Learning Spanish at the Cooperativa
At La Guarida, we offer dynamic Spanish programs tailored to your needs. Our Group and Private Programs provide a full immersion experience, combining structured lessons with engaging afternoon activities to practice Spanish in real-life situations.
If you're not looking for a full program, we also offer Private Classes for a more flexible learning experience. Additionally, our Specialty Private Classes focus on specific themes, led by experts in their fields. These top-quality courses emphasize creative and professional areas such as Latin American literature, cinema, art and art history, medical Spanish, and more. Whatever your goals, we have a Spanish-learning option for you!
TEACHING METHODS
TEACHING METHODS
As a cooperative led by teachers, our goal is to teach you Spanish in such as manner that best sets the stage for you to become increasingly fluent. All of our classes are taught by Spanish teachers with years of experience, and some have taught for years in the premier language schools in Oaxaca. While most teachers know English and other languages, our philosophy is that language learning has to happen in the language being learned, so that the students are immersed in the language starting at the beginning level. This also means that speakers of any language who want to learn Spanish are welcome!
We use a communicative method of instruction, in order to encourage engagement and allow our students to strengthen their communication skills. This means that while we focus on grammar and value grammatical understanding and form, the classes are conversational and in general, playful as well. We seek to balance the development of all language learning skills—speaking, listening, reading, writing—but we are especially attuned to how important it is for our students to take advantage of their time in Mexico by speaking and listening to native speakers. As such our classes are structured so that the students can actively engage in class at all times.
We offer classes at all levels and structure our classes based on the DELE system.
Immersive Activities
We organize various tours and activities for our students, which include intercambio language exchanges (conversations between locals and students in English or another language & Spanish), short city tours and urban adventures, cineclub, cultural workshops, etc.
These are all included in the price regular Group Classes and Private Programs!
LANGUAGE & CULTURAL WORKSHOPS
Playful Spanish
We offer a unique standing weekly workshop, “Playful Spanish” which is made up of thematic one-day classes that introduce the students to a variety of different ways in which Mexicans and Spanish-speakers in general play with their own language.
The workshops available are:
Mexican Slang 101
All levels welcomeChingar Chingón
Upper Intermediate & Advanced levels onlyMexican Idioms & Sayings
Intermediate levels and upInclusive & Queer Spanish
Intermediate levels and upUntranslatable words in Spanish
Intermediate levels and up
Crash course workshops
Additionally, we offering several two-day “Crash Course” workshops that are available on request:
2 days - 2.5 hours per day
Is a mix of classes and trips to the markets, restaurants, cultural spaces etc. to practic
For levels from beginner & up
Spanish for Travelers
2 days - 2.5 hours per day
Includes class discussion of contemporary art in Latin-America, Mexico and Oaxaca, as well as visits to local museums, galleries, etc.
For levels upper beginner and up
Contemporary Art in Oaxaca
2 days - 2.5 hours per day
Includes a discussion of the political situation currently and an overview of its history including the conflict in 2006
For levels intermediate and up
Politics in Oaxaca
Cultural Events & Community Workshops
We are working to make sure that our space, in addition to being home to a language school, also serves a cultural space for community events, such as photo exhibits, book readings, movie nights, etc. Additionally, we are working with others who would like to use the space to hold art workshops for the whole community. These events and workshops will be held in Spanish. We invite all students to participate in these workshop and events — as both are great forums for interacting in Spanish and learning in a different context, and participating more fully in the community. Your teachers can briefly prep you for the events, so you’ll have some context going into them.
We connect students with local artists so they can take classes in Spanish from locals and connect more fully to the community.
PARTNER WORKSHOPS
HOMESTAY FAMILIES
We are happy to place students in homestays with local families. Currently we have families in the historic downtown, but are looking to expand to other areas in order to reduce costs for students and give a new type of experience.