Cuernavaca, Mexico: A Haven for Students learning Spanish


Emily Morse, writer for GoNOMAD, recently traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico to take a multitude of Spanish immersion classes. She lived with a host family during her stay in Mexico. Read about Emily’s adventures in her article; Cuernavaca, Mexico: The Perfect Place to Study Spanish.

“Since the 1960s students have flocked to Cuernavaca to study Spanish and the industry has only grown in the last few decades. More than fifty language schools operate in Cuernavaca today. One of the most famous and most beautiful schools is The Center for Linguistic Multicultural Studies, a part of the Universidad Internacional. Amidst tangerine stucco walls, magenta flowers, and cool palms, this school offers Spanish immersion courses from 8 am until 5 pm.

Beginners usually take another form of grammar classes, but as I only have a week at the Center for Linguistic Multicultural Studies, I enroll in a hodgepodge of courses from ‘Mexico Today’ to business. I spend the final hour of the day in conversation classes where students discuss cultural differences between Mexico and their home country.

My Mexican “mama” Esperanza Carrillo Perez welcomes me warmly and calls me ‘mija’ a conjunction of “mi hija” or my daughter. For a weary traveler arriving in a foreign city, being received as a part of the family is soothing. My room is equally convivial. Pink blankets with a picture of a cartoon character lie on my bed while a massive dresser and a closet have been emptied for my clothing.

In the classes at Universidad Internacional English is forbidden. Even beginners communicate solely in Spanish. My professor Elizabeth handles this challenge gracefully. Her ability to explain complex ideas using a basic Spanish vocabulary takes incredible talent and creativity. All of the professors here have such skills and all have degrees in Education or attend university to acquire such degrees. The professors of advanced elective courses hold degrees in their specialty and it shows. “