Intensive Spanish for Travelers

I absolutely loved Guanajuato and Escuela Mexicana! The teachers are fabulous and there is a lot of flexibility - group or private classes depending on what you are looking for. They also offer a variety of extra-curricular activities (cooking classes, cultural presentations and local tours), so you get an opportunity to meet and socialize with other students. As a solo traveler, I felt very safe in Guanajuato, and very much part of the Escuela Mexicana community. I highly recommend this experience!

It was a very pleasant time in Guanajuato! Lovely teachers and a beautiful town. Enjoyed the classes a lot. Gad 2 Privat and : group classes a day. At the most we were 4 in the group class. The school also had activities most days. Such as walking your of the city, cooking classes, hiking, lecture about Mexican songs and more. Really enjoyed my stay there and totally recommend it.

My teachers were top notch young ladies. They got me talking and quickly I rediscovered abilities long dormant. I love speaking Spanish. It makes me come alive when I'm searching for the right words.

I had trouble finding the right accommodations. The walk I settled on was indeed hard on me, but I'm glad I didn't accept the first residence. It was not anywhere close to what I requested. I did not want to share a bath; I was not traveling with a mate or long time travel companion.

Nothing was as expected really, but I adapted and feel it was all a wonderful learning experience. I'm almost 76 years old; it takes quite a bit for me to say that. I miss Jardin de La Union and the wonderful mariachis there. Goodness, they are such high caliber. Truly impressive and so very joyous.

Classes were interesting with professional teachers.
The school was located near the central.
It was easy to meet other students and participate in activities with them.
There were groups for the children too.
The family house was rustic with many stairs inside and outside.
The food was good and more than necessary.

It helped me improve my Spanish a lot. I hope this review helps you all. I think this was the best school to choose in Gujanajato.

I took just 2 hours of class per day, and that was plenty for me! The teachers were good and my classmates were beyond my skill level and they were very helpful to me.

I did like working on the homework with my friend, but if I did it again, I'd still do 1 week of classes but stay longer so that I'd have more time for sightseeing, etc.

The Escuela Mexicana is a nice place to work on improving your Spanish. After a written and oral placement exam to place you in a suitable level, they offer two 50 minute sessions focused on grammar skills between 10-noon, and two 50 minute sessions on conversation and culture in the afternoon. I wish I had known that the two hours per day that I was taking were only grammar before I signed up. For me, all grammar and no conversations resulted in a fear to speak. I learned a lot about grammar, however, so now it’s just up to me to keep finding opportunities to practice listening and speaking.

The staff were all very kind and professional. I enjoyed meeting all of the other students. Escuela Mexicana provided a helpful workbook. Some teachers assign a fair amount of homework, and having access to a dictionary or google translate is very helpful for working on the assignments, since all of the instructions are in Spanish. That is part of the whole “immersion “ strategy!

The classes were very suited to my level as I became gradually more proficient. I learned grammar, practical conversation and culture and had a class with very interesting discussions about topics of particular interest to me. After school activities were offered including tours, cooking classes a trip to a ceramics place and activities surrounding the day of the dead. I took an extra week of classes because I had the opportunity to stay longer.

The location is wonderful. The school is in the heart of town and all around us were 18 days of the Festival Cervantino. Wonderful. The school facility is lovely. Lots of classrooms, gathering areas, a terrace.

My housing was far up the mountain and its a good thing I am in good shape. Another time it would be good to put us retired folk a bit lower down the hill. I had access to wifi only if I was in the kitchen or sitting on the sidewalk outside the house. i did not eat with the family for the most part. Vicky fed me and talked to me as she did. She was flexible about moving hours of dinner according to my needs for extracurricular. Getting the hot water turned on so I could have a shower was a bit problematic but I eventually got heat for a quick one. My sheets and towel were only changed every two weeks. I took my towel to the laundry lady. I paid too much for my space. I had said i would share a bathroom and at the last minute said I would have my own bathroom. There was no one there to share it with so that question should not have come up and I believe I should get $10 per day Canadian back as it appears I paid that much extra a day. As time went on I felt much more comfortable with Vicky. Though I asked if I could move down to the residences in the central area but there was no space available apparently due to the festival.
So housing had its problems but I left feeling fine. ( I do think its important to tell these problems but for the most part we worked them out. ).

Gracious to you Michel for all the work you did to get me started on the road to learning Spanish. It was a wonderful time. I am now working on spending another month going to school in Oaxaca. So you see this experience only made me want to do more.
Best wishes and I hope this helps. Sorry I did not get back to you sooner but did the extra week of school and then was very busy organizing for a visit from a friend.
Diddy

Guanajuato is an absolutely beautiful city full of lovely people. Escuela Mexicans was a wonderful environment to learn Spanish in, lessons catered for all standards, incredible teachers, and very helpful staff. The location of the school is wonderful, right in the heart of the city, and the school organises activities and trips that are very worth doing. I highly recommend Escuela Mexicana, and I also highly recommend the accommodation, Casa Mexicana, which was beautiful and full of wonderful people.

I enjoyed the school and the home-stay at Casa Mexicana. Well situated in the old city and very close to one another. The food was excellent and quite varied, very good portions. A bit noisy, there was a bar next to the home-stay (The Bar Fly), but after a while one gets use to the bar noise and all the other wonderful noises (church bells, dogs, roosters, honking, music on the pedestrian streets) in this jewel of a city in the heart of the Republic of Mexico.

I really enjoyed my classes. The teachers were wonderful and very caring. The administrative staff were also very kind and warm. This is a wonderful home away from home.

I enjoyed the classes in general. However, I think that they were a little short (in time) at 45 or 50 minutes and I would have preferred one class at 1 hour and 40 minutes instead of two classes of 50 minutes to really get into it.

I had a couple of classes where the level of student knowledge was uneven. This was due mainly to the fact that there were not very many students at the school - one week had maybe 8 students and the other two weeks saw 15 students or so.

The good news is that I ended up having several private classes which was a bonus.

The teaches were all good and knowledgeable and pleasant.

My housing was excellent. Very comfortable and enjoyable.

Classes were suitable for non-Spanish speakers.
Teachers were very professional and skillful in teaching Spanish.
Facilities were not bad, but the location was perfect.
Host families were wonderful and very helpful. They were excellent.
We would like to see them again.