Any place to learn Spanish in the mountains?

[kenDude]

Hola!

I am going to be in the DR from 2/15/07 until 3/3/07 and I want to improve my Spanish. I'd like to be inland in the mountains. Does anyone know of any schools/volunteer experiences? Any towns which are touristy/English speaking and should be avoided? (Forgive my ignorance--it will be my first time in the DR). Thanks!

Ken

 

[Chip00]

Hola!

I am going to be in the DR from 2/15/07 until 3/3/07 and I want to improve my Spanish. I'd like to be inland in the mountains. Does anyone know of any schools/volunteer experiences? Any towns which are touristy/English speaking and should be avoided? (Forgive my ignorance--it will be my first time in the DR). Thanks!

Ken

Stay away from the coast if you don't want to be in the touristy areas. However, those same areas more that likely will have few English speaking people to help you if need be.

If you want to volunteer you probably would want to check with relief agencies/church's that have such activities here. They will probably will require references which probably won't give you a lot of time to act. I did a web search of "Volunteer Dominican Republic" and came up with a lot of websites.

Since you are going to be here a short time I would consider Santo Domingo as there are a lot of areas that you can hang out and try your Spanish. The problem with going to the country is that if your Spanish isn't that good more than likely you will not be able to communicate on a high enough level to your liking. The campesinos grow very bored with gringos who speak and listen slowly whereas in the city at least there will be many will want to talk with you some and may have at least studied a little English.

 

[kenDude]

Gracias, amigo

Tengo bastante espanol para llegar a la Cordillera Central--barely--but I guess I'm asking two questions:

(1) whether there are any places for Spanish lessons in the mountains

and

(2) whether there are so many expats and tourists in Constanza or Jarabacoa that the Spanish learning environment is compromised. What about nearby cities like La Vega or San Juan de la Maguana?

I'm intrigued by a course in Las Terrenas, too, but I bet that the Samana peninsula is full of expats and tourists. Is it?

Thanks again--this is a great site!

Ken

 

[abe]

You can do this.

I would suggest that you can do this by simply finding a couple of people to spend most of your time with. Pay them a bit and structure your conversations so that you make some progress with the language. Dominican Spanish is really quite different from what you might find on published language courses.

Since there are so many temptations in the DR, you are going to need will power up the wazoo (another expression taken from Spanish) anyway. So you might as well apply it to a language learning experience.

Las Terrenas is nice enough--lots of French people in case you haven't discovered that yet.

Good luck.

 

[Chip00]

(1) whether there are any places for Spanish lessons in the mountains

I would think not - there is just not a lot of demand. You may find someone who will tutor though but I couldn't tell you how to find them.

(2) whether there are so many expats and tourists in Constanza or Jarabacoa that the Spanish learning environment is compromised. What about nearby cities like La Vega or San Juan de la Maguana?

Again these places are in the interior so a whole lot of people aren't going to be able to speak English.

I'm intrigued by a course in Las Terrenas, too, but I bet that the Samana peninsula is full of expats and tourists. Is it?

There are certainly more tourists on the North Coast but one thing you have to realize is that most Dominicans never learn English. So you won't have any problem finding someone to speak Spanish too. The only problem with the tourist areas is that you are going to possible attract a lot of types that will try to communicate to you in broken English. If you already have the basics and can form sentences, conjugates verbs, etc. forget going to class and come here and focus on the listening and speaking part.

 

[kenDude]

Gracias a todos! These posts are quite helpful!
I'm waiting to hear from the volunteer/intensive Spanish program at Rancho Wendy, I've heard about a private tutor in Jarabacoa (still waiting to hear details), and I got an offer from Las Terrenas for 10hrs/ week + small room for 2 weeks for $750. I'm also considering ALPI in Santiago, but that would be a different experience, I imagine.

Please, if anyone knows anything else up in the hills, please post it here!
Thanks again!
Ken

 

[kenDude]

Here is the response from Rancho Wendy about their volunteer/immersion program:
But this is a immersion program, I mean immersion, you will be expected to volunteer in our local school in the morning 9am to 12 pm, at 2 pm you will be teaching local children Arts and Craft ( We asked that you bring with you fun arts and craft projects for them to work with), also you will be expected to go on hikes, find new trails and make maps. At night you will attend night school with the local residents.

 

[Chip00]

Here is the response from Rancho Wendy about their volunteer/immersion program:
But this is a immersion program, I mean immersion, you will be expected to volunteer in our local school in the morning 9am to 12 pm, at 2 pm you will be teaching local children Arts and Craft ( We asked that you bring with you fun arts and craft projects for them to work with), also you will be expected to go on hikes, find new trails and make maps. At night you will attend night school with the local residents.

Well it sounds like you hit a grand slam! Good luck and hope you enjoy your stay.