It's 'English Only' for a week in Spain

Ken poses with a stone sculpture of San Anton, the local pig of La Alberca.

Take it from me: Learning a new language, especially when you're slightly older than middle-aged, is no easy feat. I've been struggling with French for nearly seven years, and I still sound like a toddler. Worse yet, my comprehension is terrible, especially on the phone or when I have no idea what the topic of conversation is. Our recent return trip to the Diverbo language school (where native Spanish speakers are immersed in English for a week) inspires us to up our French-learning game. Moreover, our week in La Alberca, Spain, nets us some amazing new friends.

The lodge at Abadía de los Templarios in La Alberca, Spain, is the venue
for the Diverbo English-language immersion program.

Diverbo (also called Pueblo Inglés) is a language immersion program that brings together English-language learners with native English speakers. In addition to several locations in Spain, Diverbo also has programs in Germany and offers specialty programs designed for English teachers and teenagers.

This is the view from our terrace at La Alberca.

On Day 1, we arrive by car from Porto; most of the others come on a chartered bus from Madrid. We are staying in comfortable villas. Each villa houses one Spaniard and one Anglo (except for us, the only couple). This will be our home until for the next seven days.

This year, we are joined by seven other volunteers (two are British and the rest of us are American) and nine students. Back in 2015 we had a much different experience, mostly due to the number of participants: 22 Spaniards and 22 Anglo volunteers from around the world. Most of the native Spanish speakers are here to improve their English for their jobs, and some of their tuition is being paid by their employers. We are volunteers, so our room and board is free.

Abadía de los Templarios in La Alberca offers pretty places to walk and
talk English with our new friends.

Throughout the week we will eat together, play together, laugh together, and talk, talk, talk. The No. 1 rule is English Only. We are guided by a program director and an emcee. Each day consists of several hour-long one-to-one conversations and small group discussions. In the evening we listen to talks, sing along with our emcee, perform skits, and play games. Everyone is expected to have fun and make a bit of a fool of one's self. More than once it occurs to me that the experience is akin to a super-cool sleep-away camp.

Johnny, our Irish emcee, guides and entertains us
throughout our week at Diverbo.

Scattered throughout the week are parties, trivia nights, cultural ceremonies, and a field trip to the village of La Alberca where we have a tour, enjoy a wine and Iberian ham tasting at a bodega, and eat a traditional lunch or roast suckling pig (cochinillo asado).

La Alberca was the first rural village in Spain to be designated a
National Historic Heritage site.

Because we are such a small group, we all get to know each other quite well. Throughout the week, we, as volunteers, can see the improvement in each student's English skills. The accents get easier to understand, there are fewer grammar mistakes, and shyness has dissolved. Our one-to-one conversations have become more intimate. By the time the week ends, students will have been immersed in English for around 100 hours.

The experience is intense, and the work of talking and listening is not as easy as it seems. However, by the time the week is over, we have forged friendships with each of the students (and some of our fellow volunteers). Ana, César, Enrique, José Israel, Lola, Lucía, Lucie, Marta, and Victor: You have inspired us, you're our heroes, and we will never forget you.

I wrote more about the village of La Alberca a few years ago, (the link is here), and I include more pictures below. Out of respect for privacy, I have not included photographs of any of the participants. If you want to know more about the Diverbo program, click here.

Donuts have arrived in La Alberca.

This device hanging above the pulpit in La Alberca's Church
of the Assumption allows for amplification of sermons.

This rare statue of Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary, and Jesus
is located in Church of the Assumption in La Alberca, Spain.

La Alberca's Mirador de Santa Fe offers views across the Sierras de Bejar y
Francia, which is a UNESCO listed Biosphere reserve.

Pig tales in La Alberca, Spain

Nestled in the Sierra de Francia about an hour from the city of Salamanca, the little village of La Alberca has deep roots. People were living here before the Romans arrived. According to legend (and Wikipedia), in 1465 the women of the town defeated Portuguese troops and claimed their enemies' flag, which is still preserved in the village. (Thank you, Wikipedia.)

This quaint alley off the main plaza in La Alberca is
where the bulls wait during the village bullfights.

La Alberca was the first rural village in Spain to be given National Historic Heritage status, according to the country's tourism website. Its main square is surrounded by columned porches, restaurants and tapas bars. In addition to being the center of the town's social life. the plaza also hosts an occasional bullfight.

Our group heads off to explore the shops of La Alberca.

On our quiet Tuesday morning in Alberca, we browse the shops and are invited to a local bodega (wine cellar) for a wine and ham tasting. Iberian ham is a specialty of this area and we enjoy watching the bodega's owner artistically slice and display the paper-thin slices.

Jamón ibérico

The slicing master at work

At lunch, we are served the local delicacy: roast suckling pig. I am a bit put off by the idea of eating a baby pig, but am surprised at how delicious it turns out to be. (Tomorrow my digestive track will suggest that my first instincts were probably correct.)

Each year on July 13 a pig named San Anton is blessed and released into the streets of La Alberca. For the rest of the year, the residents feed San Anton and on January 17, the day of the feast of San Antonio, the pig is raffled off to raise funds for the Brothers of Saint-Antony.

In addition to ham and a village pig, another noteworthy swine is the stone statue outside the church. It is said couples wishing to conceive should fondle the stone pig at midnight. (This may be the most awkward sentence I've ever written for this blog!)

Ken demonstrates the method used by some seeking fertility help.

Ken and I were in La Alberca as part of a language immersion program where Spaniards and Anglos spend the week together talking, listening, eating, drinking and learning. The purpose is to sharpen the Spaniards' English language skills, but it turned out to be so much more. I will write about this incredible, life-changing week in a future post.

The village of La Alberca is a short walk from the mountain
resort Abadia de los Templarios where we spent a week volunteering
with Diverbo, an English-language immersion program.