Encuentros

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#CC9900" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="041005a0dwnjzk.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mexico Feb. 2006"><U><B>home</B></U></A><B>     | </B><B> </B><B> </B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Mexico Feb. 2006</B></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mexico City"><U><B>Mexico City</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Teopanzolco"><U><B>Teopanzolco</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Centro Cuernavaca"><U><B>Centro Cuernavaca</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tepoztlan"><U><B>Tepoztlan</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Taxco"><U><B>Taxco</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Centro Cuernavaca 2"><U><B>Centro Cuernavaca 2</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="People"><U><B>People</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Family"><U><B>Family</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><B>Encuentros</B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Info"><U><B>Info</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Encuentros</div> <div> <B>The language immersion school we attended in Cuernavaca.</B></div> <div> <B>"Encuentros" means , meeting.  It is an excellent place to meet the people, the language and the culture of Mexico.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mexico Feb. 2006"><U><B>Back to 1st page</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div>         How did we find out about Encuentros? Elisa found it by surfing the web for language immersion schools in Cuernavaca. It turns out that there are quite a few, and they are not all alike. Encuentros was ideal for our family however because it is a small school, where you can have a personal relationship with the staff and administration. The owner, Jeannie came to Mexico from the states 20 years ago, married a man, had a family and stayed! She was always great about answering our questions on line which helped us to get a sense of what our time would be like. Before we arrived she emailed us with descriptions of three families to choose from.  We were particularly taken by the description of the family we choose as they seemed to have interesting occupations that we could learn about. In particular they had a small business making and selling ice cream and we helped with both which allowed us to feel more a part of our household in which the family members worked almost non-stop. Jeannie also sends a written test that  we each filled out to get a sense of our Spanish levels. </div> <div> <IMG SRC="278c2520.jpg" border=0 width="450" height="338" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="5">The school itself is in Jeannie's home. It is a beautiful home at least three stories over a baranda or ravine. There are many flowering trees and plants there, and the ground floor has a lovely patio where many of the classes and events take place. My small grammar class was on the second floor balcony in the cool of morning. </div> <div>          On our first day of school we gathered with the twenty or so other students in small groups and introduced ourselves in our best Espanol. From there we had a brief history lesson to prepare for the visit to <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Teopanzolco"><U>Teopanzolco</U></A> which Eddie described on the site. Many of the other students had already been at the school for at least a week, and many of them spoke more Spanish than we did. They were very friendly to us. After our brief history lesson which was in Spanish and translated by one of the more fluent students, we went to Teopanzolco. I was amazed how well I could understand what the teachers were saying as they filled us in on the history behind the ruins. They spoke slowly and frequently asked students to translate for those who didn't follow. When we returned to the school we met with our teachers in groups of 4-5 for the basic grammar, vocabulary and conversation skills. Our teachers intentionally did not speak any English, but I felt very able to follow along the way that they used context, gesture and the board. I was so happy to find that the other people in my small group were at my skill level and that there was no need to be embarrassed about making mistakes or asking questions. Eddie was also very relieved to find that in his beginners group he was actually a bit more advanced than some of the others. Joy had been put in the wrong group because they didn't receive her test, and so she was moved to my group for the second day. Our teachers gave us a good bit of homework (tarea) each evening which helped to reinforce what we were learning in class and in our homes. Usually we had to  write about what we observed, such as all the things that Senora did in her day!  My daughter liked the school a lot even though she was the only person under 40 that week! She had her fourteenth birthday on our first day at the school, and everyone sang to her in Espanol, and gave her una torte grande! </div> <div>          The week went much too quickly, but I was very happy to increase my vocabulary, my comfort with conjugating verbs, and to begin to use the past tense. We also had classes in pronunciation which was helpful as mine was pretty bad. We also visited the <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Centro Cuernavaca"><U>Cathedral in Cuernavaca</U></A> with the school. What a beautiful and peaceful place! We had another class in "traveling around" to help us with specific vocabulary. The nice thing about a small school is that they can offer private lessons to people with particular needs. One of my classmates for instance was a nurse who worked in the states with migrant workers from Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries. She spent an hour or so in the morning with our teacher learning particular phrases for body parts, and aliments. My conversations at our homestay did improve as the week went on. At one point I had to write someone a letter in Spanish when I could not reach them by phone. I felt that I did pretty well. Also we had a really fun Salsa class one evening on the patio, and I was able to  keep up there too! If I had had more energy we could have gone into town to one of the salsa clubs with the young men in our family and continued to dance into the night, but I knew I couldn't keep up with them. </div> <div>          I had gone to Mexico with the primary goal of improving my Spanish and I feel that I did succeed. Sadly, when I got home my life got so busy so quickly that I did not find ways to keep practicing. I am looking forward to more adult ed in the fall. Next time I can, I will return to a language immersion school like Encuentros (I think we will need to explore another area of Mexico first) and will plan to stay at least two weeks at the school!  </div> <div>      </div> </td> </tr></table></body>