Spanish Immersion in Antigua, Guatemala | Guatemala Spanish School

Name: Spanish Immersion in Antigua, Guatemala | Guatemala Spanish School
Brand: Maximo Nivel
SKU: 100770
Rating: 4.82 (66 reviews)

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4.82 Rating

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Location

Guatemala
- Antigua

Length

1 to 52 weeks

Language

Spanish

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Program Details

Language Level

BeginnerIntermediateAdvanced

Immersion Level

Intensive Standard

Certifications

DELE (Spanish)

Specialized Courses

Business Medical Professional Specific Purposes

Class Size

Private Lessons Small Class (1-7)

Weekly Classroom Hours

Housing

Apartment Host Family Hostel Hotel

Pricing

Starting Price

What's Included

Accommodation Activities Classes

Last Updated: Apr 15, 2022

Last Reviewed: Jul 19, 2023

Wish List

28 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Come to Antigua, Guatemala—a quaint, colonial town with adventure at its fingertips. Maximo Nivel’s site has a staff of experienced native instructors waiting for you. Courses are intensive, but hours are flexible. Choose between private or small group classes from 1 to 8 hours a day. You’ll receive a free placement exam upon arrival.

What to Expect:
Certified Native Instructors Only
Transportation, Accommodation & Meals Included
No Registration or Processing Fees
Access to Maximo’s Facilities 7 Days a Week

Engage with the rich history of Guatemala! Learn Spanish through true immersion!

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Diversity & Inclusion

LGBTQIA+ Support

At Maximo Nivel, we deeply value diversity in all its forms. We maintain an open-minded approach, recognizing the significance of varied perspectives, intelligent discourse, and the transformative power of a positive mindset. We warmly welcome and respect individuals from all backgrounds, irrespective of politics, gender, gender identity, age, race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. Whether it’s volunteering, Spanish immersion, TEFL certification, international internships, university courses, or GAP year experiences, members of the LGBTQIA+ community are wholeheartedly invited to participate in our programs.

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Impact

Ethical Impact

At Maximo Nivel, we work in close partnership with our local communities in Latin America to ensure that volunteer projects align with genuine local needs, fostering meaningful and relevant impact. We emphasize sustainable initiatives designed for enduring change, rather than short-term interventions. By promoting cultural sensitivity, we facilitate enriching exchanges rooted in mutual respect, and our commitment to local employment further integrates and supports the communities we serve.

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Program Highlights

Free Tandem Conversation Program
Earn University Credits
DELE Exam Prep Available
Explore Central America—On-Site Travel Agency
Add-on TEFL Certification, Surf School or Scuba Certification

Popular Programs

Small Group Spanish Language Classes in Guatemala

Small group classes are designed to facilitate interaction among all learners in the group. These groups help provide a “safety net” and take the pressure off, everyone’s in it together! Other learners may ask questions that you have not thought of and help to bring more clarity to each lesson. Small classes also foster a fun social environment in which it's always easy to make friends and find study partners.

Private Spanish Classes in Guatemala

Move through material at your own pace in our private classes that allow you to focus on material that is especially relevant to YOU. All teaching and feedback will be 100% personalized and you'll enjoy uninterrupted attention from your teacher. We'll tailor the lessons to you and your personal learning style forms the basis for every lesson. We offer private classes that are very flexible in terms of organizing your time in-country

Intensive Language Program in Guatemala

Combine daily small-group and private Spanish classes for a total of 6 hours of language learning per day! In this program, you'll have the added bonus of one-on-one attention to focus on areas specific to you. Maintain structured group classes while remaining flexible with your private classes to help advance your Spanish level more quickly.

University Spanish in Guatemala

Maximo Nivel offers a wide variety of university Spanish courses ranging from 100 to 400 level courses. These programs may be grouped or 1-on-1 private lessons. University courses are 60-80 hours and require 3-4 weeks to complete in order to earn academic credit.

Spanish for Special Purposes

Spanish for Special Purposes (SSP) includes courses in Medical Spanish and Spanish for Business. SSP teachers are some of our most experienced instructors and have additional expertise in Business and Healthcare. SSP programs are intended for medical students, traveling doctors and nurses, and business people who need specialized Spanish for their careers. SSP Classes are best taught in a 2-hour per day format.

