Learning Spanish – Part 13 – The Homestay Experience – Living with a Local Family
Often when travellers or students visit countries within Central and South America with the intention of learning Spanish, they will often immerse themselves in the language and local culture by living with a local family whilst taking lessons at a Spanish school. This is what is known as a homestay.
Homestays can be very beneficial for students. They give the student the opportunity to interact and communicate with native Spanish speaking people in a completely natural environment. It provides a continuous forum in which to practice speaking Spanish and to practice listening to it. Not only this but it gives the student great insight into local culture and ways of life.
From my own experiences I would highly recommend homestays. I stayed with a local family in Antigua, Guatemala for two weeks whilst studying at a local school. I had my own room and was made to feel like one of the family for my entire stay. One of the best things for me was that nobody in the family could speak a word of English. I was forced into speaking Spanish all the time. Back then my...