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 those in England. Then I thought about Nora. During my recent visit to the western Argentinian 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 into 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.

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 oriented 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 engage in 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