New Spanish Immersion Program / Volunteer Program in Oaxaco, Mexico

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I was asked recently for a recommendation on a Spanish language immersion program but came up empty. While I have wanted to take Spanish classes in Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America, I have not yet done so. But I was very interested to learn that a Mexican group I know and love has started to offer just such a program.

I have traveled to Mexico 17 times. 15 of those trips have been volunteer trips to Tijuana with a group called Esperanza (the Spanish word for “hope”). Esperanza is working in Mexico to build communities, but the by product of their work are sturdy cement houses built by the local community with the help of volunteers. Their programs started in Tijuana but have recently expanded to the area around the much more culturally interesting state of Oaxaca. Located in Southern Mexico, Oaxaca also happens to be far from the drug violence that the border cities have experienced.

Esperanza is now in the process of creating a study-abroad program in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, specifically the Rio Grande/Puerto Escondido coastal region. The program would essentially fuse the study abroad experience (with study in Spanish language/Mexican culture and history) with the Esperanza volunteer experience. Three days a week would be spent taking classes at a University in Puerto Escondido, and two days a week would be spent on the Esperanza work sites, similar to what I have participated in around Tijuana. Esperanza has plans to implement programs in Winter and Spring quarter of 2012, as well as a summer 2012 session.

You can learn more about my participation in Esperanza here:

• Voluntourism in Mexico – Special Video Episode 1
• Volunteer Travel to Mexico to Build Houses – Episode 11

And you can learn more about the new Esperanza study abroad experience here:

• Esperanza study abroad in Oaxaca, Mexico
• study abroad application form