sons I chose to travel to Cuernavaca this past
April was that it is one of the world’s centers for Spanish
teaching. Cuernavaca has in excess of 40 language schools and
attracts language students from all over the world to this
beautiful city with the near perfect climate. After all,
Cuernavaca is “La Ciudad de la Eterna Primavera”, the City of
Everlasting Spring.
During my first week in Cuernavaca I had the oportunity to
study Spanish at the Ideal School for Spanish and I enjoyed my
one-on-one instruction with Estela, one of Ideal’s most
experienced teachers. With humour and patience she put me
through the usual torture of the Spanish subjunctive, of “ser y
estar” and many of the other grammatical nuances that the
Spanish language tosses at us non-Latinos.
During my stay at Ideal I really enjoyed the atmosphere, from
our first guided walk with one of the teachers through downtown
on our first day (with first-hand instructions on how to use the
bus system), to our field trip (to a gallery opening), to the
coffee breaks, to some of the tasty authentic Mexican snacks
served (e.g. chilaquiles), to various birthday and going-away
celebrations. The ambience was very personal and enjoyable,
almost family-like.
The school itself is located in a beautiful residential
neighbourhood with a tropical inner courtyard. My classroom was
outside, under a “palapa” (a palm-leaf-thatched Mexcian sun
umbrella) and learning Spanish open-air, amid blooming
bugainvillas and chirping birds was an experience in itself.
Let me present to you Hermilo Brito, the creator of the Ideal
School for Spanish, and also the president of the Association
of Spanish Language Schools in Cuernavaca.
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your personal
background. How did you get involved in the field of language
teaching?
Now many years ago, on the 60’s, I had the great opportunity to
work in the first Spanish teaching center in Cuernavaca. This
center was established by Ivan Illich, a philosopher and
catholic priest; the center was named CIDOC (Centro Cultural de
Documentaci=DBn). It actually wasn’t a school, it was a center,
well known in the university and intellectual circles, to
discuss innovative ideas about the end of the past century.
Among the activities at CIDOC were the sending of volunteers to
countries in Latin America; those volunteers were required to
learn Spanish, so CIDOC had an important Spanish teaching
department. In CIDOC, I acted as Spanish language teacher,
Coordinator, Director of the Spanish Programs and General
Manager.
In 1975, Ivan Illich decided to close the center, this
represented an opportunity to establish IDEAL (Instituto de
Estudios de America Latina) just like a Spanish school,
following the path that I had initiated in CIDOC doing what I
like: teach my language.
Over all these years I continued training myself to improve my
skills in the language-teaching field, taking courses and
attending conferences related to this subject. My concern has
been to improve and develop our methodology, in order to become
a leader in our area.
2. You are also the President of AIPEC, the Association for
Spanish Language Schools in Cuernavaca. Please tell us about
the association and Cuernavaca as a language learning
destination.
The association of Spanish Language Schools in Cuernavaca was
organized 11 years ago; 12 schools concerned with turning our
city into a global center of Spanish learning got aid from the
Mexican government to promote Cuernavaca. After 11 years,
Cuernavaca’s overall cleanliness has improved, we have more
tourist services available to foreigners, the city is safer, we
have talked with our colleagues from the tourist services to
coordinate our efforts to offer the best to our visitors, we
have organized shows and cultural events for all Spanish
language students, and we are in contact with different
government offices to promote Cuernavaca as =ECThe World Center
for Spanish Teaching=EE among other activities and challenges.
Cuernavaca is the world’s second most important city teaching
Spanish as a second language. The success of Cuernavaca’s
language schools, in addition to the development of an
appropriate teaching methodology also resulted from the city’s
excellent location; we are 1 =87 hours away from the largest city
in the world, Mexico City, and very close to various places
where students of Spanish language and Mexican culture can get
to know the different facets of this country, through
activities which range from cultural visits to museums and
archeological sites to recreational destinations such as
Acapulco. Visitors can choose from among a wide variety of
places to visit.
Cuernavaca, by itself, offers numerous cultural and tourist
attractions. Above all, Cuernavaca offers the opportunity to
admire and learn about the different times of Mexican history.
Above all, Cuernavaca is best known for its weather; local
temperatures are between 20 and 30 =86C (68 to 86 =86F) almost
throughout the entire year.
3. Please tell us about the history of your school, Ideal
Latinoamerica.
Our school, IDEAL, was established on 1975, after the CIDOC
(Centro Cultural de Documentaci=DBn) project ended. The CIDOC
trained many teachers and people to teach Spanish as second
language. I was one of the people involved with the
Spanish-teaching activities and, jointly with a colleague, we
established IDEAL (Instituto de Estudios de America Latina).
With the enthusiasm of the first years, we reached our goal to
create a place where students from all over the world could
meet each other to learn Spanish and discover Mexican culture.
In 1996, due to the distinctive didactics and philosophy of the
School, I continued this project by myself together with my son,
who follows the tradition of Spanish-teaching. We both have in
mind to develop the best method that will allow students to
learn the language in the best and most dynamic way.
4. Please tell us about your Spanish language classes, your
class facilities, your weekly schedule and your teaching
faculty.
The purpose of our courses is to introduce students to Spanish
as a second language, as many have studied it as a foreign
language in their countries of origin. Another goal is to
encourage immersion not only into the language but in culture
and everyday life.
