Speaking English in small Spanish town
 

I read about a 2 - 3 week trip where individuals can stay in a small Spanish town and live a traditional Spanish life, if they speak English to the locals for a few hours everyday. Has anyone heard of this sort of trip?

They offer to pay your holiday if you speak English to them!!! If only Napoleon & Louis lived in this town and spent huge amounts of loot they got from all over the continent on this town and transformed it into an architectural masterpiece.Guess where the west would be spending their holiday dollars.

Sam

You didn't imagine it. But are you promoting it? Just a few days ago, someone else mentioned it - - and like you - - it was their first post here (on the Europe forum) ever; I don't mind acknowledging that you <i>have</i> posted twice before over some months ago, on the Caribbean forum - - so maybe you are legit.

If you Yahoo search &quot;Spain English village&quot;, you can likely figure out who the company is. I am not sure there is any reason to avoid mentioning their name. Just not willing to be an unwilling participant in a guerilla advertising program here.

I once mentioned someone I knew from Columbus, Ohio who had had first hand experience with this, here on this forum about two years ago. If you search Columbus, you can find that thread. It is not recent.

Best wishes,

Rex

Someone posted his experience with that company recently, and bobthenavigator also posted a report a year or so ago. Both had positive experiences.

oh yes, I've heard of it. I think it's been mentioned in the Frommers newsletter and/or boards a couple times. As I recall from the posts of those who did it, one should not view this as a great way to get a free vacation. They said you must work for a lot of hours and you do have to speak English to these folks all day long and have to stay in that small town. So, if your goal is to immerse yourself in Spain and speak or learn Spanish, or to tour around some, it won't serve that purpose. I don't know that it was described as a traditional Spanish life. It was a school or dorm accommodations or something.

I found the info, it is Vaughan Systems, here's their URL

http://www.vaughanvillage.com/

As I recall from the posts, they were pretty picky about who they selected for the program, also. As you can imagine, they got a lot of applicants. I think they rejected some folks who knew some Spanish because they were afraid they would want to speak Spanish or learn/practice Spanish more than only speak English, or something. YOu can probably find some threads about it on the Frommers forum.

Well, if it was the goal of soccer1 to get someone to mention their name, I guess it was a successful strategy.

Apparently it's about 12 to 15 hours per day of speaking conversational English. In exchange, you get to stay in a small village with few facilities (although there is a town a couple kilometers away, and many of the Spaniards bring cars, so you can ride with them to further destinations). One of the &quot;English villages&quot; has a 4-star hotel, and the other has more basic accommodations. You also get your standard three meals per day. On a per-hour wage basis, this simply does not pay very much and you have to use up your vacation time.

I think it could be a good choice for someone who doesn't have to deal with restricted vacation time, and who enjoys talking a lot.

Thanks for the replies! I didn't suppose it was free. I actually read that one pays for it as they would a vacation, but one would get the experience of living in a small Spanish village with locals... I believe it was about 5 - 8 hours of speaking English, but nonetheless, your replies have been most helpful.

The company mentioned above is not the program I read about last year, but I suppose I'll look into it anyway. The program I read about was much smaller scale and didn't look so commercialized. But it's a start. I think the poster above was right; I must have read it on Frommer's.

From briefly looking at the website, it seems as if the &quot;locals&quot; are professionals who need to perfect their English skills. Why is this business importing Americans when England is so close?

I think it probably is mainly professionals as I'm sure the program isn't cheap for them (the Spanish). They aren't necessarily recruiting Americans, just English speakers. It doesn't matter about their home location (although I'm sure they want a mix) because they don't pay your air fare. They only pay room and board while you are at their location, as I understand it.

Based on what I've read, the Spanish people who attend the program seem to be mid-manager to executive level at major corporations. Their company typically pays for the course, but they use up their own vacation time. I can't say this is always how it works, but it seems a fair summary.

There was a travel article in the DMN about a year ago - I'm still trying to find it - and yes, the Spanish folks were execs who &quot;paid the freight&quot; for the English speakers who must be very substantive and &quot;knowledgeable&quot; - tech, business, education, travel, food, wine etc.
Lo siento, I'm leaving for MX for 6 weeks and cannot locate, but check www.dallasnews.com
M

Yeah, You guys should check out Richard Vaughans NEW program, you'll find the detainls a www.vaughantown.com. I just got back off a week, and haveing done the 7 day program think it's much better.

tg,
Thanks for the update. Hope they don't expect us to spell much in English (I sure have limits).
M (SMdA, Gto.)