Program Reviews

4.82 Rating

based on 66 reviews

Leave a Review

Rating Spread Language

5 rating 89.39%
4 rating 7.58%
3 rating 0%
2 rating 1.52%
1 rating 1.52%

Instruction 4.9
Support 4.85
Fun 4.8
Housing 4.7
Value 4.7

Showing 65 - 66 of 66 reviews

I was really happy with Máximo Nivel, for a lot of reasons including 1) The teachers are friendly and experienced, 2) all the employees are friendly and helpful, 2) the cost is low, 3) the building is very pleasant, 4) they have computers and wifi for the students, 5) they provide free salsa lessons one night a week, 6) they have a little commissary right there, 7) there is also a trusted travel agency on the premises, and 8) they provide a kind of home-base for their students, offering 24-hour support and advice.

On top of all that, they offer a bunch of great programs:
1) They teach Spanish to foreigners
2) They teach English to locals,
3) They train teachers of English as a second language,
4) And they coordinate, organize and support people who come to Guatemala to volunteer.

I was really impressed with them when they gave me a list of the managers' phone numbers and told me to call any time of the day or night if I needed help. It was great to know that I could rely on that kind of support in a foreign country. (Fortunately, I never needed to call anyone in the middle of the night.)

I mostly gave Maximo Nivel the highest possible ratings in gooverseas.com, but for Housing I lowered it a little to 8. The other students I talked to seemed very happy with the homestays that Maximo Nivel arranged for them, but the school was not able to help me find an apartment for my stay. They told me that is something they intend to improve upon in the future.

I also gave a rating of 6 for safety. Maximo Nivel itself is VERY safe. Guatemala, and Antigua particularly, is very beautiful, and I am so glad I went there. I'll definitely return some day. But visitors should know that there are dangers there, and even though Antigua is one of the safest places in Guatemala, one still has to be alert.

Maximo Nivel is amazing at helping out when you need it with any sort of problem or question. They have great facilities and excellent Spanish teachers if you are looking to improve your Spanish. My volunteer experience and home stay was excellent as well with a great deal of assistance and a great cultural learning experience.
I taught English to 4 classes of elementary school kids outside of Antigua and it was a great experience. I volunteered for five weeks, but I wish I could have stayed months and months longer. I feel like I have helped a community while improving my own Spanish. As well as getting to know another community and culture. Overall Maximo did an excellent job in all aspects of my trip and I would recommend them to anyone and everyone!!!

Questions & Answers

How much cash USD (spending money) do you recommend bringing for a 4 week course?

Hello! It depends on which country you are interested in but generally speaking we recommend $50-$70 per week for spending money on daily lunches, snacks, and transportation. If you are interested in buying souvenirs or doing tours, we recommend more than this ($100-$200 per week depending on the tours you are interested in).

By Maximo Nivel on March 12, 2018

Is an intensive 4-week stay worth it?

Yes, it’s certainly worth it. You could opt for a program where you have classical (approx. 4 students per class) lessons in the morning (9AM-1PM) and return in the afternoon for individual classes (2PM-4PM), which would still leave you plenty of time to explore the town and its surroundings in the evenings and weekends. I did a 6-week stay in the summer of 2015 with only the classical lessons in...

By Yoran on December 12, 2016

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How big was your class size? What was the school like?

My class size varied a bit during the six weeks I took Spanish lessons there (June/July 2015), but it was either 3 or 4 people including myself. The school itself is split up in two different buildings which are very close to each other (about 100m apart) and contain roughly 20 classrooms in total. One building has a nice garden, while the other one has a pleasant roof terrace. The atmosphere is...

By Yoran on September 18, 2015

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Are the teachers locals or Americans who are living abroad?

In our Native Spanish Program, all of our classes are taught by experienced, certified, native Spanish instructors.

By Maximo Nivel on November 2, 2015

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Alumni Interviews

These are in-depth Q&A sessions with verified alumni.

