Teaching in Spain and a Trip for Almost Free

We had one of the most unforgettable and rewarding couples travel experiences of our lives when we traveled to Spain for a week to teach conversational English to corporate business executives in and around Madrid.

By the end of the program we all hugged and tears flowed as we forged lasting friendships and bonds that would likely last a lifetime.

How does this have anything to do with couples travel, you may be wondering?

Vaughtantown offers an experience for couples and families to travel to various locations throughout Europe while the adults in the family “teach” conversational English to the adults. You can even bring your kids and the kids can mingle, socialize, play and “teach” the children.

What better than to be immersed in a culture and international human experience than than as a couple or family serving, and while staying for free at a four star resort or castle, dining, living, recreating and bonding with Europeans.

We chose to go in October to be part of our Vaughantown experience program. We stayed in Gredos, Avila, Spain on a gorgeous ranch in the countryside just a few hours from Madrid.. There we dined with the Spaniards three times a day enjoying sumptuous local fare. We developed skits and plays, team building exercises, mock phone calls and role playing projects, and toured the historic countryside and castles with our eager Spanish friends.

Every morning we woke to native birds serenading us, while we watched colts frolicking in the pastures as far as the eye could see. We walked along centuries old rock walls and castles and at night we relaxed with our new friends in front of blazing fireplaces while sipping local wines and snacking on local produce and cheeses and meats. Sometimes we talked till the wee hours of the morning with our newfound friends. We even took afternoon siestas like our friends.

While technically it was “work” it never felt like such as we helped our friends grow in their command of their conversational skills.

Since leaving, we have dozens of Spanish friends who will welcome us back to their fascinating country anytime and who feel indebted to us for improving their corporate job performance. Many of them work for companies such as Oracle, HP, solar energy firms, law, aviation, and other high profile jobs requiring outstanding conversational English skills. Most had taken grammar courses and could conjugate a verb but would be perplexed with many nuances of our language and our help was invaluable in giving them that edge.

It was structured in the sense that we would have a schedule of certain activities and outings to do with various participants each day in groups and one on one yet it never felt rigid or anything but fun and enjoyable.

Our Spanish friends even threw a party of us Anglos at the end of our stay which included a dance party the last night. It was a very profound and moving experience to see about 40 people, have of them the Spaniards and the other half the English speaking “teachers” from Australia, England, Texas, San Diego, Florida, the Carolinas, and South Africa, all come together and blend as a group with one common goal to help and enrich one another while forming meaningful friendships.

If teaching and truly immersing yourselves in a culture with its customs, foods, laws, and human experience is of interest, you will want to consider a Vaughantown couples or family program.

There are various programs with differing duration, location, and ages so spend a little time on the website and see if one fits your needs.

You will teach but you will also learn and be blessed in ways you may not even fathom.