Based at a beautiful and peaceful 20-hectare organic farming hacienda, located in the north west of the Province of Pichincha (map of Ecuador), it is a perfect backdrop for learning Spanish in a comfortable, healthy and relaxed atmosphere.
Students take Spanish classes in the afternoon, following a morning of optional educational volunteer work around the hacienda. Daily activities include working with traditional Andean tools in the fields, applying modern techniques of organic agriculture in our extensive vegetable gardens, or perhaps working with the animals - an early rise to milk the cows!
*NEW* to the farm are Kundalini yoga classes. Now you can integrate yoga and meditation into your stay here. For more details visit our partners website: www.fbu.com.ec
This program is totally flexible, giving students independent comfortable accommodation, with or without meals (you can help yourself to the tasty delights of the vegetable garden or eat with an Ecuadorian family) and for those preferring to just take classes, there are a variety of tourist possibilities with which to keep busy; pre-Incan ruins at Cochasquí, local community visits, the Biscocho ovens in Otavalo or for the more active, a march to the nearby Lagunas de Mojanda.
ISE organize the Spanish teacher to visit the students once per day from the Otavalo School. Your mornings can be organized with the Volunteer program coordinator at the farm when you arrive.
Individual Classes |
Group Classes |
|
| 1 week | $295 | $265 |
| 2 weeks | $585 | $525 |
| 3 weeks | $870 | $770 |
| 4 weeks | $1150 | $1020 |
| Additional Week | $280 | $225 |
Included:
1) Airport transfer upon arrival in Quito.
2) 20 hours of one to one Spanish course (Individual) / 20 hours of group Spanish classes with max. 4 students per class.(Group)
3) Round-trip Quito - Farm - Quito (2 hours by bus).
4) Optional participation in organic agriculture volunteer program
5) Accommodation in double rooms 6 days/5 nights per week.
6) Full board (breakfast, lunch and dinner).
7) Diploma or certificate of studies.
For further details about the volunteer work please visit our partner's web page, the Fundacion Brethren y Unida (FBU), at www.fbu.com.ec.
Student COMMENTS
This student particpated in 5 of the Institutos programs during December 2005 and January 2006; Otavalo, Travelling Program, Hacienda, Amazon, and Galapagos. Please feel free to contact here with any questions you may have.
Dear Eugenio,
Thanks for arranging a fantastic program for me, I enjoyed every day of my visit to Ecuador. I wanted to ask if I could have complete mailing addresses of the families I stayed with in Ecuador and the mailing addresses of my teachers. I would like to send thank yous.
I also wanted to let you know that I enjoyed my last week at the FBU Hacienda very much. I believe FBU is doing a great service to the communities and to the students their programs serve, and I am planning to go back and volunteer in one of their teaching programs (hopefully later this year).
I hope your programs continue to work with FBU, placing student/volunteers or referring past or current students to their programs. While involved in your language program I was introduced to other students who were interested in volunteer opportunities in Ecuador after their Spanish studies; at the time I didn't know about FBU or else I would have referred them to their programs - I believe the students in your language programs would benefit from knowing about FBU volunteer programs.
Thanks again, Ardina Greco
amg2028@columbia.edu
Further comments...
