Runawasi is a Quechua word meaning "house of the people". It refers to our school as a meeting place. We offer Spanish, Quechua and Ayamara lessons at all levels. Advanced students may specialize in Bolivian and Latinoamerican literature or a subject of their choice. In addition to learning the language you will achieve a better awareness of reality in Bolivia and Latin America.
The school is a one-story building built around a small inner patio. It has nine classrooms used for groups of up to three students or for individual classes, an office and two toilets. In front of the building is another small patio where everybody gathers during the half hour break to chat, plan afternoon and night activities or excursions. Here you can get delicious fruit juices, milkshakes, tea, coffee and sandwiches.
If you like you can have classes outdoors, under a parasol, in one of the patios. Two classrooms at the bottom of the inner patio can be transformed into a large space for parties. The directors and their staff organize fiestas for the students with the teachers and families. This space also serves for group discussions and video projections. Sometimes there are art exhibitions in the classrooms and halls.
Fifty percent of the students are from Europe, 25% from North America and 25% from other parts of the world. The youngest student was 4 years old and the oldest 76. Most students are between 20 and 40 years old. Our teaching can be adapted to every age and necessity. We have games and special didactic material for children of different ages. For adults, we can offer material related to a subject of their choice.
Our method is direct, participatory and fundamentally communicative. Students and teachers frequently socialize outside of class in traditional and cultural events and excursions. The teachers will even join their students for a night out at bars or clubs if the students ask.
Our Classes
The school forms small groups of no more than three students according to the convenience and the level of the participants, but also according to the needs of the school. Most classes are one-on-one; classes in groups are usually reserved for beginners with very little knowledge or no knowledge of the language.
Teachers advance at the rhythm of the students, they participate, correcting the students, also but let them take an active part in their first short conversations, in the exercises, in the sometimes stammering discussions. As the days go by differences between students grow. Some learn more quickly, or are more interested in grammar or in conversation. Some may need to repeat several times while others get bored repeating. Now it's time to split up the group and begin personalized classes that respond more specifically to the needs and interests of each student.
Sometimes, after many sessions of personalized classes, and when the student has reached an advanced level, small groups are formed with topics of common interest, such as grammar, literature, history, society or economy. These can be discussions or intensive practice of the language. Classes can be started any day of the week. Most students begin with individual classes, which means one teacher - one student. Students with little to no knowledge of the language are placed with teachers which speak their language or a language they both know. After a week, students will be taught by teachers who know several languages and by only Spanish speaking teachers. After reaching a basic knowledge of the Spanish language, subjects of special interest for the student can be integrated in the classes together with the basic material of the school.
We don't know if our program is better than others - we are not interested in comparisons - but it is our desire to be better. We are dedicated to offering a quality service, with a method which adapts to the interests, needs and expectations of each student, and with material which is revised and updated frequently. We have no one definite text. We think that time and experience enrichen our material, both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Our experience changing teacher/student parings almost every day has shown very good results. Teachers bring different experiences and each one develops his or her own method of teaching, develops his or her own way of explaining grammar or other subjects. Without a doubt, no person is the same, for everybody, everyday. There are sympathies and antipathies. Some sympathies end up in friendship.
One of the most important parts of the school's cultural and learning experience is the homestay with a local family. In the Juan XXIII neighborhood there are many families that host students. You can choose among families of various generations, families with many children, or with only one or two members. You can request a single room, a double room, or you and a companion can stay in separate rooms with the same family. Homestay accommodations can be provided for whole families. You will be the only guest, and will get to know the joys, the pains, the fiestas, the customs, traditions, yearnings and longings of a middle class Bolivian family living on the outskirts of the city. These families have strong ties with the mines and in many cases with the countryside, too.
Practice what you have learned in class by talking with members of the family. You will share three meals a day with them - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - as well as fruits and drinks. Full meals are provided every day of the week. If you would prefer to live in a hotel, tell us ahead of time what type of hotel you would like to live in so we can make reservations.
Faculty Information:
Teachers advance at the rhythm of the students, they participate, correcting the students, also but let them take an active part in their first short conversations, in the exercises, in the sometimes stammering discussions.
Sometimes, after many sessions of personalized classes, and when the student has reached an advanced level, small groups are formed with topics of common interest, such as grammar, literature, history, society or economy. These can be discussions or intensive practice of the language.
Classes can be started any day of the week. Most students begin with individual classes, which means one teacher - one student. Students with little to no knowledge of the language are placed with teachers which speak their language or a language they both know. After a week, students will be taught by teachers who know several languages and by only Spanish speaking teachers.
