Oaxaca, Mexico
The Spanish school
The school is owned by two very enthusiastic Oaxacan women and they have a great team that will make sure you have a good time and learn Spanish and Oaxacan culture. You can choose between 3 hours of private classes or 4 hours of group classes. Group classes have a maximum of 4 students in a group and some workshops are included in the group package.
The classes are strictly divided in a grammatical and practical part. You start the day with the grammatical part in the school and after that you will often visit a colonial church, cloister or cathedral, an art gallery or a traditional market with the other students. Before go you will get information about the subject that you are visiting on paper according to your Spanish level. The text is used to practice speaking by answering questions in the text. This method has proved to work very well; you have much contact with the other students and teachers and at the same moment learn a lot about Mexican culture and history, all in Spanish. The school also offers free internet and free coffee, tea and cookies during the breaks!
The Spanish Language School in Oaxaca also offers Spanish for Children and special programs for professionals:
- Dental & Medical
- Criminal Justice
- Public safety
- Education
- Business & Comerce
- Hospitality
- Travellers
- Voluntary work
With these programs Spanish Language School offers Interchanges with professionals in your same field & visits to laboral centers, such as:
- Schools
- Hospital
- Attorney’s offices
- Business
- Dental clinics
- Police station
- Etc.
Host family
The school works with local families that offer bed and breakfast. The local host families are all from the upper middle class and they usually lve in the greener reas outside the centre of Oaxaca. You can either walk to school or go by one of the numerouw busses in town. If you like you can also book "la comida". La comida is the biggest meal of the day and is usually served between 2 and 4 pm, the typical Mexican dinner time. The extra costs for dinner is $ 35 p.p. per week. If you would like to have supper as well at your host family, we can reserve this for you but we recommend you go out and eat in one of the many great restaurants Oaxaca has to offer. Even for vegetarians there is a good choice of restaurants to go to which is not very common in Latin America.
Oaxaca has a wide variety of restaurants, where one can eat outdoors quite cheaply, especially near the Zócalo. Oaxaca is a great place to come into contact with other travellers and the local population.
Workshops included in the Spanish language package
The school offers numerous extremely good workshops and excursions. For some of them a small fee is charged for others nothing at all. Here are some examples of the workshops: In a small village just outside Oaxaca, a Mixtec Indian lady will teach you how to make tortillas in the traditional way. You will create your own hot tortillas, quesadillas, and memelas, all made with the corn masa that you have prepared. Ceramics workshop: In this workshop you visit a nearby town where a majority of the inhabitants manufacture and sell ceramics. Here you will visit the home of an indigenous artisan.
Optional workshops and excursions
There is an excursion to a village where more or less all the inhabitants are occupied with the fabrication and selling of ceramics. There is an introduction to salsa, cumbia and merengue dances so you can go out and enjoy dancing at night in one of the numerous traditional and modern clubs in Oaxaca. You can also learn how to weave in the traditional Indian way.
Learn to dance salsa, cumbia, and meringue
After learning how to dance, in the city, you can visit some of the many places with live music and practice what you learned. It will be a fabulous experience! $ 6 per hour.
Cooking famous Oaxacan dishes
The cost depends on the material used in this workshop we will learn about many of the diverse dishes of Mexican and especially Oaxacan cuisine. First, you visit the largest market in the city to experience shopping in a typical Mexican market. After cooking, you will enjoy one or more of the rich dishes that we will prepare.
Voluntary Work in Oaxaca, Mexico. There are several possibilities; Ask us for the posibilities.
Weekend excursions
The school organizes weekend excursions; they are well organized and cheap. They include transport and a bilingual guide. The fee you need to pay the school on the spot.
- Monte Alban & Atzompa: visit the town of Monte Alban (zapotec and mixtec) dating from 200 to 800 ad. Afterwards there is a visit to Atzompa where they make traditional green pottery.
($ 13,50 + $ 3,50 entrance fee Monte Alban).
