Have you studied Spanish in Colombia?

I'm looking at Nueva Lengua, but I just can't find a lot of good third-party info about them. I'd really like to study intensively for a few months. Anyone taking private lessons? I'm wary of taking group lessons. I used to teach English to groups and it's not an effective learning environment. Really isn't. It's good for profits though.

If you've had a great experience studying Spanish in Colombia, please tell me about it. I'm open to all cities (big and small) although the coastal accent worries me. I have an decent foundation in Spanish, but almost zero practice speaking.

Thanks a lot,

Zach

By Zach on Aug 30, 2007, 16:10 in Friendly Talkzone.

MaSep says on Aug 30, 2007, 18:12:

Hi Zach, I´ve been teaching english to my fiance for three months, and I think he can have a simple conversation now. I teach him for now phrases in present simple and about 35 verbs. He isn´t living in colombia right now so I teach him every day about 1 hour on messanger with audio and everything..
I´m going to move soon to America and I wonder if I could be a good teacher so I want to experience to teach people in that way I mean with the audio and camera, if you want send me private message and I will give you my msn address and Iwe could practice once in a while (not every day) and offcourse I wouldn´t charge you any money, I just want maybe you correct my pronunciation. let me know.

SamGompers says on Aug 30, 2007, 20:58:

I've studied spanish with Nueva Lengua - - at both their Bogota and Cartagena campuses. Depending on when you plan to travel and study - - the classes are very small. For instance, in Cartagena, I was the only student in the "intermediate" class for one week and then had one other student in the class for the second week. The instruction was very good - - though maybe a little too "text-based" (but my interest was in conversational spanish). Also, the cultural programs offered by Nueva Lengua are very good. Got a great night time tour of the old city with one of the instructors and his friends. And, they brought in a marine biologist from the National Underwater Park in Islas del Rosario for a mini-lecture. (I later dove with him out in the Parque itself - - cheverissimo!)

junkyak says on Aug 30, 2007, 21:04:

Im also looking for a good school. Im debating between eafit, nueva lengua, and upb. I think the max size is 10 for these classes, but thats still a lot if it does in fact fill up.

t-wiz says on Sep 2, 2007, 05:02:

I studied spanish in a small mountain village of Pijao, a 45 minute bus ride from Armenia, in coffee country. The place is Las Nubes, run by Monica Flores. She has a large house with private rooms or dorms. She speaks english and is only one of possibly five altogether in the village. It was a great place for total immersion. The phone #'s: hm 312-754-4112, cell 312-825-5613. I got this recommendation from German at Platypus. I stayed in Pijao for 2 mos, travelled for 2 mos and came back for another 2 mos. Paul

vicshere says on Sep 3, 2007, 07:23:

hey zach
you may want to consider Bucaramanga you can study at one of the top universities in the country (UIS- Industrial University of Santander) they have Spanish classes...the courses run about 200,000 per 40 hours small classes like 4-5 people......staying in B/manga is very cheap and s is the food....and considering B/manga has the reputation as having some of the most lovely ladies in Colombia it may be a bonus.....hotels can be had for any where from 30,000 to 150,000 per night and probably a much better rate for long term....breakfast can be had for about 2,500 to 5,000....lunch 3,000 to 7,000 and dinner 4,000 to 8,000....there are many discos and party places ..there are very good trips to be made around B/manga like San Gill area or travel up into the mountains and do paragliding...you can check out the Bucarmanga Guide for link to info about the city

listo

soggypaws says on Jun 30, 2008, 20:16:

I know this wasn't your question... but have you considered doing the same thing in Guatemala? I did language school in Antigua and paid onlly $100/week for 20hrs per week one-on-one and $120 per week for room AND BOARD in the school's 'student house' (private room, shared bath). Spend a few weeks in Guate working on your spanish and THEN fly to Colombia. Life is much cheaper in Guate, and there's LOTS to see there too. Antigua can be a pretty rocking party town too, especially in the summertime where there are lots of students there.

La Union http://www.launion.edu.gt/

Centro Linguistico Internacional http://www.spanishcontact.com/

I went to La Union, friends went to CLI

bickerss says on Jul 1, 2008, 09:12:

I have to agree with the above about Antigua - an awsome place to learn spanish due the number of schools and cost. I found Colombia quite difficult to learn spanish given inflexible schools, high costs and poor levels of instruction (although the spanish is quite clear and there seem to be a few good tips above) - mainly due I Guess to the current lack of tourists. After Antigua - the best place I have studied is Quito.

Vichere - that is cheap for Colombia; I liked Bucamungara; I'm surprised they have enough students there to run a Spanish course. I didnt see any foreigners there at all. Have to agree about the women there though - very tidy!!