Volunteer Program

As I chose to go to the school during the Christmas and New Year holidays, I was fortunate enough to have a one on one learning experience throughout my time in the school. As I had some very basic knowledge of Spanish, mostly very short phrases, I needed the focus of my learning to be on sentence structure. Since I was only there for 4 weeks, there was a limit to what I was going to retain in that time frame. They focused on verbs, past, present and future form, infinitive, substantive singular and plural. They made sure I understood the basics of sentence structure which, for an English speaker can be quite the challenge.
It is important for me to continue to work toward the ability to speak Spanish better as I plan to visit many other countries that primarily speak Spanish. The instructors were aware that I will be traveling more and had me work some of that into the homework that I did. It made it easier for me.
As an adult, it is up to me what I get out of the class. The instructors know their job very well. I am an English tutor and understand the challenges they face with teaching adults and they are very good at helping them understand that they have to do the work to get the results and they are very happy to help.
I would definitely attend this school again.

I am originally from Panamá, and working as a New Jersey Spanish teacher. Ileri surpassed my expectations. The level of professionalism and the rigorous curriculum of the instructors were impressive. I was able to refresh my Spanish. The culture is infused in every aspect of the lessons. I will recommend this school to every Spanish teacher.

I stayed in a hotel and my daily commute to the school was an adventure in itself. Conversing with local taxi drivers and coordinating driving instructions with Stacy was definitely a highlight. Challenging and fun it added a lot to my language practice.
The school is located in a residential community and presented many opportunities to observe the normal life in Panama City.

Ileri was a great experience for me for many reasons. It was very easy to reach and was affordable. The teachers were friendly, very approachable, involved everyone, and were very accommodating. It was not only about learning Spanish but being Panamanian (as much as we could). They encouraged us to speak at every opportunity, which made me greatly improve my Spanish in a very short time. The school organised trips to visit various places of interest in Panama, enabling me to experience more culture and history than I would have on my own. There were school activities where we experienced more of the culture and delicious food and also brought all students together. I met very interesting people from all over the world and made friends whom I still keep in touch with. Above all, I love the fact that I have a certificate! I have fond memories of Ileri.

I liked the instruction. The people that I stayed with were very nice. The classroom was very hot. The duration of the sessions was a bit too long. It was hard to focus during the last hour due to mental fatigue.

I brought a group of 4 to come to Ileri for one week and was very pleased with how welcoming and knowledgeable the instructors were and how all of the details and arrangements were very well coordinated. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting with other international students that were also studying and by the end of the week felt like I had made some long distance friends.

I loved the cooking lesson and the meals you made for us were quite a treat!

We were divided up by ability levels and the small group setting really helped to keep us progressing. Although the content was presented very well, we were given a lot of information to digest in a limited amount of time. Having a Spanish program in the USA where I develop Spanish programs and coach and support teachers, I do have a few suggestions for how I may have benefited more:

I think that in general, there needs to be more input. It works best to give a lot of input before expecting real learning to happen. This input could be in the form of reading (charts, sentences, cards, books, etc.) and listening. Maybe after ample practice with reading and listening, then having us choose sentences that are correct and incorrect so that we recognize the structures as they should be. We might also have sentence strips to construct sentences in proper order (tactile).

I think that maybe switching between presenting, reading, listening in the first part of the morning and then asking us for the output after the break. The presentation methods should be varied as well with a different activity every 5-7 minutes. For example, present, then read sentences aloud, then read silently, then read aloud, then cut out strips, etc.

Writing postcards would be a great activity too and reading tongue twisters to help with pronunciation is invaluable. Or just have list of topics to pick from a hat and have us communicate ideas using concepts we have learned. Write on the board and have us correct each other's errors.

If we started each class with an idea of what we will learn that day, it would help to frame the lesson as well. These are just some ideas to mix it up a little bit and teach maybe less concepts, but make sure they are solid.

I loved Belgica. She is very smart and communicated very well the concepts. I learned what I came to learn and learned a lot. Now I just need to continue using it. Overall, the idea of input would have greatly improved my learning. Thanks for letting me carry on.

My wife, Gladice, is Spanish, while I am an Irish Gringo! I had no expectations going to Iteri for the week, and found it to be quite challenging to take in the conversational side of Spanish. My gringo friend / classmate David and I called the whole trip an "adventure" and that was our positive attitude throughout the whole trip. I think I was okay with present and past verb conjugation, and it helped to exercise the learning via repetition of conjugating, speaking, and asking preguntas. I had limited Spanish content (verbs and words), so it may have been nice to have a list of them in advance for studying. Also, we covered a lot of speaking, but it may have also been nice to have some beginners "survival Spanish" to practice at restaurants, etc. The homework each day was grueling, but looking back it helped a lot and was necessary.

Living with Barta and Ilbierto was very nice, and the food was great. Meeting the people at the school and the other students was fantastico! Everyone was very nice and it was interesting to hear everyone's stories about their lives. It was very hot and that took some getting used to. I wish I had brought more "light" clothes to wear. Now it is 35 degrees in Ohio and I miss Panama! Panama City, the canal, Ancon, and Cosco Viejo were all terrific! I want to go to Costa Rica next.

I know that Gladice and Peggy were very impressed with their advanced level of Spanish study. I felt okay with the basics, but would get lost very quickly on the conversational side trying to listen to people. That part was frustrating. My instructor, Luisa, was very smart and patient with us and fun when our brains would stop functioning. La Recreo saved us and helped revitalize our minds, maybe add an extra, shorter break in the morning for us gringos. All in all, I thought it was a great experience and adventure and would recommend it to anyone wanting to learn Spanish and see Panama. Viva Spanish!