My First Week Learning Spanish – Practica, Practica, Practica!

Thus far, I am thrilled with my experience learning Spanish at Habla Ya in Boquete.   I take a 1 hour private class with a tutor named Janeth each morning, and then a 4 hour group class every afternoon with Irasema.  Both of my professors are amazing, very positive and encouraging.  Basically no English is spoken in the class, all instructions and explanations are given in Spanish.  Talk about being thrown into the fire, I am certainly glad I had at least a little bit of a base before I arrived!

In the classroom there is a large focus on speaking and comprehension, we do lots of reading exercises and just take turns asking each other questions.  The hardest part is trying to remember all of the vocabulary we are learning so quickly.  We also go on little trips to practice our Spanish in ‘real life’.  We all went for lunch at a local place, Café Nelvis, and practiced ordering in Spanish and then had a great time getting to know each other better. 

My First Week Class & Teachers

Cafe Nelvis

Every Tuesday evening the school hosts a ‘Panamanian Dinner’ where they invite all of the students for a traditional meal.  This week they served the traditional dish for the celebration when a girl becomes a woman at 15 years of age.  It was coconut rice with chicken boiled in some sort of delicious sauce and a salad of beets and carrots with a dressing that I can’t even begin to describe.  The food was excellent and I loved learning about the culture behind it.  It was also nice to get to know more of the other students.  We spoke some Spanish, but also a lot of English which was a nice break for my brain!

Boquete is a fairly quiet little village town and very safe to stroll around.  My house is right in the center of town and I can walk everywhere.  There are a number of restaurants and bars - one of the most popular is Zanzibar.  You can always find a couple of students and locals hanging out there.  The locals are very keen to have a drink with you and let you practice your Spanish on them, especially the men ;)  It’s pretty nerve racking and I’m sure I sound like a train wreck, but they are very patient.  Usually about 10 minutes in we are speaking Spanglish as a lot of younger people here speak some English.

If you want to learn Spanish, or anything for that matter, the mantra is ‘Practica, Practica, and more Practica’.  It is invaluable to be in Boquete learning Spanish as there are so many different situations in which I am learning - in classes with my teachers, out with Elva and her friends, and in the community with my fellow students.  After only a few days I am inspired at how far I could come in just a month of immersion.  Practica, Practica, Practica!