Here at AMAUTA Spanish School we pride ourselves on our top quality Spanish courses and volunteer programs. For us, quality has always been very important and that is why we are so pleased to present our new and improved website! AMAUTA means teacher in the native Quechua language of the Peruvian people and it is our aim to teach anyone who wants to learn the Spanish language and about Latin American culture.

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On the 23rd of September each year, Perú celebrates Día del Estudiante (Student Day)! It is a day to recognize the hard work of students, to congratulate and support them on their endeavors to be better people and professionals, and to enjoy the art of learning. Since AMAUTA is a Spanish school, and AMAUTA is full of students, and AMAUTA loves its students, AMAUTA organized a day of celebration!

The day started off as usual with a lovely breakfast of eggs, bread, and fresh juice followed by some Spanish language practice. Then, promptly at 10:00 AM, the bus left the school and made its way along the winding road from Cusco to Pisac, which is a picturesque Andean city located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The jaw dropping views of the fertile lands and historic Incan terraces made this 30-minute bus ride a treat in itself. However, the fun really began once we arrived in Pisac.
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The AMAUTA Volunteer Program provides the unique opportunity to live and work in Cusco, Peru. Spanish students and volunteers will experience first-hand its rich cultural diversity while cultivating a superior level of Spanish proficiency. Through the Volunteer Program, AMAUTA and the volunteers are able to make contributions to Peruvian society and to help bridge the gap between foreign visitors and native Cusqueños.

One of the ways volunteers support our projects, is through donations. Last month, two Dutch volunteers, who worked for 4 weeks in an after school project in Cusco, brought donations from their home country. Together with the AMAUTA Volunteer coordinator, we decided to use the money for two different projects in Cusco: an organization of blind people and a clinic of disabled children. (más…)

There are various Argentinean Christmas plates. On December the 24th, Christmas evening is celebrated with a large meal. Normally Argentineans enjoy a late meal consisting of cold meat and vegetable and fruit salads. They take their time to eat and also their time to prepare. It’s a tradition to eat outside because of the heat during summertime. A few Argentinean Christmas plates are ‘Ensalada Rusa’, ‘Pollo a la Provenzal’, ‘Empanadas’ and ‘Pan Dulce’.

“Pollo a la Provenzal” is a chicken marinated with onions, parsley, garlic, rosemary, sage pepper, salt and finally wrapped in bacon. It is a typical dish that comes from the north of the country, often accompanied by a cold salad, like Salada Rusa. This cold salad consists of carrot, potatoes, peas and mayonnaise.
After the Christmas dinner, Pan Dulce is the preferred Christmas dessert in Argentina; Pan Dulce is similar to fruitcake or muffin with raisins and candied fruit .

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The project Amauta placed me in, involves working with teenage girls between the ages of 13-17. Generally there are anywhere between twelve and eighteen girls. The girls are Extremely enthusiastic to have volunteers around. men. Only a handful of them attend school and have the privilege to leave their home, so all visitors are happily embraced. You do need an intermediate level of Spanish for this project or else you will end up feeling fairly lost. Most of the girls are fairly patient and love helping you look up words in your dictionary if you are struggling with your Spanish. There is little structure to your volunteer actual time in the project, so you need to be comfortable with a more low key environment and building relationships. Otherwise it is great to come up with your own project to do with the girls. Half-way through this project I decided to start an art studio for the girls with money donated from friends and family. They have a large room for making paper which is now a perfect spot to create an art studio. The girls are very excited about this studio project and it was the first time I was able to actively engage all of them at one time for a two-hour stretch period and see them both animated and happy. It would be great to find someone to continue this project after I am gone. While these girls were prostitutes in the past, overall they are normal, hyper, and sometimes moody teenage girls. They love to hug, chat about your love life, giggle, and play volleyball. I you have some time available, I’d recommend you stay at least 6 weeks, as it takes a while for the girls to trust and embrace you. Thanks for organizing this, Amauta, this is an experience I will never forget!

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Participants of our Spanish TEFL course, learn or improve their Spanish while obtaining their TEFL certificate in Peru or Argentina, with which they will be able to get a job as a certified English teacher everywhere in the world. This course is thé passport to living your dreams abroad, teaching English in exotic locations in Latin America and all over the world.

During the first two weeks, you will be studying Spanish. Our Spanish group lessons offer customized instruction at the level and pace that best suits you. AMAUTA is well known for its interactive, clear and personal teaching methods. The second part of the program (starts on Monday or Wednesday of week 3) consists of your TEFL course. This International TEFL Certificate course is a practical and thorough course designed for candidates that have no or little previous experience in English teaching.  During the 4 week TEFL course you will become familiar with the principles of successful EFL teaching and start developing the practical skills that you will need to teach effectively.

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AMAUTA has been offering successful and communicative Spanish Classes in Peru since 1998 and in 2008 we proudly added Buenos Aires (Argentina) to our destinations. At the same time, we started working closely with our affiliated Spanish schools in Lima (Peru), Montevideo (Uruguay) and Bariloche (Argentina).  Now, we are ready now to start planning the opening of our third AMAUTA location, which we hope to open in 2011.

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The Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Spanish-speaking world who ran for president in his homeland in 1990, won the 2010 Nobel Prize in literature.
Vargas Llosa has written more than 30 novels, plays and essays, including "Conversation in the Cathedral" and "The Green House." In 1995, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world’s most distinguished literary honor.

The academy’s permanent secretary, Peter Englund, said Vargas Llosa "is a divinely gifted story-teller," whose writing touches the reader. "He is one of the big authors in the Spanish-speaking world," Englund said.

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AMAUTA Spanish School offers the exceptional opportunity to follow the Spanish Program at three different locations, each highlighting a different aspect of Peruvian culture: the beautiful city of Cusco, the rainforest of Manu and the picturesque village of Pisaq, at 15 minutes walking from the main square and the market, in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Due to the lower altitude (2800 meters) the climate here is warmer than in Cusco. Here you can explore Peru as it is and feel like you are truly immersed in the culture.

The Sacred Valley Spanish Program maintains the high level of instruction, as all AMAUTA teachers rotate between the locations. In AMAUTA Pisac, the students live with the teachers in the residence, with many opportunities to practice Spanish. The Spanish classes will take place in either the morning or in the late afternoon, allowing time for the multitude of opportunities for exploring the Valley. Two guided excursions are included in the program.

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On the weekend, overflowing rivers caused a large landslide that destroyed almost the entire village of Taray in the Sacred Valle in Peru, with flooded homes, destroyed roads, crops, infrastructure and lost lives. 80% of people have also lost their homes. The AMAUTA school building is situated on the far side of the valley from the affected area and is therefore fine. None of our students or Spanish teachers were there at the time. However, the devastation in the village of Taray is catastrophic, and the people there are left with nothing and in need of help. They are living in tents and are surviving only by the help of outsiders and organizations from Cusco.

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