When I arrived at Jabel Tinamit, I had already booked classes at another school for the following week. However, once I got here, it was just too wonderful to leave. First of all, the grounds are marvelous. The garden in which I've taken all of my classes is enchanting and the view of the surrounding volcanoes from the roof is just breathtaking.
The owners, Candelaria y Gregorio, go out of their way to make the students comfortable. During the three weeks that I studied, there were activities for the students nearly every day. I simply asked Gregorio how I would go about visiting a local Mayan site and before I knew it, he had planned it as a school-wide activity!
Of course, the reason that I came to Guatemala was to learn Spanish. Before arriving in Panajachel, I had studied for a week in Xela and had been very unsatisfied with the instruction at the school there. (Perhaps my standards are too high, as I teach English as a Second Language in the US.) I was afraid that I would find a similar standard of instruction here. Thankfully, I was very wrong! I studied with Florinda my entire time here and she was absolutely wonderful. She did NOT just follow along with a book. I could tell that she was teaching me according to her assessment of how I was progressing. For example, on at least one occasion she noticed that, as we were talking, I was still having difficulties with a certain grammatical structure and she recommended that we go back to review it a bit more extensively.
I will definitely be coming back to study here in the future. I could not recommend Jabel Tinamit more!!
I'll miss you all!!! Hasta La Pasta, Bebe!!!
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