2 Go Spanish School

La Escuela de Juan Sisay

There are many Spanish schools in Xela. As usual, we felt compelled to visit many of them before making our decision. After visiting and interrogating, we mean interviewing, coordinators in several schools, we chose Juan Sisay Spanish school for many decisions: First, Juan Sisay is a collective and proceeds are donated to school tuition and supplies for less fortunate children, among other good causes. Second, the teachers are all very well educated and experienced. Finally, it has received a lot of praise from prior students. For these three reasons, and the fact that we received a good feeling when we spoke with the coordinator, Yaneth, we signed up with Juan Sisay.

You may ask yourself, who is Juan Sisay? He was a Guatemalan artist who painted everything from beautiful highland landscapes to controversial political massacres. Like many vocal revolutionaries in Guatemala's troubled past, he was assassinated. Unfortunately, most of his work was destroyed as well. Fortunately, his name lives on.

Every morning, we would wake up, eat a delicious breakfast made by our new mom Marie Loarca, and then walk up to Juan Sisay at 8:00 am for class. The lessons are one on one and last until 1:00 pm. Each teacher has their own area to teach.

Kelly studied with Ruby. Ruby is a law Student at the University of San Carlos. Ruby is an excellent maestra (teacher) and a warm and friendly person. The classes are completely in Spanish. Many of the teachers do not speak English. It is a wonderful and necessary way to learn the language.

Rich studied with Ana. Ana is also studying law at the University of San Carlos. Ana and her husband, Anibal both teach at Juan Sisay. They are both happy, enthusiastic and friendly people, as well excellent teachers.

Here, Rich and Ana are studying on the roof at the school. The highland mornings are very cold, and heat is scarce. Studying in the warm sun was a great way to deal with the cold.

Ruby, Kelly and Ana enjoy the warm morning sun.

Juan Sisay works with La Escuela Oficial Rural Mixta Pacaja's secondary school. Every week we go over to the school and teach English to our own class. The class on the left is Rich's class, while the group on the right is Kelly's.

Every afternoon, the school hosts activities. Some days we go to a nearby village, other days we have dance lessons, while other times we have guest speakers. One of the more interesting speakers was this man. Alberto Recivos, also known as Tino, is a guerrilla. Since he was in the third grade, Tino fought against the Guatemalan government for the revolution of the people. He lived and fought in the mountains with very little to eat or drink for weeks on end. Tino saw hundreds of his comrades die for their cause. On December 29, 1996, a peace agreement was signed between the Guatemalan government and the revolutionaries. However, Tino does not feel that peace has yet been achieved. He feels that there is still segregation, suffering and oppression among the indigenous people of Guatemala.

Continue for more fun at the Juan Sisay Spanish School.

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