- San Bartolo Coyotepec, Santo Tomas Jalietza, San Martin Tilcajete: Zapotec villages with each its own activity. San Bartolo: here they make ceramics and they used to make the funeral urns for the graves at Monte Alban. Santo Tomas: here they still make the traditional Zapotec clothing. You can visit the houses where the clothing is made and sold. San Martin: here they make wooden animals and paint them (often with religious motives) ($ 12,50).
- Hierve el agua: take a nice bath in the bubbling hot water springs (22/25°C) with spectacular surroundings ($ 15 + $ 2 entrance fee).
- Cuilapan, Arrozola & Zaachila: Visit the monastery and church of Cuilapan (with Gothic and romantic influences), visit the workshops of woodcutting and the archeological digs at Zaachila (zapotec) ($ 14 + $ 4,50 entrance fee).
- San José Magote, Iglesia de Etla & Iglesias de las Penas: Visit a farm build in the 19th century, an archeological dig dating back to 600 to 200 BC, a Dominican church and a local simple church in a rural setting. ($ 13 + $ 1 entrance fee).
- Mitla, Tlacolula & Tule: Visit the town of Mitla that was founded 600 BC and was populated until the Spanish came by several different Indian tribes. Visit a local market on Sunday (Tlacolula) and take a look at one of the world largest cypress trees that has the amazing width of 50 meters! There is also a visit to the church of Tule ($ 14 + $ 3 entrance fee).
- Yagul, Teotitlan & Tlacochahuaya: Visit the archeological digs with Zapotec houses and graves. Visit a town where they have been weaving carpets since the 16th century and a visit to the church and monastery of Tlacochahuaya ($ 13,50 + $ 3 entrance fee).
Prices are subject to change.
How to get to Oaxaca and transfer
When flying into Mexico City you can either fly to Oaxaca for ± $ 100 or take the bus for ± 6 hours for ± $ 25. We can reserve a transfer so you will be picked up on arrival in Oaxaca, at the airport or the bus station and brought to the family where you will be staying.
The standard package prices in Oaxaca include:
- 3 hours of private lessons or 4 hours of group lessons per day, five days a week.
- Accommodation in a private room with a local host family with breakfast included, during the study period from Sunday to Saturday.
- Registration fee.
- Study material.
- Optional: Transfer from the airport of Oaxaca to the host family ($ 10).
| Mexico | Classes | hpd | 1 wk | 2 wks | 3 wks | 4 wks | extra week | extra night | transfer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oaxaca | group | 4 | $ 297 | $ 559 | $ 821 | $ 1083 | $ 287 | $ 17 | $ 10 |
| Oaxaca Promotion | group | 4 | $ 1165 | ||||||
| Oaxaca | private | 3 | $ 322 | $ 609 | $ 896 | $ 1183 | $ 312 | $ 17 | $ 10 |
Promotional Package for 4 weeks group lessons for $ 1165
- 4 weeks of 4 hours group lessons of per day, five days a week. Grammar and conversation.
- Accommodation in a private room with a local host family with breakfast and dinner (la comida) included, during the 4 week study period from Sunday to Saturday.
- Ceramic workshops.
- Tortilla and textile workshops.
- Cultural conferences.
- Walkings trips.
- Partipation in Traditional celebrations.
- Literature studies.
- Study material.
- Registration fee.
CITY INFO OAXACA
Oaxaca is a city loved by Mexicans and tourists alike, situated in a beautiful valley surrounded by the mountains of the Sierra Madre del Sur. Oaxaca nowadays is a mix of Indian, colonial and modern styles with the Indian culture still being dominant. In the vicinity of Oaxaca are many Indian villages, with a large diversity of traditional arts and crafts. Also around Oaxaca are some spectacular ruins of prehistoric towns like Monte Alban, Mitla and Yagul, that used to be inhabited by the Zapotecs and Mixtecs. On the rough, but beautiful, coastline on the Pacific side are many beach towns, like the surfer paradise of Puerto Escondido or the favourite amongst the Mexicans: Huatulco. Oaxaca is a relaxed, old colonial city with many stately buildings, big gardens and patio's. Oaxaca has 400.000 inhabitants and a special atmosphere; both relaxing and remote but also energetic and cosmopolitan. Because of the altitude, 1546 meters, it has an agreeable climate. Around the central square, the Zócalo, you will find many cosy terraces, where both Mexicans and foreigners sit, relax and chat with each other. Walking through town, one can see great architecture and visit one of the many cathedrals or museum. After a day of walking around town it is really nice to go to a Temazcal bath, which is a typically local herb sauna.
