On Choosing a School

About choosing a school -- most schools now have some kind of giving-back philosophy or were organized around some kind of ideology for the local environment or the founder´s ideal projects. In Xela, the PLQE program hosts the language school, but it is mostly the fund-raising and consciousness-raising arm of an extensive set of projects reaching out to indigenous groups in the western highlands. PLQE has a number of ex-guerilla on staff, and part of their interest is in continuing to help the Occidental area of the country recover from genocide (I continue to add: US sponsored military genocide).

In Antigua, CSA [Christian Spanish Academy, the oldest and possibly most respected school in the country in some circles] also has outreach options. CSA has a long history of teaching Spanish to missionaries, and has a rather conservative evangelical angle. The reputation is great, and the teachers are very fine. The building is beautiful, formerly a home from the colonial era, decorated with fine art, painted a very clean and snappy white, offset with the ancient timbers and tile floors. The organization is highly organized, well-staffed, and the communication is excellent.

I have shared my life with my teachers in both schools, something that just comes out in conversation, because family life is so important to Guatemalans. Here multiple generations live together. I would go even further out on the limb to say that in Guatemala, if you are not part of a family, you are sort of suspicious. This creates an interesting dynamic around the matter of adoption, which I addressed in another post. In Xela, coming out to my teachers was totally great because diversity is expected and respected, but at CSA, I can´t really tell. Professionalism is important to the school because they have branched out in public relations to corporate, private, and government agencies in their clientele, so diversity is something they seem to be intent upon honoring. I mean, diversity even extending to diverse kinds of family. I always have to mention Rachel and Grace because they are part of the matrix of my life. And, matrix is exactly how family works here. Everybody has to be part of the mother, the hearth, the home. One non-clinical, non-medicalized word for womb is matriz, matrix.

Everyone is different, has different goals in mind in a language school experience. In my opinion, if learning Spanish is the goal, it is easy to become distracted by the politics and ideology of a school. In Xela, at PLQE, the distraction is the very significant emphasis on the ongoing consequences of the 36-year war and the ongoing systematic racism against the indigenous peoples of the mountains and the rural countryside. Tension continues as the dominant ladino culture continues to insist upon assimilation, while indigenous activists insist upon retaining specific cultural identity, synchretistic religious practices, languages, and Mayan spirituality. Sounds familiar...

In CSA, of Antigua, the distraction is the widely spoken English and the cushy touristy nature of Antigua. Antigua is truly a cosmopolitan retreat from the urban strife of the capitol city nearby. Antigua wants to be thought of as the Paris of Central America. Now that I have experienced both (yes, just one weekend and one day of class in Antigua is enough to form this opinion), and if I had the chance to return for more advanced grammar and speaking, I would spend three weeks in Xela and two weeks in Antigua. The budget would be a bit larger in this scenario.

Home stay in Xela, for me, was wonderful and, at the same time, very stressful. Keep in mind, I am an introvert, so it is hard for me to initiate a scary effort to parade my faulty Spanish before a new set of people. My family were great about helping me with conversation. They spoke no English -- nada. Same for my teachers. If I returned, I would probably spend the three weeks in Xela with a family, preferably the same family I had. Other students did not have such a great family, and some spoke up and made a move, but some chose to suffer. Some businesses in town have English speakers, but I think Xela is big enough and isolated enough to offer immersion with very little compromise.

Part of the stress was my microbe-phobia and living in a level of poverty that I am not used to. As I said in another post, this is about me, not about my family. I lived safely and without illness for two weeks in an environment that was a daily assault on my sense of cleanliness and hygienic fastidiousness. I think it was easier when I was younger. I did this before -- 30 years ago. And, I am about to do it again, in Nicaragua. I am glad I am prepared better for that experience. Over time, the daily life with very dear people overcame my internal issues with hygiene. The relationships are the key. In a sqeaky clean house, but without the great relationships, the trade-off would not balance well at all -- for me. The warm affection and genuine enjoyment of each other has to be present, whether the house is nasty or the pinnacle of antibiotic perfection.

I decided not to do home stay in Antigua. I am in a hostál (guest house) at the moment. Hotel Posada La Merced is owned and operated by a very friendly New Zealander. The room is squeaky clean, as is the private bath. The communal kitchen is well equipped and is very clean. The hostál caters to long stays, and now in the off-season, the rates are pretty good. Not as good as Xela, not good enough for me to stay for more than a week. This means if I come back again, I will need to budget differently.

If I could be certain that my family would be as gregarious and patient as my Xela family, I would certainly consider the home stay. However, I have had too many reports of dissatisfaction with home stay related to CSA. It seems that families have come to enjoy the money provided to them for room and board, but they have lost interest in the students over time. In the present economy, this is partly understandable, but someone needs to speak up to the management about the distance families are tending to place between themselves and the students. A nice room in a home is a good start, but if your family brings your meals to you in your room, essentially providing room service, so that you are not included at the table in conversation, this is no good for immersion. With just one week here, with a list of specific goals for my last week, I choose to put the US 125 toward a peaceful guest house, and making my soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

I think it is worthwhile to ask a lot of questions of a school before committing to the registration fee and all of the related expenses. Next time -- if I am blessed to return -- I will certainly check out other options. One option that is high on my list of investigation is to go to the Honduras bay islands for Spanish language school with SCUBA certification and snorkeling after class. If this is an option, maybe I could interest others in accompanying me. :-)