I figured I would pick it up as I went along and to some degree I did. But I was sharply reminded how awful my grasp was when I had to call on my 7 year old daughter to translate a relatively simple request to the local electricity company.  The customer service person behind the desk didn’t understand my “Gringospeak”.  I knew the right words but my pronunciation let me down badly.  Why did she understand my daughter and not me?  Simple. I had mercilessly thrown my daughter in to a totally Spanish speaking school and within a few short months she was not only fluent but sounded like a local and could understand and be understood.  Lesson learned. The most effective method of learning another language is to be immersed in the right environment, expose yourself to the language, listen, repeat and practice conversation. 

Clearly I hadn’t done this sufficiently during the time I had spent in Argentina and decided that I needed some extra input.  There had to be some Spanish schools nearby and I was confident tuition fees would be much lower than what I had been paying in England.  Then I thought about Nora.

During my recent visit to the West Argentina town of General Alvear I had the pleasure of meeting Nora Oller, professor and director of the Bethel Institute, an English Language school located there.  I was very pleased to learn that the school also takes English speakers and turns them in to proficient Spanish speakers either by weekly lessons or intensive courses.   

Nora is a delightful lady who graduated as a teacher of English at Mendoza University in 1988.  Shortly after graduating she departed for Canada along with her husband intending to stay for a year in order to consolidate her teaching qualification and live in an English speaking country for practice.  In fact she stayed there for 12 years through visa extensions until finally attaining Canadian citizenship.  During this time she taught basic level English to Spanish speakers who needed a bilingual teacher and more advanced classes composed of sometimes up to 12 different nationalities. 

I wondered why she had come back to General Alvear after such a long time in Canada given that she was now a citizen and had given birth there to her son, Renzo, now aged 15. “Well” she said, “Alvear is home, it’s the ‘City of Friends’.  This is where my family and friends are, this is home”.  

I had been in Alvear long enough to know what she meant.  The small town charm embraces you the moment you set foot there.  The locals are courteously curious towards foreigners and ask lots of questions.  Another reason to kick yourself for not having better Spanish as you realise you miss countless opportunities for endless interesting conversation.

Nora told me that she knew of locals who would be willing to open their homes to foreign students enrolled for intensive Spanish courses at the institute. Integrating in to the community in this way would doubtless enhance the experience and speed up the process for the learner.  For students not wanting to be this intensive there are alternative places to stay.  Low cost bed & breakfasts, hotels or self catering accommodation are available and can be arranged through contacting Nora at the institute.

What a student will not be able to escape is the inclusion in an asado.  A big meat roast over wood coals with locally produced wine and maybe even an authentic gaucho band.  Ok so there is no good reason to have a get together, no problem, let’s invent one. This tight knit family orientated community is not so tightly bound that it cannot be loosened to include new found friends.

A two week intensive course of around 20 – 25 hours of tuition per week would see you to a good proficient conversational level.  A month would be better and enable you to hold a better, more in depth conversation and read and write to a reasonable standard.  “Of course, it all depends on the individual student” Nora explained. “Some learn quicker than others”.

Nora is clearly devoted to teaching and the American expat who introduced her to me told me that she is particularly skillful in recognizing when you are “just not getting it” and then explaining things in a different way.  He also told me that she is willing to conduct lessons “out in the field”, the local ice cream parlour being one of the favoured locations.

I need to improve my Spanish as I intend to live in Latin America for the foreseeable future.  It’s a valuable skill to be bilingual especially if you are planning to relocate or travel extensively.  Being able to speak the language of the country you are in will save you endless frustration and most likely money as you are better placed to negotiate costs or at least understand when you are being overcharged and enable you to question it.  Who knows, it might even save a life if you need to call for emergency assistance.

Now I have met Nora with her wonderful sunny personality and almost 20 years of teaching experience, I have no excuse not to sign up and be educated.  Why don’t you join me?

To contact Nora for more information about the services and programmes available from the Bethel Institute you can email her on noroller@hotmail.com