administrator's blog

Xela is a great place to study Spanish, volunteer, or both! Here is a great article from XelaWho Magazine:

El Nahual is gearing up for an exciting summer ahead!  We hope that you will join us here for some beneficial Spanish instruction and meaningful volunteer opportunities.  If you need another reason to come and study and volunteer with us, El Nahual has been chosen to be in Barefoot Atlas´ newest book: Volunteer Guatemala and Belize.  

Students in Guatemala are returning to classes this week!

El Nahual would love to keep everyone up to date with the new and exciting developments at the Education Centre.  The best way for us to do this, is if you 'Like'  our  'El Nahual Spanish School & Community Education Centre' facebook page.

Currently we have just over 190 'likes' which is pretty good going since the new page has been in existence for less than five months. This goes to show the number of people who are interested in our work and support for the disadvantaged communities of Xela.

Here at El Nahual it is all hands to the pump with the beginning of the school holidays. Our 'Manos de Colores' classes are now taking place both in the morning 9-11am, and in the afternoon 2:30-5pm.

We have enrolled a great number of new students, who are now taking advantage of the broad range of classes available every weekday. These include classes of: Spanish language and reading, English, Art, Guitar and Sport.

To keep yourself up to date with all the happenings at El Nahual, please 'Like' our facebook page. We constantly update the page, providing a wealth of information about developments in our educational programmes, special events for the children, as well as photos of our numerous volunteer trips. 

It only takes a matter of seconds to 'Like' our page and the address is: 

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/El-Nahual-Spanish-School-Community-Education-Centre/106774839411307

El Nahual is delighted to announce the arrival of our new ‘Education Programme Coordinator’ Quinn Neidig. Quinn, originally from York, Pennsylvania, has moved to Guatemala from New York or as the locals call it ´La Gran Manzana´. Quinn will be dedicating her time to our educational programmes at El Nahual and the four external schools where we provide English classes. Quinn brings to El Nahual a great amount of experience from having taught for four years in the New York state education system as a Spanish teacher.

El Nahual has recently welcomed a number of new volunteers who will be studying with us and dedicating their time to our community projects. Joel and Christie find themselves in Guatemala after having recently spent time in Cuba and Mexico. They will be with us for a couple of months, concentrating their efforts on teaching English at the four schools to whom El Nahual is affilated.

El Nahual is delighted to announce its new partnership with the Health Centre, Centro de Orientacion Familiar. This will allow volunteers the opportunity to assist in the Health Centre, located in Xela´s Zona 3. The Medical Centre has been established for a number of years and supports under privileged families who struggle to afford and access health services and medicine.

El Nahual volunteers now have the opportunity to devote time in our various educational programmes, the community garden, publicity work and now the Medical Centre, El Centro de Orientacion Familiar.

This week everyone at El Nahual will be celebrating 'Dia del Maestro' (Day of the Teacher) by sharing a lunch on Friday prepared by Paty. On the menu will be churrasco and arroz, with drinks and desserts being provided by volunteers and students. This meal will be in place of our 'almuerzo comunitario' (community lunch) when teachers, students and volunteers come together and prepare tasty food based on a particular theme. Previous themes have included: favourite food from your homeland, foods beginning with the letter 'B', your favourite Guatemalan street food, Italian and Indian food.