After reaching a basic knowledge of the Spanish language, subjects of special interest for the student can be integrated in the classes together with the basic material of the school.
Other Activities:
We organize a number of optional excursions to areas throughout Bolivia. You might want to take advantage of organized trips to the following locations, or go exploring on your own!
Tunari - One-day excursion to Tunari mountain, with 5' 200 m the highest mountain of the Tunari Cordillera, which limits the city of Cochabamba at the north. It is the habitat of condors, vicuñas, lamas, vizcachas, Andean wild geese and many others.
Tropical rainforest of Cochabamba - three days in the tropical rainforest of Cochabamba, in a school owned cabin or house. Bathing in the rivers, walks through the jungle, canoe trip on the Chapare river.
Catavi - three days in the mining center Catavi-Siglo XX, that at a time was one of the biggest tin producer of the occidental world. Practical classes with emphasis on Bolivian history and actuality.
La Paz - is the highest capital of the world, situated between 3' 200 and 4' 000 m above sea level, between immense plains and majestic mountains. The Illimani, symbol of La Paz, rises protecting this impressing city, center of commerce, finance and government. It is a city full of contradictions, with a majoritarian Aymara population and a vast cultural diversity.
Tiwanaku - Tiwanaku is considered the most important culture of the precolumbian period in Bolivian territory and in South America. In the course of two millenaries it achieved important advances in science and art. Proofs are the cultivation techniques in beds on flat land, and terraces on the hill sides. Also surprises their architecture where they put on record astronomical knowledge molded delicately into different types of lithic materials. Its capital, also called Tiwanaku, is situated at 70 km west of La Paz at an altitude of 3' 845 m above sea level. (Archeol.. Guide Bolivia, Archeol. Javier Escalante M.)
Incallajta - is the biggest complex of Inca ruins found until now in Bolivia (ca. 25 ha). The main building is a hall of 81 to 27 m. The construction method of Incallajta follows the classical Inca model: a strategically situated peninsula surrounded by three rivers and dominated by a fortified mountain. (Archeology in Cochabamba - UMSS)
Torotoro - is a national park with an enchanted landscape. It has caverns with estalactites and estalagmites, dinosaur footprints, giant turtle fosiles, cave drawings, precolumbian fortresses. It is 6-7 hrs by car and 20 min. by plane from Cochabamba.
Sucre - known as the "White City of the Americas", it is the historic and legal capital of Bolivia, which has maintained its colonial character. Its university attracts students from all over Bolivia and the neighbor countries. Its museums, culture and handicrafts make a visit memorable. A mude witness, protagonist of the region's history, a deity for the native, a 1' 400 year old cedar tree can be visited in the garden of the Recoleta Museum. On Sundays, Tarabuco becomes a market and meeting place for the magnificently dressed Tarabuqueños, descendants of the Yamparaez warriors, who defeated the Spanish conquerors in several occasions.
Uyuni - Uyuni has the biggest salt desert of the world. It is situated at 4´ 000 m above sea level. There are islands covered with giant cactus. Further to the south, incredible volcanic landscapes, with some volcanoes still in activity, deserts, geysers, fumaroles and the famous volcanic lagoons which host flamingos and change colors, fill with awe and admiration.
Potosi - founded in 1545, during the colony Potosí was the most important town of the continent, bigger than London or Paris at that time. The town is dominated by the Cerro Rico - the Rich Mountain, where hundreds of thousand men, the native mitayos and black slaves, imported from Africa, disappeared. The visitor of this town-museum will feel moved to the Middle Age. Nearby are the hot springs of Tarapaya, a volcano lagoon, which distributes its water to several termal resorts.
Please note: for excursions to the rainforest, and trips to the tropical lowlands, or to Brazil, a yellow fever vaccination is necessary.
Facility Information:
We use grammar, dialogs, exercises, reading, videos, pictures, etc., to make communication possible from the first day of classes. Most of the material we use is created by the school’s director and reflects life within the neighborhood in which the students live and attend school, as well as the daily reality of Cochabamba, Bolivia and Latin America.
Notes:
Standard (20 lessons/week) - US $150;
Intensive (25 lessons/week) - US $187.50;
We also offer Super Intensive classes of more than 5 hours at the same price as the Intensive classes (USD 7.50/hr.);
Family (per person) single or double room, full board:
- 1 month (4 x 7 days) - US $210;
- 1 week (7 days) - US $52.50;
- 1 day - US $7.50;
Price Includes:
- Course material,
- Transfer from airport/bus terminal to homestay,
- Info material.
Prices exclude optional excursions.
Also see Vacation Schools in:
South America
Bolivia
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