Frequently Asked Questions

About tuition
About classes
About housing
Miscellaneous

How much is it?
Our price per student is US$/wk. You will pay one time $ registration fee and $90/wk program participation fee when you register. (including 1. Free cell phone rental to call home immediately upon your arrival 2. Free fast internet access 3. 24/7 Student assistance 4. Afternoon review session upon request, and more.) Then, pay directly the rest ($/wk) to your host family and instructor during your first week in Guatemala. This way, you do not have to pay everything at once, you could express your gratitude personally and everyone knows where the money goes. We are using this payment method because it is against our belief that one person/group gaining disproportionate share of money by telling you that your tuition is distributed fairly to instructors / host families / social projects. Click here for our price table.

Does it include meals?
Yes, you will have three delicious meals a day and purified drinking water waiting for you. In addition, all families provide a private room, bed, table, chair, adequate lighting and place to keep one's clothing.

Do I pay the program separately from paying the instructor and the host family or is all a complete package?
Yes. We encourage our students to make a direct and separate payment to their instructor and host family. Why? Only downside to the direct payment system is that we suffered some loss of income when several students with reservations had failed either to appear for their classes, or to inform us of their cancellation. For this reason, if you wish to cancel, please do so THREE (3) weeks prior to your arrival.

I know that it's X dollars a Y period of time, but if I wanted to stay for more would it be lower?
We believe that happy instructors and host families will make you happier in the end. We are treating our instructors, host families and volunteer organization as our partners not as somebody we can exploit from. There are other Spanish language programs with lower prices. You can easily find them by typing in "Spanish school" in Google. But no matter what they charge, our priority is rock solid: Giving you the genuine Guatemalan experience. We believe that anything short of the best is unacceptable.

How long is each session?
Our normal session is a week long and begins on Monday and ends on Friday. You'll have an intensive 5 hour private lesson per day. The class is from 8am-1pm or 2pm-7pm. You can also arrange a special schedule with extre fee.

If I wanted to participate in this program for a week and enjoyed my time for that 1 week, is it possible to extend my session?
Yes. You are free to extend your session as long as you wish. Also, it is very common to see students studying for a few weeks, go on to travel around for a couple weeks and come back to resume their lessons.

My son is 7 years old and I'm over 50. Are there instructors available for us?
Yes. Our students come from wide range of background. We have had students as young as 5 and as old as 60+. Regardless of your age, cultural background, proficiency in Spanish, etc. you will have our best individualized attention in Xela.

If I am very enthusiastic and work hard, how much could I expect to learn in just four weeks at your school?
There are many factors involved such as your linguistic background, talent, motivation, etc. But starting from 0 knowledge of Spanish, you should be able to learn all grammatical functions and complete our advanced level in 12 weeks of study. For more information, click here.

I'm coming with my husband and 3 children. Could we be housed under a same roof?
Yes. Some of our host families have multiple rooms available.

Are there other housing options?
Yes. We have a list of guesthouses, hotels and apartments that we can recommend in Xela. Please let us know your length of stay, budget, preference of location and other pertinent information.

Do you organize excursions?
Yes. We have daily cultural activities and weekend trips to various places. See some of the examples from here.

Airport pickups?
Yes. Here is our airport pickup options.

Is it safe?
Click here for our safety information.

Can you tell me more about the program?
We'd love to! Please take a look at our pamphlet from here in jpeg images (200KB). Or you can download it in a pdf file (800KB). If you have more questions, contact us!

May I have contact information of 1 or 2 people that attended the Guate program?
Sure! Please call us and we'd be more than glad to provide personal references for serious prospective participants! We take the protection of our past participants' personal information seriously. In order to protect them from spamming, we do not post their contact information in our website.

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