As the number of people speaking the Spanish language continues to grow, especially in North America, it is becoming ever more important for many professionals to learn Spanish in order to better their employment prospects. Being able to speak just a bare minimum of Spanish can often make a great difference to professionals in a wide variety of fields from law enforcement to health and social services. For that reason an increasing number of people are looking for ways to learn more Spanish.

There are several ways to develop one’s Spanish speaking abilities. These include self-study through online learning materials and text books, taking online Spanish classes with a live native-speaker, and visiting a country in which Spanish is spoken in order to take classes at a registered Spanish language school. One such Spanish school is Yanapuma Spanish School in Ecuador. With two locations – in cosmopolitan capital city Quito and in tranquil colonial city Cuenca, they offer immersion Spanish experiences in which students can learn Spanish while also experiencing the culture in which the Spanish language is spoken.

At Yanapuma Spanish School in Quito professionals from many walks of life arrive to spend two weeks or more taking classes and exploring the city to learn about its history and culture. With several different programs that include both individual and group classes, there is also a “Quito Cultural” program that combines regular classes with visits to some of the best sites in the city to learn about its history and culture with a teacher. There is also a “Volunteer Quito” program that can offer volunteering in addition to Spanish classes, so that students can work with children with learning difficulties, medical sites and centers for the elderly-in-need.

An additional feature that helps to immerse the student in Spanish is to stay with a local host family. Yanapuma works with many welcoming and sociable host families in Quito to locate students while they are studying. Apart from the extra opportunities to speak Spanish that this affords, students learn much more about the day-to-day culture of Quito from their family.

At weekends students can escape the city to explore the surrounding Andes Mountains. A variety of day excursions visit exciting locations such as the famous Otavalo Market, the largest outdoor crafts market in all of Latin America. Cotopaxi Volcano is another day trip that takes students up to the glacier line at over 5,000 meters. Another day excursions visits Mindo Cloud Forest, just a couple of hours from the city where there are a variety of ways to explore this magical environment with its wealth of bird and insect life, rushing rivers and waterfalls, and laid-back atmosphere. Some students though prefer to stay in Quito and explore its parks and plazas at the weekend. The parks are filled with people doing any sport you can imagine or simply lazing on the grass and enjoying the local foods that are on sale there.

For professionals who are striving to become more competitive in the job market, learning Spanish by visiting Quito is a productive use of their time, setting them up with the necessary language skills to be able to advance in their chosen career.

Paul Petersen