjugation in some a form of the past, future and present, negative and positive and continue to learn more tenses.
You can make a cheat sheet of common irregular verbs and common regular verbs and phrases and carry those with you each day, practice making simple
sentences and using those verbs for example, estar, ser, hablar, tenir, comprar, querer, gustar, dar, ver, etc... add vocabulary, feliz, triste,
sonrisa, cansado, casado, sol, luna, estrellas, taco de pescado etc...
A basic technique I learned is to make up a series of simple open questions and go out to stores and ask that question to everyone you can and engage.
Your first question is this, qual es mejor, wrigleys or chiclets? What is better wrigleys or chiclets? Usually the answer takes a long time, listen
carefully, engage.
Second question is cual es mejor cebolla blanca o cebolla amarillo? What is better, white onion or yellow onion? listen very carefully to the answers
and engage. Smell the onions, then buy both the white and yellow onion and move along. Use this system all day and night and do not ever speak
english. Build upon phrases you are comfortable with.
If you are not willing to commit to do this then the immersion technique is of no use to you and you are wasting your time, no teacher and no amount
of money will change that, in fact just the opposite, money and a teacher will get in the way.
[Edited on 11-6-2010 by gnukid]DENNIS - 11-6-2010 at 09:40 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by gnukid
Your first question is this, qual es mejor, wrigleys or chiclets? What is better wrigleys or chiclets? Usually the answer takes a long time, listen
carefully, engage.
Although Gnu makes excellent points throughout his post, this particular question would, more often than not, elicit the unspoken facet of
communication, body language, specifically the shoulder shrug and a twisted, perplexed facial expression which when coupled properly says, "Who
knows."
[they're trying to develop a computer symbol for this gesture--]
Spanish has a lot of coded body movements which are an integral part of the language.
So, you see...you're going to have a busy week. Have you considered "Rosetta Stone" as a learning tool? It's highly rated.ricewhite - 11-13-2010 at 05:14 PM
My husband and I spent two weeks last November at Se Habla . . . La Paz and were extremely impressed. The instructors were uniformly terrific, and we
rotated instructors because each was from a different part of Mexico, had a slightly different accent, etc. It helps to learn from different people
rather than the same all the time. Everyone was friendly, the facility is great, and the teaching methods are smart and effective. I hope to go back
again sometime.ecomujeres - 11-13-2010 at 06:32 PM
Se Habla La Paz -- excellent at all levels of instruction, lots of resources and activities. Highly recommend it.ecomujeres - 11-13-2010 at 06:35 PM
Oops, forgot to add that the extra money for a home stay is really worth it and the key to improving and getting most out of the classes. It's
cheaper than a hotel.
I'd also recommend you each stay at a different place so as to not fall back on English with each other when stressed out. I know you're going
together, but the separate experience is worth it. My partner and I went at different times, but decided that it was that, or different home stays.
Buena suerte!
language schools
C-Urchin - 11-14-2010 at 05:43 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by McRV6A
Hi
this is my first post on this Board. My wife and I are thinking about flying to La Paz leaving my airplane there and taking a language class for about
a week. We have been looking at this website http://www.cicclapaz.com/
Does anyone know about this? or can you recommend a better one? we are looking for a bargain that is good.
Thanks in advance.
Don
My husband went there (multiple times). Very good school.
]