The Spanish Language Institute - Instituto de Lengua Espanola (ILE)

We are really enjoying the language school - the teachers, staff, and other students are all great.  Here are some pictures so you can have a visual of where we go to school.

  

This is the front gate of the school where we enter every day.  There is also another entrance at the "bottom" of the school.  Many students use the other entrance, but we don't need to because of where we live and the direction we walk to school.

 

This is the Administration building.  Many of the offices for the staff are in this building, the library and computer lab are also here.

Another view of the Administration building.

This is the Chapel building.  Chapel is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Attendance is not required but we go most of the time.  The Chapel services are organized by student leaders.

A view down the walkway of the school.  The school sits on a slope - the entrance of the school is the high point and it goes down from there.  These two buildings are where we have our classes.  And if you keep walking down the path, you will get to the Sojourn Academy (K-12); many of the adult missionaries in language school enroll their children in the school.   Some of the teachers at the language school enroll their children at the school, and children from the community also attend.

This is a better view of the 2-story classroom building that is visible in the previous picture.

This is the hallway in the lower level of the building.

This is the other classroom building, it is one story.

This is the hallway of the second building.

This is an important building. It is called "Cosas R Us", but we call it Cosas (Things) for short.  Here we can buy snacks, drinks, and candy during our breaks.  They also serve lunch everyday - they have several menu items that you can order any day, and they also have a "Plato del Dia" (meal of the day).  This is also the place where we get our mail - in the back room there are shelves that are divided by letters of the alphabet, representing the last names of students.  We check the "S" shelf everyday!

This is the Terraza - you can see "Cosas" in the background.  During breaks or lunch this area is occupied by students.

Our typical school day...

School starts at 7:30 AM.  We leave our apartment at 7:10 or 7:15 and walk there.  Hannah has Gramatica (Grammar) class from 7:30 to 9:15, with a 5 minute break halfway through.  I do not have class at that time and I go to the library to do homework and study.

From 9:15 - 10:20 there is a break and there are no classes.  We do different things depending on the day.  On Tuesday and Thursday we generally attend the Chapel service.  On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we generally go to the Terraza and have a snack and talk with friends.

At 10:20, I go to Gramatica class (a higher level than Hannah) until 12:05, with a 5 minute break halfway through.  Hannah goes to Lenguaje (speech & language) class from 10:20 to 11:10, then she goes to Fonetica (Phonetics) class from 11:15 to 12:05.

At this point Hannah is done with her classes for the day, but I have a one-on-one Lenguaje class for an hour starting at 1:30.  My Lenguaje class is mostly me talking to my teacher about different topics.  For example, one time I was asked to share several Bible verses and why they were important to me.  Another time I shared a Bible study with the theme of "Why is it important to study the Bible".

We usually come back to our apartment for lunch.  After lunch Hannah stays at the apartment and I walk back to school for class.

We have homework assignments most days.  Hannah has a workbook/textbook for each class, and I have one for Gramatica.  For Gramatica our assignments are to complete some practice exercises in the workbook.  My Lenguaje homework is usually to prepare to share about an assigned topic.  Hannah generally has workbook assignments in Lenguaje and Fonetica, but sometimes has to prepare a presentation as well.