Learning Spanish at the Ixchel Spanish School in Antigua:

Schedules

At the Ixchel Spanish School all Spanish courses are one on one. Each student has a teacher all to himself or herself and therefore we are able to offer our students very flexible schedules. You can have Spanish classes in the morning, in the afternoon, or both; and if you are in a real hurry, even on Saturday and Sunday.

To make your decision a little easier, here are some guidelines as to which schedule might be the best for you:
 

• 2 hours a day
  (available only in the afternoon)
  
  This schedule is aimed primarily at two groups of students: absolute beginners who just want to get a feel of the language but are not interested in serious studying at this time, and advanced students who are already fluent or nearly fluent in Spanish and only want additional conversation and practice.
  
  We also recommend this schedule for students who have very little time to study because of other commitments, since studying two hours a day is better than nothing.
  
  In any case, at only two hours a day you will advance very slowly. If you want to make rapid progress, this schedule is not intensive enough for you.
   
• 3 hours a day
  (available only in the afternoon)
  
  Very similar to the two-hour schedule and aimed at the same groups of students. You'll advance a little faster, but three hours a day are still not sufficient to make good progress.
   
• 4 hours a day
  (available in the morning from 8 a.m. to 12 noon or 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and in the afternoon from 1 to 5 p.m. or 2 to 6 p.m.)
  
  Our most popular schedule! Four hours of instructions allow a good mix of grammar lessons, vocabulary building, exercises and conversation. You'll spend half a day in class and have the rest of the day available for other activities.
  
  This schedule is suitable for students of all levels. If you plan to get college credits for your studies at the Ixchel Spanish school, four hours a day is the minimum you'll need to study.
   
• 5 hours a day
  (available in the morning from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and in the afternoon from 1 to 6 p.m.)
  
  A close second as far as popularity goes. This schedule is similar to the four-hour schedule but will allow you more time for conversational practice.
   
• 6 hours a day
  (instructions from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and from 2 to 4 p.m.)
  
  This is a very intensive schedule and meant primarily for intermediate and advanced students who want lots of conversational practice. Beginning students, whose conversational capacity is still rather limited, will find it hard to handle six hours of grammar lessons, exercises and vocabulary building.
  
  Some students find six hours easier than the five-hour schedule because of the two-hour lunch break in between.
   
• 7 hours a day
  (instructions from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and from 2 to 5 p.m.)
  
  Even more intensive than six hours a day. This schedule will allow you to progress very rapidly and develop good conversational skills, but is also very demanding.
   
• 8 hours a day
  (instructions from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and from 2 to 6 p.m.)
  
  As tough as it gets! With this schedule you won't do much more than eat, sleep and study. It's meant for students in a hurry who need to learn as much Spanish as possible as fast as possible.
  
  This is an extremely demanding schedule and few students can keep up this pace for more than a week or two unless they are extraordinarily well motivated.
   

After choosing the daily schedule that's best for you, you will also need to decide how many days per week you want to study. Most of our students study five days and take the weekend off to go traveling, review the lessons and vocabulary of the previous days or simply relax and enjoy Antigua's magnificent ambiance.

However, if you like you can study on Saturday, which will of course give you a few extra hours and allow you to progress more rapidly. For students in a real hurry we can also provide Spanish classes on Sunday, but we recommend that you take off at least one day per week. You can't study all the time!

When you make your decision, please also consider the following points:

• Studying Spanish doesn't end when your classes are over! To make the best use of your Spanish course, you will also need to do some work on your own, like reviewing the day's lessons, doing exercises and memorizing vocabulary.
   
• Individual instructions are much more demanding than group classes. You'll have to pay attention to your teacher all the time and actively participate; you can't hide behind somebody else's back for a while and hope you won't be called upon.
   
• The human attention span is limited. Yours too! After a few hours of Spanish classes you'll find it harder and harder to absorb new material.
   

Please be realistic and pick a schedule you know you can handle. If, after a few days, you feel that you'd benefit from an extra hour a day, we can always change your schedule accordingly.

Ready to sign up? Just fill out our registration form and you're on the way to a great learning experience at the Ixchel Spanish School in Antigua, Guatemala!

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