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panhandle
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Registered: 6-6-2014
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Spanish Immersion Recommendations
I’d like to take a couple of weeks of Spanish Immersion classes, at a school that offers home stay accommodations. I’d prefer Ensenada, since I can
drive there, but would be interested in anyone’s experience or recommendations.
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pauldavidmena
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Being in Southern Baja, these may be geographically inconvenient, but http://guillermolanguageandtravel.com/language/ lists 3 different courses in the Todos Santos area.
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David K
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Here you go (in Ensenada, and other locations): http://www.bajacal.com/
http://www.bajacal.com/spanish-immersion-programs.html
[Edited on 6-10-2014 by David K]
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bajacalifornian
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Practice with your Mexican friends.
Begin early, with verbs moving you out of present tense only.
Start with just one irregular, and just one ar er & ir.
American by birth, Mexican by choice.
Signature addendum: Danish physicist — Niels Bohr — who said, “The opposite of one profound truth may very well be another profound truth.
Jeff Petersen
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Mulegena
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While practicing with Mexicans is always in order, a good total-emersion intense classroom experience is invaluable, as it offers structure and
achievable defined goals.
"Raise your words, not your voice. It's rain that grows flowers, not thunder." ~Rumi
"It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." ~ Aristotle
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DianaT
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Maybe check with lauriboats as I know she went to La Paz and enjoyed the experience. While further away, at least there is an airport there.
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bajajudy
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Check with Se Habla, La Paz.
http://www.sehablalapaz.com/
I was there many years ago, stayed with a family, had classes in the mornings.
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ELINVESTIG8R
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http://warrenhardy.com/school
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Whale-ista
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Ensenada school
I attended a school in Ensenada many years back for a few weeks. The name escapes me, but the city has several good, reputable places. (But I lived at
my own place- not as effective.)
Make sure they give you a good preliminary assessment so you are in a class suitable for your skill level. Better schools offer outings to wine
tastings cooking classes etc. to help reinforce classroom learning.
Agree living with Spanish speaking family, immersion style is best. Give yourself at least 2-3 weeks, a month is ideal.
Handy learning tip: Carry post-it notes. Write down key verbs/conjugations to review, and nouns of things in your room: attach to things to help
reinforce lessons.
Warning: Do not try this out of your room! Or try it and see what happens.... you might make some new friends that way.
\"Probably the airplanes will bring week-enders from Los Angeles before long, and the beautiful poor bedraggled old town will bloom with a
Floridian ugliness.\" (John Steinbeck, 1940, discussing the future of La Paz, BCS, Mexico)
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David K
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Whale-ista
I attended a school in Ensenada many years back for a few weeks. The name escapes me, but the city has several good, reputable places. (But I lived at
my own place- not as effective.)
Make sure they give you a good preliminary assessment so you are in a class suitable for your skill level. Better schools offer outings to wine
tastings cooking classes etc. to help reinforce classroom learning.
Agree living with Spanish speaking family, immersion style is best. Give yourself at least 2-3 weeks, a month is ideal.
Handy learning tip: Carry post-it notes. Write down key verbs/conjugations to review, and nouns of things in your room: attach to things to help
reinforce lessons.
Warning: Do not try this out of your room! Or try it and see what happens.... you might make some new friends that way. |
See my link above, it is in Ensenada... maybe the same?
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panhandle
Newbie
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Thanks
Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions. I'll check them out.
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amigobaja
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speaking spanish
Has anyone been to a immersion school since this was originally posted?
Looking for a school to attend location doesn't matter. Would prefer to find one someone has actually experience with.
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Ken Cooke
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Mood: Pole Line Road postponed due to injury
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Quote: Originally posted by amigobaja  | Has anyone been to a immersion school since this was originally posted?
Looking for a school to attend location doesn't matter. Would prefer to find one someone has actually experience with. |
Wife is from Northern Colombia and states that many foreign visitors visit Barranquilla for Spanish immersion programs. In my travels, I know first
hand that Spanish (Castilian) is only used in Colombia and it is rare than anyone knows English. While I don't know of any immersion schools, I do
know that Northern Colombia is inexpensive and you will be learning Castilian Spanish in an environment with very little English spoken.
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chippy
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I went here https://www.academiahispanoamericana.com/ about 17 years ago. It was a very good experience.
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pacificobob
Super Nomad
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| Quote: Originally posted by soulpatch | I think anywhere in baja would be difficult for a true immersion experience.... all my friends that have done it have gone to Guatemala and said it
was better and less expensive.
Need to try it myself! |
I studied in Guatemala in the late 70s. 7 hrs@day, 1 on 1 with a instructor. Stayed with a family. All during a lot of shooting. [Revolution] the
school had 60 students when i started but the violence ran all but 6 of us off. The school shut down at that point. I had a great time....the
locals...not so much.
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pacificobob
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As i remember i did it for about 6 weeks. What i did wrong was party with English speakers too much in off hours. The thing is, after 7 hours, my
head hurt. I just wanted to have a drink and spark a fatty. I do believe it is a good learning method. [ the 7hr@day part]
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Alm
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If you try and speak Castellano in Baja, locals won't understand 1/3 of what you are saying.
| Quote: Originally posted by lencho | my personal experience is that just a short period of reversion back into the first language, has a huge negative impact on the submersive
acquisition process in the second.
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True.
Given that most "nomads" here don't live in Spanish immersion while in Baja, don't have Spanish-speaking spouses, prefer English TV to Spanish, and
then spend 50% of time in the US, such setbacks are inevitable and quite irreversible. Especially in older age. You forget words, tenses, irregular
conjugations, and have to look it up, or when there is no time, you reduce future to present, cut subjunctive out etc.
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pauldavidmena
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Location: Centerville, MA, USA
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Spanish and Go, one of many online language resources, offers a number of immersion "tours" in Mexico. Here is a list of the current offerings from their website.
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amigobaja
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Mucho gracias
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pacificobob
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I would think a year in prison and fluency would be cinch.
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