Na'atik Language and Culture Institute

I am 69 and retired. I was fed up with my 5 years learning Spanish with DuoLingo. I determined I needed an immersion program to jolt me into being able to converse with others (I tried a tutor which helped but was still not enuf). So my adult daughter and I enrolled for the school in February 2026. She speaks Spanish much better than me but wanted to improve even more and we got to spend 11 days together, something we hadn’t done since she was a kid. Elizabeth was meticulous at providing information and making sure we understood how the program worked. To say this was a reboot for me is putting it mildly. During the weeklong classes (4 hrs/day for 5 days), activities in and around Carrillo, and living and eating with our very gracious and sweet host family, I finally became able to differentiate words when people spoke. And while I didn’t suddenly start speaking confidently I could finally see how that would happen. Being surrounded by people primarily speaking Spanish for 11 days made my mind to start thinking in Spanish. And now I find myself constructing sentences when I am idle and thinking how I would answer a question in Spanish. I have also stopped translating sentences. I cannot recommend Na’atik more highly. And both my daughter and I plan on going back for 2-4 weeks sometime in the next few years.

I had a really fun time through this program! I felt like this school was really good at communicating and I felt that three weeks was perfect for a portion of my abroad trip. My host family was so nice and instantly treated me like one of their own and I will miss them as I continue to travel.

Wow, I loved my experience at Na’atik. The town/city is really friendly and walkable. I was walking around alone as a foreign looking woman of color with my phone out on Google maps, completely safe and comfortable. My host family is so lovely and cooked me three delicious vegetarian meals a day. Plus tropical fruit EVERYDAY. Loved my private classes and excursions too. Can’t wait to come back