The pressure is on. I need a school or a tutor ASAP!!!!! Can anyone make some recommendations? And price is somewhat of a factor, as I am jobless. I saw that one school El Bosque del Caribe charges $600 for 4 weeks. Are there other schools, or anyone know of someone that doesn't charge a whole lot...or maybe even free for a poor desperate girl. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!
I know that Cancun Canuck has someone she likes. Hopefully she will tear herself away from roaming around and having fun to PM you the details. My tutor was great but her hubby is a politician and is now in DF doing the important work of helping mess up Mexico more, so she moved away. I went to El Bosque del Caribe and didn't get much from it. I need to write things down to learn them, and my teacher there wanted me to get it all from speaking and hearing, but that's not how I learn. Also most of the students there at that time were Europeans and they looked down their noses at the lone gringa who was a local, it was almost like being in high school again...it was not comfortable at all. (Also when I was there I was one of the only students who didn't smoke, so that was awkward too.) Their students turn over fast, so I may have had a particularly prissy bunch, your mileage may differ.
ToriB, Cancun Canuck and I used to work with a woman that is now working as a private tutor. She is American, but has been living here for 20+ years (or somewhere in that area, at least). She used to teach English here, but she's also fluent in Spanish. Now, she teaches English and Spanish. She is a very nice lady and, if I ever had time AND money (I never seem to have both at the same time), I'd hire her in a second. Canuck has posted this info on the board before, but I don't remember where so here is is again.... Daneen G. Munoz Cell: (998) 108-6659 Phone: 884-1130 Email: daneen_galazka at yahoo dot com dot mx
I went to El Bosque and loved it! There was a fab teacher there called Bertha and I always asked to be in her class as some of the others were not so hot! I may have loved it as I am European and have the odd cigarette tee hee x
Hi Tori: I can also recommend Daneen. She and I were hired on at the same time at the English school and she was one of the most beloved teachers there. Actually, I think she'd be tied with CancunCanuck for that position. The thing about El Bosque (which I'm sure you realized) is that it caters to those who come from abroad for an educational vacation and their prices aren't well-suited to those of us living on Mexican salaries (or looking for work). You'll be able to do much better price-wise by looking for a private tutor I think. Actually, I doubt you'd find free...I think that anyone interested in offering that might have ulterior motives. But who knows...depending on your abilities and skills, you might be able to barter your services in exchange for Spanish lessons.
Love all the advice. From what I have roughly figured out..a 4 week session at El Bosque is $600 for 5 hrs a day M-F...if I hired a private tutor for 100 pesos and hour for the same length of time, it comes out to 10,000 Pesos, about $800 USD. So I guess with El Bosque's $100 set up charge and matreials, it all comes out to be about the same price. So the school option may be out, so please keep throwing some names and contact information to me.
I have tried Livemocha...and I also have Rosetta Stone that I absolutely hate. I think I need a live person to drill it in my head
Rocket Spanish and Destinos and the UK's So You Really Want to Learn Spanish series are all good also. I was doing SYRWTLS with the boys and just didn't like it due to all the "classroom" vocabulary, so I have book 1 available. I have been downloading the Destinos videos (streaming) and I'm about to get teh Destinos work and textbooks. In the meanwhile (waiting on a mule) they are doing Spanish Grammar Also, take a gander at Sr. jordan's videos. He's recently changed hosts, so this might not be a good link. But they're out there. Los Videos « Señor Jordan’s Spanish Video Blog
The Rosetta Stone stuff really works well with younger kids but I'm not sure about adults. If you're looking to get rid of your materails, though, I'd love to try it with my girls (8 and 10).
