As we're finishing up our time at ABC Español here in Arequipa, I wanted to write a little review of our experience there for any future missionaries to Peru who might be considering it. They used to have a website at abcperu.org but I think it's expired at the moment. Maybe they'll reinstate it at some point.
What is it and who teaches at it?
ABC Español is a small language institute that teaches missionaries to speak Peruvian Spanish in-country. The teachers are all evangelical Christians and all Peruvian. Several of the teachers rent out rooms in their homes to students, and they encourage singles or people without young children to live with a Peruvian family while attending the school. For families like us, though, they were very kind to arrange for us to rent a nearby apartment.
How they helped us on arrival
When we arrived at the airport in Arequipa, Pedro, who runs the school, met us at the airport to help us with our baggage and transport us to our apartment. We arrived a week before we planned to begin classes so that we'd have some time to adjust, but a couple of days after arriving Pedro came to pick us up and show us the school and surrounding area. He also provided us with a list of trusted taxis, some essential Spanish phrases, and a few other pieces of information about life in Arequipa. All of this was very helpful.
Scheduling
We then discussed our class schedule with Pedro. They encourage all students to take both a grammar class and a practical class - each of which are 1.5 hr. sessions 5 days a week. They were very flexible with us on when we take these classes though. They have classes running from 8:30 in the morning until sometime in the late afternoon. They said that they especially try to arrange schedules in a helpful way for families with small children, and were happy to give us both morning slots since this was going to be the easiest for us. We did discuss the possibility of having Derek and I attend class at different times or at least staggering our class schedules so that Finn wouldn't need to be with a nanny as long, but in the end we decided it would be easiest to go from 8:30 - 11:50 (with a 20 minute break in between classes) and then both head home together.
Childcare and Schooling for Kids
The Institute itself does not have any program for children, but there are several private schools in the area that other families in the institute send their school-age children to while attending class. I'm hoping to get a review from one of these families on their experience with a private school here in town. There are numerous "jardins" (kindergartens) which are usually for children age 2-5 or 6 all around the city, and there are also day cares for children under 2, but we decided that having a Peruvian nanny come to our house to care for Finn while we were at school would be best. The institute offered to help us find a nanny, but we ended up finding a wonderful lady through another family with our mission here in town. Finn has really enjoyed his time with her and is definitely learning Spanish from his time with her! Also we've had almost zero sickness which I'm sure would not be the case at all if he was in a jardin!
How do Classes Work?
As I said above, the school offers two different classes for it's students--grammar classes and practical classes. Grammar classes are just what they sound like. The lovely thing about it is that class sizes are so small. For our first two months at the school our grammar class was just Derek, the teacher, and I. Later on we were joined by a couple other classmates, but the largest our class has been during our time here is with 4 students. It's been so nice to be able to move at our own pace and feel zero pressure to get things faster or ask fewer questions or anything like that. There are no tests or deadlines of any sort. We just attend class and do our homework--which really isn't that bad (maybe an hour or so per day?). Our teacher devoted a good chunk of time each day early on to drilling us on verb conjugations, which may not be the most fun, but was certainly very helpful. I never felt like I had to memorize a huge list of anything, but just reviewed what we had gone over in class each day, and slowly but surely I learned everything that I needed to. The teacher really was there to help us learn and had no problem at all with going at the pace we needed.
For the practical classes you work 1 on 1 with a tutor. This class is largely conversational practice, however the tutors do have a program to work you through and they work very closely with the grammar teachers to help you practice the things you are learning in that class. Often I would spend the first 45 to an hour just talking (in Spanish) with my tutor about my day, my childhood, my plans, etc. etc. Then she would bring out an exercise or two that we would work on together to practice some newer concepts, and then we might play a game of taboo with my new vocabulary words. Practical class has always been very pleasant and encouraging. My tutor was always positive, and quick to remind me that I was doing very well and that learning a language takes time, but that I'd be speaking it easily before I knew it.
In our practical classes we have both especially enjoyed opportunities to practice having spiritual conversations, reading from the Bible with our tutor, discussing the meaning of the passage, and also learning to pray in Spanish. I also enjoyed reading some short devotionals with my tutor to brush up on my Spanish "Christianese."
With both classes I always felt the freedom to come in with questions that did or did not relate to the things we had been covering in class.
Field Trips and Holidays
Every couple of months the school will take all students on a day trip to local places that represent different parts of Peruvian culture here. Also, for major holidays such as Christmas and Easter they will have a party day in which everyone brings a dish to share from their home country, and then shares (in Spanish) about traditions surrounding that holiday in their home country. Then the teachers take some time to teach us about the significance of that holiday for Peruvian families and about the traditions, foods, and events surrounding it. There would always be some samples of traditional Peruvian foods at these parties as well. For Easter we even participated in making the "Good Friday Soup."
Classmates
All of the students at the school are missionaries--some who have already been serving in Peru, and many like us who are preparing to serve. We've really enjoyed getting to know the other students in our break in between classes, and hearing about the ministries they are a part of.
How Long is the Program?
The program at the school is designed to take about 6 months to get through from beginning to end, but as I've said above, they are very willing to let each student go at the pace that they need. Often students stay longer than 6 months to be sure they understand everything and feel confident in the language. Also, many students only come for a few weeks or a month or two, depending on how much time their mission has allotted them for language learning, and on how much Spanish they know already. We will be finishing our time at the school after about 5 months of classes. We initially planned to stay a little longer, but outside circumstances have caused us to need to finish after just 5 months, and our teachers have been very kind to work with us and try to squeeze in as much as we can in the time here that we have.
Church
Pedro pastors a church, which, from what I gather is probably similar to a Baptist church, though I'm not sure if it's actually part of a denomination. I haven't actually visited this church because we've been involved with a Presbyterian church in town where some missionaries from our organization are serving, but many of the students at the school attend Pedro's church, and have good things to say about their experience there. I believe most if not all of the teachers at the school attend this church as well.
What's nearby
Arequipa is the 2nd largest city in Peru and has quite a bit to offer. It's not the United States by any stretch of the imagination, but there are several malls, with one of the smaller ones being about a 3 minute walk away from the Institute. This mall has a nice grocery store that carries all of the basic necessities (though no Campbell's soup or Pillsbury rolls - sorry!). There are also clothing stores, several restaurants including a TJI Friday's, a Papa John's Pizza, and a Dunkin Donuts (Whoot!), a movie theater, a pharmacy, coffee shops, and several other specialty stores. It's been nice having all of this available so conveniently close to the Institute. We often walk there after class and take a taxi home with our groceries from there.
Conclusion
We have been very happy with our time here in Arequipa and at ABC Español, and would definitely recommend it to any missionaries looking to learn Peruvian Spanish. We currently have a little over two more weeks of classes and we feel that we have a solid foundation and understanding of the language such that we can continue learning on our own from here. Language learning will certainly be an ongoing process for us, but we feel that we understand enough to jump into ministry and learn as we go from here on out (by God's grace of course!) I'd be happy to talk with anyone considering the school and answer any further questions that I can.
- Laura
