PRIVATE SPANISH CLASS in La Candelaria, Bogota

mikeinpuerto says on Apr 28, 2009, 05:36:

Thanks for posting with all the information ....good luck ....remember to put up flyers in the backpackers and also visit the irish bar in the zona rosa.....wish you had been running classes when i was in Bogota.

Smile and everyone will wonder what they are missing.

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Danny Kim (☼Travelguide writer) says on Apr 28, 2009, 11:24:

Thank you guys for the comment. Yes, definitely we are going to continue the Spanish class as it's also a service for our clients.

As I was a backpacker, It was a pity that there was no chance to learn Spanish in Colombia, not like other places in Latin America. Therefore we have interviewed professional teachers from Los Andes, they have been working with us more than 1 year already.
We don't earn money directly from the class, so the tuition is confirmed for budget travelers.

If our Spanish class can help you guys, it will be very appreciated.
(Check a few photos here: http://afterdan.blogspot.com/2009/04/private-spanish-class-in-la-cande...)

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bjorn says on Apr 28, 2009, 12:13:

Seems to be a good offer. Most Spanish courses in universities and institutes in Colombia are unfortunately not worth the tuition cost. I started learning Spanish with one-on-one in Antigua, Guatemala and must say that this method is superior. Would be nice if they could offer equally good courses in Colombia. Besides, it is always nice to pay all the tuition directly to the teacher and not some uni rep which gives only a small part to the one doing the actual work, the teacher. And I am happy to see that that actually require the teacher to be educated as language teachers. Being a native or near-native is not enough to be a good language teacher. You have to know the didactics and pedagogy of the subject you are teaching as well

Bjorn

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gamm2 (☼Travelguide writer) says on Apr 28, 2009, 20:23:

Elmin says on Apr 28, 2009, 20:29:

Great initiative, will be making use of it on my next trip to Bogota. Hope to see some reviews on here in the coming weeks.

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Danny Kim (☼Travelguide writer) says on Apr 29, 2009, 13:56:

span_colombia says on Apr 29, 2009, 20:19:

Have your teachers finished their degrees? I assume they got their degrees in teaching Spanish as a foreign language? Do you work through a textbook and use a supplementary excercise book?

These are the best rates I´ve seen in Bogota. Good work.

Guatemala: I gotta stand up for it. First, a good teacher does not have to speak the student´s native language in order to be effective (though it might help a bit at until the low intermediate levels). Also, I´ve had pretty strong Spanish teacher in Antigua (3 out of 4 were fantastic, 1, who I had for only a couple of weeks wasn´t so good). The trick is to go to a reputable Spanish school. Jose Sanchez has latinoamerica Spanish academy and has many excellent teachers with years of experience who can get good results out of students (Jose himself is a great teacher, I´ve heard from a friend who had classes with him). The cost there is $160 US/week for full room and board and 17 1/2 hours a week of one-on-one classes.

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Danny Kim (☼Travelguide writer) says on Apr 30, 2009, 22:56:

span_colombia/
Sounds like you want to compare our teachers with Antigua's. Oh man... Let me explain you something.

The two teachers who work with us have only 1 semester left to graduate(in total 5 years for graduation). In 6 months, they will have the bachelor's degree. They are actually lecturing in Los Andes University in this year, for practice. In general, only few institutes in Colombia ask special certification to hire teachers. Therefore, it's enough to say that they are professional teachers.

Los Andes is the most expensive University in Colombia. (If you live here, ask local people what kind of university it is.) The school expenses of Los Andes are at least COP$9,000,000(approx. 4,000USD) for each semester. (GDP (PPP) per capita of Colombia was 8,215USD in year 2008.)

The teachers' major is exactly called, "Pedagogia con enfasis en la enseñanza de ingles y español" ->
Can be translated as "Pedagogy with emphasis on the teaching of English and Spanish".
(You can check more details on the website of Los Andes: http://www.uniandes.edu.co)
Can you still think that your teachers in Antigua are comparable with the teachers working with us?

Again for Guatemala. As I mentioned, if the tuition is less than 100USD per week, then it's very difficult to find good teachers there. (span_colombia you have paid 160USD per week, it's more than 100USD excluding food and accommodation.)

The main reason why people visit Guatemala is learning Spanish by cheap tuition. However, in my opinion, I would like to recommend that people need to think carefully to add Antigua on their route, as it's not really cheap if you consider the level of teaching. Moreover, the place itself is very tiny so travelers can be bored easily while spending weeks there.

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span_colombia says on May 1, 2009, 11:35:

Fair enough, I guess you'd have to visit both places. Yeah, Antigua is boring for more than a week or 2, but I did receive very good instruction when I was there, can't speak for other schools and teachers though.

The expense of a university doesn't necesarily equal quality. I know that los andes is a quality place, but haven't had a Spanish teacher from there, so can't speak to quality of language teaching training. It does sound like you're arranging to offer a quality product at a good price.

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seand_ says on Jul 19, 2009, 03:31:

does anyone have any first hand experiences of taking these classes?

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