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A new type of Spanish class

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ddannemiller
  4/16/2015 13:32 EST

Hola amigos. I am a gringa Spanish teacher that has lived in and traveled to many central American countries. After ten years of experience teaching Spanish in the states and many experiences with Spanish Immersion schools, I have a dream. That dream is to start a Spanish language school in an expat/tourist community. When I was teaching Spanish in Colorado I learned how to teach it through contextualized stories, though comprehensible input. I have not really seen a Spanish language school that does this yet. I envision hiring a couple of locals that are very literate and teaching them how to teach with this methodology. Then to start I would like to send them to homes or businesses to teach (for convenience and to avoid the cost of buying a school). Also it's proven that students learn better in small groups. My methodology incorporates small groups (6-12) people. This way I can charge MUCH LESS for the lessons and make more. So amigos, here is my question: Is Granada Nica, a good place for to launch this dream of mine. Is the expat or tourist community looking for a cheaper, FUN more effective way of learning Spanish? Also can I rent a bigger place and sublet rooms out to cover my living expenses as I put all my money into starting this small business. Muchiiiiiisimas gracias for all authentic feedback!

mapper55
  4/16/2015 20:59 EST

This is just my two cents, but I have always thought that someone needs to set up an Expat Services Company. You could provide information, transportation, local bilingual guides, language instruction, and a place to stay for extended visits. This would give potential Expats a base of operations and needed assistance to get started right. I would think that Managua would be the best location since it has the airport but it would also be the most expensive location. I don't really know where most of the current Expats live, but I think your better bet would be potential Expats and new arrivals. You would want to focus on potential residents rather than established residents and tourists. This would all depend on more intimate knowledge of various areas of Nicaragua, or the ability to hire talent with this knowledge. If there's still an unmet need when I am ready to retire, I may try this myself.

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ddannemiller
  4/19/2015 18:39 EST

muchiiiisimas gracias for the feedback. I am planning on doing some more traveling in nica this summer and I will keep your suggestions in mind. When are you retiring? Would you like to team up?

elduendegrande
  4/20/2015 08:19 EST

One of my passing thots when I first moved here was a language school using modern methods and materials, run by me based on my experience as a GED teacher,etc..

first, many if not most businesses here, especially in the boonies like downtown esteli, are run out of a house because it just does not pencil out to rent 'commercial' space. Nics draw for language schools is for the cheapos, and even then they may not really compete with schools elsewhere in the region. If you inherit the house, mo betta.

I quickly put the idea out of my mind for the high cost / low quality of real estate and the sad realization that school teaching is very low paying and a lot of work if you do it right and I didn't want to join the legion of people doing it wrong. Also, to make it pencil out, can you muster the startup costs and find sufficient paying students to make a go of it with at least 5 or 10 teachers? Do you have the managerial skills to manage a project of that size?

Yep, you could rent a large house and rent rooms and provide a school with 1 or 2 teachers, but that would be a very small business based on the ebb and flow of casual students who only blow thru for a week or 2.

Incidentally, I too like small classes and think the one-on-one teaching here is grossly overrated, but cost effective because of the low cost of bright literate tutors, most of whom lack the training for actual classroom management.

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