We are now a few weeks into our last trimester here at the Spanish Language Institute, preparing to move to Ecuador in April. For our studies this trimester, we have elected to do things a bit differently than we did the first two trimesters.
We are both taking a Grammar class. But we have made some changes for our Language portion.
I (Steve) am taking the FARO option. It’s an acronym for Facilitator, Ayudante (helper), Route, Observe. Every week, I meet with at least 7 local people to discuss various themes, all in Spanish. I review these themes with my helper, and discuss them in class with my facilitator. Here is a picture of me with Henry, one of the people I have been meeting with.
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Henry owned a restaurant in a food court about a ten-minute bus ride from here. I use the past tense because last week when we went to visit him, his restaurant was closed and locked. I asked the lady in the restaurant next door, and she told me that he had gone out of business. I called the phone number that he gave me, but it was disconnected. I miss him already because we had some great conversations, and it was always so positive talking with him.
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Diane has chosen to have a private language teacher. Maritza, who is a teacher at the Institute, comes to our apartment two days per week for an hour and a half. This has worked out really well because Maritza is tailoring her teaching to language and vocabulary that is relevant to what Diane may be doing in Ecuador. Here is a picture of Maritza and Diane at our kitchen table.
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Only 60 more days in Costa Rica - but who’s counting???
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