Who Should Come/What You Get
Who should come?
Kids. The program works best for confident
kids, kids with a good foundation in Spanish (such as two or three years of immersion education), and kids seven years old
or older. (All kids must be accompanied by an adult.) Older kids, those 12 and older, have done the program three different
ways. Some prefer to stick with the younger kids. Some just take classes with the adults. Sometimes, when we have enough of
them together, we create a program-within-the-program for them.
Adults.
All adults enjoy the program. It doesn’t matter how little Spanish you know; most adults are beginners. However, this
program is not for those who need luxury or who are not prepared to roll with the punches. This is Mexico, not Switzerland.
People interested in an authentic language-and-culture experience. There
is no beach in Cuernavaca. It is a modern, working city (population about a million, though it seems smaller.) There is tourism
there, but it is not a tourist town. People don’t speak much English. Spanish is the language of communication, in town
and at home with your host family.
What You Get For Your Money
What’s included: Transportation from the Mexico
city airport to Cuernavaca, upon your arrival; your housing and most meals during the course of the program; materials
and instruction for adults at Fenix Language Institute; Club Fenix for kids; at least four excursions; transportation from
Cuernavaca back to Mexico City; hotel stay on the last night, in Mexico City.
What is not included:
Your transportation to and from Mexico City; your walking-around
and shopping money; taxis, restaurant meals, and places that you visit on your own. Here is a sample schedule of how
you would spend your days with us in Cuernavaca: July 24: Arrive in Mexico; transportation to Cuernavaca; meet your host
family; rest.
July 25: A light day. Orientation – to Fenix and
to Cuernavaca starting at 10 a.m. Afternoon free. Evening gathering at an outdoor café downtown.
July 26: Tour in Cuernavaca. Evening free.
July 27: Excursion to nearby market town, Tepoztlan Climb
to the top of the mountain. Shop. All day.
July 28: Classes and Club Fenix, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
July 29: Classes and Club Fenix, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
July 30: Excursions: adults to Xochicalco archaeological site; kids to Ojo de Agua (water park.)
July 31: Classes and Club Fenix, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
August 1: Classes and Club Fenix in the morning; farewell
celebration in the afternoon.
August 2: Excursion to Las Estacas All day.
August 3: Excursion to Mexico City. We do this on a three-year rotation: Museum of Anthropology and Chapultepec Park
one year; Xochimilco and Dolores Olmedo Museum the next; Coyoacan the next. After the excursion we check into a downtown hotel
for the night.
- August 4: Adios.
Language Instruction and Club Fenix
Language Instruction
Adult language instruction is in small groups, usually five students
or fewer, using a mix of immersion-style and traditional methods. People are placed in classes based on brief written and
oral evaluations. People have enjoyed these classes a great deal over the years, and the general reaction has been that they
wish they had time for more. The daily class schedule is 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., in 50-minute sessions with 10-minute breaks.
Club Fenix
The precise components of the kids’
program change a little every year depending on the number, ages, and language skills of the kids who come. The basics, though,
are these: Club Fenix is a day camp conducted all in Spanish. Kids do crafts, games, music, art projects, and the like. Because
the instructors conduct everything in Spanish, Club Fenix is a concrete, hands-on way for kids to improve their understanding
of spoken Spanish, and of course they have many opportunities to practice their speaking too. The schedule is 9 a.m. to 2
p.m., but Wednesday will be an all day excursion to a water park, Ojo de Agua, and much of Friday is devoted to preparing
for farewell festivities that take place Friday afternoon.
