Learning Spanish in Bocas del Toro

Disclaimer: I haven’t been asked or paid to write this post.  I wanted to share my awesome experience learning Spanish with Habla Ya in Bocas, everything I’ve written is my honest opinion of the experience!

 

I have always had a passion for learning languages.  I’ve taken Spanish classes since the sixth grade, minored in Spanish in college, and studied abroad for a semester in Costa Rica.   Fast forward five years after college, despite traveling to Spanish-speaking countries a few times each year, and I’m finding my language skills getting a little rusty.

Working a full-time job in the US where I do not work with Spanish speakers, I haven’t had much opportunity to practice my conversational skills every day.  I try to read the news in Spanish, watch Spanish language tv and movies, and use Duolingo to practice as much as a can.  But, it isn’t the same as having a full immersion experience.  Looking back to my study abroad experience in Costa Rica, I was speaking, reading, writing, living everyday entirely in Spanish.  I remember I even started to have dreams in Spanish.  That is what I needed to refresh my skills and make real improvements.

So, this year I decided to take a Spanish language course.

I already knew I wanted to return to Panama after falling in love on my first trip in December.  After doing some research, I found Habla Ya.

Habla Ya is a Spanish language school in Panama with three different locations:  Panama City, Boquete, and Bocas del Toro.  My inner mermaid was calling me toward their Bocas del Toro location and I am so glad she did!

Habla Ya has amazing customer service and communication!

They called me on the phone the same day I first emailed them.   It was so nice to talk with someone in real time to make all my arrangements for the course. I am a pretty independent traveler and I had already arranged all of my transportation and accommodations in Panama before reaching out to them, but they were ready to help with arranging any of these things if I needed it.  They asked if I’d already had accommodations in Panama City and how I planned on getting to Bocas del Toro. While I didn’t need much help making arrangements, if you want or need someone to help you, I cannot recommend Habla Ya enough!  They will help walk you through making any arrangements accommodation and transportation wise that you may need assistance with.

 

 

The Classroom Experience

When I arrived in Bocas on the weekend, I stopped by the office to take a quick oral assessment of my Spanish skills for class placement.  Ludo in the office was super nice and helpful.  I told him I was interested in volunteer opportunities while I was there and he gave me the contact information for some people with Give and Surf.   Habla Ya is really helpful at helping you arrange things outside of class too! The oral assessment was very low key, one of the teachers asked me a few questions and placed me in my level.

Monday I started classes.  My first class placement felt too easy for me and the teacher recommended me to move up a level.  Everyone was very accommodating and wanted to make sure I was in the right level to meet my learning needs.  Class sizes were very small.  I was there for 3 weeks.  My first week of classes ended up being one-on-one with the teacher, the second 5 people including me, and my final week only had 3 people in the class including me.  With the small class sizes, you really get the individual attention and opportunity to practice your speaking and conversation skills that you need to make quick improvements.

Iraida was my teacher for 2 of the 3 weeks at Habla Ya.  I really loved being in her class. Habla Ya’s classes focus on using the language skills learned in real conversation, so you get real practice speaking.  In my level B2 classes we learned the past tenses, indirect and direct objects, and the use of por/para.  After learning grammar skills, we would talk and have a conversation about many different things using the verb tenses we’d just learned.

Using the skills in actual conversation really helped make it more natural when I used them in everyday conversation outside of class.  I really enjoyed our classroom conversations.  It didn’t feel just like school but like you are talking with friends.  I met students from all over the world and I learned so much about different cultures from our conversations in class!

I have noticed a significant improvement in my speaking ability after taking this course.

Hanging out by the beach after class!

The Immersion Experience

Panama is a Spanish speaking country, so it goes without saying, you will definitely be speaking Spanish wherever you travel.  That said, Bocas del Toro is a tourist destination and many people do speak English as well.  My goal for this experience was to speak Spanish as much as possible and improve my speaking skills.  I feel like I truly did accomplish that.  As with any learning experience, what you get out of it depends on what you want to put in.

Habla Ya will help you to arrange a homestay if you’d like to live with a host family.  Because I work online and I needed a private space with a solid wifi connection, I wasn’t able to do the homestay.  Everyone I had met that went this route had great things to say about it though.

In my day to day activities, I made it a priority to speak Spanish with everyone I met.  The boat drivers, waiters, tour operators, shopkeepers… A lot of times, people would begin to speak with me in English, however once I said that I speak Spanish and I want to practice my conversation skills, everyone was very happy to have a nice chat.  People really appreciate that you are learning their language and that you have a genuine interest in their country and culture.

The best thing about Bocas del Toro was how friendly everyone was.

Studying Spanish at Habla Ya is the highlight of my entire summer.  My Spanish skills have improved immensely.  I have so much more confidence in my speaking ability.   The classes were always interesting. Even though I was in class all morning 8-12, I never felt bored.  I was always speaking.  All of the teachers do a great job of making class engaging.  Bocas del Toro’s beach location was also a huge plus!  It was a great learning experience!

If you are interested in Spanish classes in Panama, you can contact Habla Ya here through their website.