Thursday, February 5, 2015

Tourism Officials Promote Guatemala as a Place to Learn Spanish, No Really.....

2/5/2015


GUATEMALA CITY – The Guatemalan Tourism Institute, or Inguat, with support from The Netherlands’ International Association of Students of Economics and Business, is promoting this Central American country as a destination to learn Spanish, Inguat director Pedro Duchez said Wednesday.

The program is starting out with 20 students from Brazil, Romania, Canada and Taiwan who do not speak Spanish and are already in Guatemala to learn the language at private schools, Duchez said.

The students will later share their acquired knowledge of Spanish in their own countries, the Inguat director said.

The foreign students will be assigned to language schools in the colonial city of Antigua, Panajachel, San Pedro La Laguna, Solola and Quetzaltenango that offer 50 percent scholarships, with the balance paid by the students, Duchez said in a press conference.

The alliance with the Dutch organization also seeks to make foreign students promoters of tourism to Guatemala.

In addition to learning Spanish, the students will be involved in social programs in the communities where they stay and will go through a process of “cultural immersion in Guatemala,” Duchez said.

Students will receive two hours of Spanish lessons a day and then work at development projects while living with local families during the six-week course, the Inguat director said.

Among the projects chosen for the students, are cooperatives, school computer labs and English classes, Duchez said.

The 20 students will be challenged to produce a tourism promotional package each week, taking pictures, recording videos and publishing their work on social networks.

Duchez said the student who received the most “likes” would get something extra, but he did not provide details about the bonus.

The official, moreover, did not say how long the program would last.


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