CELAS Maya Spanish School
Language school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
Celas Maya (Centro de Estudios Lingüísticos, Antropológicos y Sociales Maya) is a Spanish language school in Quetzaltenango, also known as Xela, in the western highlands of Guatemala. It has taught Spanish since 1999 and is housed in a building from the 1880s. The school is accredited by the Instituto Cervantes, is an official DELE and SIELE examination centre, a member of IALC, affiliated with The Forum on Education Abroad and an approved Bildungsurlaub centre.
Teaching is mainly one-to-one, with some small-group classes, following the CEFR from A1 to C2. The main programme types are:
- Spanish immersion courses of 20, 25 or 30 hours per week
- Study abroad programmes for universities: summer, semester, faculty-led and graduate programmes
- Medical Spanish with a supervised clinical internship
- DELE and SIELE exam preparation and Business Spanish
- Online one-to-one classes
Seminars on the history of Guatemala, interethnic relations and the Maya worldview complement the language classes, and selected programmes may qualify for transferable university credit. Classes start on Mondays, in a morning (8am-1pm) or afternoon (2pm-7pm) schedule. Students can live with a Guatemalan host family, with three meals a day.
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Housing
Celas Maya places students, volunteers and their family or friends with families from its host family network in Quetzaltenango. A stay normally runs for a week, from Sunday check-in to Saturday evening, with seven nights and three meals a day. Each family provides a furnished room with a single or double bed, bedding and towels, keys to the room and front door, and weekly cleaning. Most host homes are simple houses in the city centre; sharing a bathroom with the family is common, and the school classifies homes by features such as a private bathroom or internet access.
Subjects taught
- Philology, Languages, Literature
- Translation and Interpretation
- Language Courses
- Language Courses and Cultural Immersion Programs
- Spanish Language and Literature (in Language Schools)
- Sciences
- Archeology
- Social and Cultural studies
- Social Studies