Our program at IDEAL begins with individual Spanish of no more
than 5 students and optional extracurricular activities which
are a highly recommended compliment to the program. Every week
these include charlas (informal talks) and conferences, round
table discussions, songs and movies in Spanish as well as
cooking classes, dance classes, coffee social and excursions to
cultural and historical sites among many other options.
We teach 9 levels of Spanish; each level emphasizes
communication and language practice as appropriate for each
student’s level of proficiency, using various interactive
techniques that allow the student to speak and communicate in
Spanish from day one.
IDEAL has 5-student capacity classrooms (plus teacher); some of
them are in the garden (palapas, small areas only covered by
palm-tree roofs). IDEAL has 2 conference rooms with a capacity
for 18 and 60 students, respectively. The meeting area at IDEAL
is the cafeteria, where students socialize and enjoy the =ECHora
del Caf=C8=EE, the time when the school offers coffee and some
snacks (at 11 am), Monday through Friday. Students are invited
to enjoy the gardens and areas within IDEAL once classes are
through, they can also watch TV, watch a movie or navigate on
the Internet (wireless) which are included in the services
offered.
A fundamental part of IDEAL is our teachers, who will accompany
you every step of the way in the adventure of learning Spanish
and discovering a new culture.
IDEAL’s teachers are specialists with university training or
many years’ experience teaching Spanish to foreigners or both.
When teachers start working at IDEAL, they receive a course in
=ECTechniques for teaching Spanish as a Second Language=EE, which
covers the fundamentals of the method we use at IDEAL. All year
we provide training courses in which teachers learn new
techniques and theories, discuss existing teaching methods, and
reinforce the teaching methods we use.
However, what distinguishes our teachers is their spirit of
teamwork and enthusiasm for teaching and making the atmosphere
at IDEAL pleasant and supportive.
5. Please tell us about your Spanish language teaching
methodology and your pronunciation improvement programs.
The method of IDEAL is directed towards the development of the
student’s ability to communicate in Spanish, especially in the
spoken world. From the very first day students will able to
immerse themselves in the language and culture. In this way
students will become familiar with how we live, our beliefs,
our history, our politics, our fiestas and why we celebrate
them, and much more regarding the Mexican culture and social
life.
According to Stephen Krashen
(http://www.sk.com.br/sk-krash.html): =ECOne can learn or acquire
a second language informally, the same way one acquires the
first. Formal, structured lessons represent another learning
process and are not indispensable in the process.=EE For this
reason our method is based on this =ECNatural Approach=EE
(http://maxpages.com/thena/The_Natural_Approach), and we try to
channel the teaching – learning process in this direction, so
that students learn by interacting: teacher – student, student
- teacher, student – student, student – surroundings.
Also our work is focused on maintaining an atmosphere of
courtesy and confidence in the classroom and in the institution
in general. Here the teacher’s part is fundamental, as it
consists of creating an environment in which students feel
relaxed and at ease, which, in our opinion, is the best way to
learn an language.
At IDEAL we place special interest in the process of immersing
students in culture, for the accessible points of reference it
offers them. For a student to develop sound communication
skills, she needs to assimilate cultural elements of the
country or region where she learns a language. Moreover,
language and culture are inseparable.
At the beginner’s level, pronunciation is not a great issue,
since we only focus in correcting pronunciation when it turns
into an obstacle to communication. In the more advanced levels
of our program, pronunciation is more important, because
intermediate and advanced students need to improve the way they
pronounce the words and the way they modulate when they speak
Spanish. Above all, Ideal is able to develop a specific program
to improve pronunciation if a student or a group so requests. We
had worked for many years on pronunciation before I realized it
is not essential when speaking Spanish as second language.
6. Please explain your “Spanish for Professionals” program to
us.
Each year our student body includes managers, attorneys,
doctors, nurses, school teachers, law enforcement officers,
firefighters, engineers, ministers, seminarians, nuns, and
people in many other professions for whom it is essential to
learn the specific vocabulary of their respective professions.
This program includes 4 hours of group Spanish lessons,
designed to reinforce general language skills, and a 1 hour
private lesson to study professional Spanish. Professional
Spanish consists of vocabulary, aspects of Mexican culture,
visits to places of professional interest for the student,
analysis and discussion of documents and written information
when needed, and meetings with professionals in the student’s
field, if deemed necessary.
7. You also offer a “Family Program” in your school. What is
this program all about?
Well, this program has now passed to a second term now, since
we are pushing new programs: Basic Program (only 4 hours),
Basic + Private Program, Cuernavaca – Canc=99n Program, and
Volunteers Program, among others.
The =ECFamily Program=EE is oriented to host full families (parents
and sons) offering a complete solution to their needs such as
classes for children, kid-friendly host families,
child-oriented activities, and others. The Family Program has
not yet had the success we expected, however, should families
attend IDEAL to study we are able to provide them the best.
For the entire article including photos please visit
http://www.travelandtransitions.com/interviews/ideal_school.htm
About The Author: Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and
Transitions (http://www.travelandtransitions.com), a popular web
portal for unconventional travel and cross-cultural connections.
Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about
travel at http://www.travelandtransitions.com/free_ebooks.htm.
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid#97608
##################