Learn Spanish in Bocas del Toro, Panama

I started my time at Habla Ya with knowing almost no spanish and by the time I left four month later I was able to have conversations in spanish. Im really thankful for my time in Bocas del Toro, the environment is wonderful, the people are friendly and I love the culture and the ”no stress”-vibe. I’m especially grateful for my teacher Iraida Howard who is a great teacher with a lot of patience (which is helpful when you struggle with verbs, conjugations and thousands of palabras ;)), she’s also responsive to what you might need extra support with and her positivity and humor make the lessons fun and educational.
Muchas gracias por todo Habla Ya y mi profesora Iraida. Extraño Panama ya! Espero que pueda volver algún dia!

I just finished 4 1/2 unplaned weeks of language school in Bocas. I got in, in the middle of the week and just could attend a on going class. In my second week i could switch to private classes in the afternoon. So many thanks to the frontdesk for the flexibility. With Lineth i got an amazing teacher who was always adapting properly to my language level in speaking und boosting it in such a short time to a new level! So I got really into spanish and got joy of using it, what made me take 3 weeks more of private lessons with Lineth. By arriving i couldn‘t even build one proper sentence, now am able to have a real conversation.

First i really would have prefered to take private classes in the morning, whats not possible, as the teachers have regular classes in the morning. but with classes from 3-5 you still have time to do something in the morning or learning a bit on your own. Some people take 4 hours of private classes per day-> for me 2 hours per day where perfect as its more intens (2 classes private are equal to 4 hours in a regular class)

ps. i cant t rate the housing as i did organise it on my own.

A great place to learn Spanish. I initially only signed up for 1 week but added a second week because I was really enjoying it and learning a lot. Benita is an amazing and patient teacher who knows her stuff. Expensive but worth the money.

Bocas itself didn't have as great and as convenient beaches as I was expecting but it was still a really cool spot. Mamallenas was a nice hostel with an amazing back deck that you can swim from.

Now I just need to keep practicing to make sure I don't lose what I have learned. So far I have found it a lot easier to get around Central America with my improved Spanish.

And now I'm just rambling to get my characters up to 750. Not sure why they need so many characters to write a simple review. Need 6 more, there we go.

My family and I spent two weeks at the Habla Ya Bocas del Toro campus. Our experience was great. My teacher Benita was outstanding. She did a great job of push us forward at a pace that kept things moving. She was always happy to change gears to meet our individual learning needs. This was my first time taking a Spanish class and my Spanish grammar improved significantly. It was a great experience.

My daughters (10 and 6) had classes with Yessica who was absolutely great

The town was beautiful and felt very safe. Important, traveling with a young family. We did a homestay with Romaldo and Viodelda who were lovely! They made an effort to help us practice our Spanish, and the food was incredible. It was a highlight of our trip! We would definitely recommend this experience!

My family and I spent two weeks at the Habla Ya Boquete campus. Our experience was great. My teachers Alex and Leydis were outstanding. They were attentive and tailored the content to my learning needs. This was my first experience taking Spanish classes and I feel much more confident speaking now!

My daughters (10 and 6) had classes with Erian who was absolutely incredible - the girls were excited to be there, worked hard for the entire 4 hour class and picked up a ton of Spanish.

The town was beautiful and felt very safe. Important, traveling with a young family. We stayed nearby at the Isla Verde which was beautiful. The town is lovely with orange trees everywhere. Pretty much everything was walkable which was great too. It was overall a great experience and I would absolutely go back again.

The highlights of this school are their dedicated teachers. Partly they did much more than necessary: Alex of Boquete introduced me e.g. to his family and friends and we spent a wonderful weekend together which enabled me to get an insight into local family life.
I also stayed with host families and had the chance to see a couple of different host families (because I changed locations and also through other students). All of them were dedicated and warm hearted, however, the standard (also the level of conversation, if you are an advanced Spanish speaker) differs. Some families really live in very basic conditions others not. If you are not satisfied, it might be worth to ask for a change. The difference between what a student pays (for accommodation at host families or classes) and what the families and teachers receive seems quite unfair, even when you take into account that the school has expenses for renting the location etc. and I can compare it to other schools that I have been to.
However, I would come again because the dedication of teachers and other staff as well as the warm hearted reception by the host families (in spite of the little money that they receive by the schools) was outstanding.

I studied at habla ya for 3 weeks and I had Lineth as my teacher. I was very happy that I could study with her for the whole free weeks. Lineth is a very great teacher. I learned a lot during the 3 weeks and the lessons never got boring with her. She doesn't just use the book during class, we also did a lot of talking, played games and so on. Like that i could improve my spanish a lot. It was also great that there were not many other people in my class, for 2 weeks we were 2 and one week I was alone. I would definitely love to go back to habla ya to study with Lineth!
I also liked Boca del Toro. There are many nice beaches to go to and very good restaurants which are quite cheap. Unfortunately, it has been raining a lot when I was there but I still had a great time.

A friend and I took a course with Iraida. It was excellent, and it moved at the perfect pace for my current level of Spanish. Iraida and all the staff were very accommodating, knowledgeable and friendly. I recommend taking one of their courses if you are ever in Bocas!!! We took a B2 Level series and worked on all of the tenses at one point or another. We focused on the last 7-8 tenses and worked on the subjunctive. It is empowering to have knowledge of all the tenses and to have the ability to use new lesser used terms (some local) for day to day activities. Iraida was very flexible, particularly when we had to miss a lesson. We were allowed to reschedule to make up the time we missed. If you come to Bocas, taking a course here is an excellent way to immerse yourself in the culture here. You will be able to immediately apply what you learn in the class when you leave the campus. ---------------------------------