ABSTRACT
La Cooperativa and El Patio are more expensive than many other Xela Spanish schools. While not necessarily reliable as an indicator of quality, price does indicate something: teachers told me that the more expensive schools pay teachers more and that the more experienced teachers, therefore, tend to gravitate towards these schools. Choosing ‘better’ schools was an ethical choice. It would be easy, and highly problematic, to study the cheapest, most amateur schools, find flaws, and report on them. This would be unfair and unhelpful. Both La Cooperativa and El Patio are well run and long established. Twenty-five hours of one-to-one classes plus full-board homestay and the social/excursions program costs about USD$240 per week at La Cooperativa and El Patio . Classes run from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., with a twenty-minute morning break. In the afternoons, many students take part in the activities program, which consists of films, talks by invited speakers, and local visits (e.g. to a coffee farm). On the weekends, there are excursions, such as to nearby volcanoes. Illustration 3 shows a class in progress at one of the schools.