James Apostolidis

Program

Spanish Immersion in Antigua, Guatemala | Guatemala Spanish School

James Apostolidis is a 24 year old Australian currently living in the United States. He has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Queensland and has worked professionally in both Australia and the United Kingdom. He volunteered with Maximo Nivel and As Green As It Gets in Guatemala with his partner Kayla Dill from October 2012 to February 2013, and enjoys hiking, travelling, Japanese food, playing guitar and rock climbing.

Why did you decide to volunteer with Maximo Nivel in Guatemala?

James: We were set up with Maximo Nivel in Guatemala through another volunteering agency called IVHQ. My partner and I are in the process of moving from the UK to Australia, and we have a 5 month wait for her visa to Australia to be approved, and so we were taking a break from work and living temporarily in the US in between the move. Its all a bit confusing really, but the gist of it is that we had some time off and wanted to do something useful with that time. We did some research, and the volunteer program in Guatemala sounded great and didn't break the bank.

Describe your day to day activities as a volunteer.

James: Our day to day life volunteering in Guatemala usually consisted of waking up early and eating breakfast with our host family, then catching a chicken bus from Antigua to San Miguel Escobar where the As Green As It Gets office is. By 8am we either hike up with the farmers to help harvest or tend to their crops, or hitch a ride in the back of a pickup to one of the construction projects on Volcan Agua.

We usually then work doing manual labour until 12:30 - 1:00pm, and get back to Antigua for a quick lunch and our Spanish lessons in the Maximo offices at 3pm.

After that, we get back to our host family for dinner at around 6pm, and from there on the night is ours. Depending on how tired we were / what our local friends were up to, we might spend the night taking salsa lessons, meeting people at a bar, seeing one of the many fiestas constantly going on or just relaxing with a book or a movie. This is our Monday-Friday routine, with the weekends usually set aside for travel to other parts of the country.

What made this experience unique and special?

James: Our volunteering experience was really made special by getting to spend so much time with local farmers and workers - developing genuine friendships with them and getting to share in some genuine cultural experiences. Volunteering for as long as we did, we also got very close with the NGO that Maximo set us up with, and really felt like part of the As Green As It Gets family. We were travelling to fun locations on weekends with the people from AGAIG, as well as taking part in week-long stints in remote areas of Guatemala and helping in the design and implementation of various projects that we feel most shorter-term volunteers may not get the opportunity be involved in.

How has this experience impacted your future?

James: The experience has really impacted the way I view the aid/volunteer industry. There is a seedier side that exists that I hadn't really considered - we were lucky being with great and legitimate organisations such as Maximo Nivel and As Green As It Gets, but spend enough time in the volunteer circuit and you'll also see some less encouraging organisations at work - particularly those centred around working with children. It also makes you realise that attitude is everything - and arriving with a sense of entitlement about volunteering your "free labour" may actually hinder the people that you have arrived to help.

You will also be exposed to a variety of social and economic issues which you may not have considered before - which is generally valuable to experience and broaden your world view. We did so much manual labour and learned a lot of practical construction skills, which will come in very handy when we eventually want to renovate our own house. Additionally, my partner and I are both engineers - so being able to see the difference between design and implementation of various projects was very valuable from a professional standpoint - you really see the value in community involvement. It really is useless to just give a community some new infrastructure without involving them completely - if you want a project to work you need to have the locals understand exactly why they need something, as well as how it works - else it will fall into disuse or disrepair.

Location

Location:

Antigua

Currency:

Guatemalan Quetzal

Weather:

Jan-Mar

81 F / 54 F

Apr-Jun

82 F / 59 F

Jul-Sep

77 F / 61 F

Oct-Dec

75 F / 55 F

Airports:

La Aurora International Airport

( GUA )

Antigua was the capital of Guatemala prior to a major earthquake that left most of the city in ruins. Guatemala city then became the capital, and Antigua city returned into a small town until the whole city was deemed a UNESCO world heritage site. Attractions include monuments and buildings, as they preserve Guatemala's historical beauty and showcase the Spanish influence in the area.

About Maximo Nivel

Founded in 2003, Maximo Nivel is a leading organization in study abroad and educational travel. We are an internationally accredited organization with 4 locally based institutes in 3 of the most beautiful countries in the world—Costa Rica, Guatemala. and Peru. At Maximo Nivel, we strive to set ourselves apart and provide the best education and...