Oaxaca is famous for its many traditional festivities. Most famous is the "Guelaguetza" when, in the last weeks of July, thousands of people come to Oaxaca. This is a fiesta where dancers wearing exquisite costumes act out historical events. Also very special, is the evening of the 23 rd of December where they celebrate "Noche de los Rabanas" (night of the radishes). On the Zócalo many, meters high, pieces of art will be exhibited, all made of radishes.
Should you have any spare time to travel around do visit the beautidul beaches in Oaxaca. Puerto Escondido, for example is a well know surf beach.Or if you go to Guatemala from here, we recommend you go to Chiapas and visit San Cristobal de las Casas. Along the way to the capital of Chiapas you can make a stopover in Chiapas de Corzo. Here is a 1000 meter deep canyon, which is very impressive because of its flora and fauna. It is possible to take a river boat and, with a little luck, you will see crocodiles. Chiapas also houses some of the most spectacular pyramids in the world at Palenque, surrounded by deep jungle. This is well worth a visit and you can combine it with going to the turquoise Agua Azul waterfalls.
COUNTRY INFO MEXICO
Mexico is a huge country of opposites; the rural population still lives quite primitively, while the inhabitants of the cities have a Western lifestyle. Much of the wealth is located in Mexico City, which is one of the biggest city in the world. This Latin American Capital is absolutely worth a visit. To name but a few of its many sights: the Plaza de Las Tres Culturas with the catholic 'Templo de Santiago', the Aztec pyramid of Tlatelolco, and the modern building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the impressive archaeological museum, in the Chapultepec park at the heart of the city, and the Zócalo (main square) and Plaza Garibaldi where mariachi's will serenade you for some pesos. The rest of the country has, as yet, seen little progress, but is still covered with great historical sights like the ancient temples of the Maya's and Aztecs and quaint towns where the large colonial influence of the Spanish remains very visible. We work in Mexico with a language school in the beach town of Playa del Carmen and the Yucatan providence and one in the beautiful colonial city Oaxaca. Mexico is a country of opposites; the rural population still lives quite primitively, while the inhabitants of the cities have a Western lifestyle. Much of the wealth is located in Mexico City, which is the biggest city in the world. This Latin American is absolutely worth a visit. To name but a few of its many sights: the Plaza de Las Tres Culturas with the catholic 'Templo de Santiago', the Aztec pyramid of Tlatelolco, the modern building of the ministry of Foreign Affairs; the impressive archaeological museum, in the Chapultepec park at the heart of the city, and the Plaza Garibaldi where mariachi's will serenade you for some pesos. The rest of the country has, as yet, seen little progress, but is still covered with great historical sights like the ancient temples of the Maya's and Aztecs and quaint towns where the large colonial influence of the Spanish remains very visible. We work in Mexico with a language school in the beach town of Playa del Carmen and the Yucatan providence and one in the beautiful colonial city Oaxaca.
The southern part, especially Chiapas, is the most authentic part of Mexico as the Indian culture is still very much alive here.
Travel tip
Many students use the opportunity to combine Mexico with Guatemala in one trip. From Oaxaca you can travel at your own pace to Quetzaltenango or Antigua where you can take extra weeks of Spanish lessons and get to know Guatemalan culture. We will provide you with a lot of helpful information if you are interested in this combination.
Climate
In Oaxaca the temperature varies from 18ºC to 30ºC. The rainy season is from June to September. For the evenings a thin sweater or jacket is recommended.
Check the present weather and forecasts for Oaxaca, Mexico.
Links Oaxaca and Mexico
Lonely Planet Information Mexico
Flights in Mexico with Mexicana and Aeromexico
International flights to Mexico, hotels and travel tips Trip Advisor
Come with Adiós Travel to learn Spanish in Oaxaca, Mexico.
