El Nopal-Spanish Language Academy

I was in La Paz for a couple of months last fall to work on my thesis project for grad school. I knew that I wanted to work on my language skills while I was there, and after having contacted the «Fives on the Fly» family (blog– search for it online; it’s a great testament to this school as well) and corresponding with Juan– who patiently and thoroughly answered my seemingly never-​ending lists of questions– decided to take both private and group classes at El Nopal throughout my stay. Needless to say, I am extremely happy with my decision!
Marta and Juan exemplify professionalism. My schedule was very unpredictable when I was there, and they would always happily accommodate me despite my having to change it every couple of weeks (or even every couple of days). When I first arrived my Spanish was very rusty. By the end of my first day of classes they had already met to work out which group classes would benefit me the most. Every teacher I had was thorough, helpful, skilled, and friendly– I have been taking Spanish classes on and off for the past fourteen years, and the teaching methods at El Nopal are amongst the best I’ve experienced. Even in the group lessons the teachers would tailor classes to the desires, questions, and varying levels of the different people in the class. In just two months I went from hardly remembering anything at all to being able to comfortably converse with people (albeit shakily and with errors!), something that I never thought I’d be able to do in that amount of time.
Professionalism aside, the teachers at El Nopal were among the kindest and most genuine people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I was alone in La Paz for two months and their kindness and warmth really made the difference between my experience being a good one to my experience being a fantastic one. I am forever appreciative of the help I received with my Spanish skills, but am equally grateful for the connections I made with Marta, her family, and their staff. Take classes at El Nopal when in La Paz– you will not be disappointed!

We found El Nopal’s website two days before leaving on our trip to Baja, through The Fives on the Fly blog site. I took that family’s advice and emailed Juan at El Nopal, letting him know that we were going to be in La Paz for four days and that we were hoping to have our two kids (ages 7 & 9) take beginning Spanish classes. He wrote back quickly, giving me class times that worked for us, including the first one at 9 am the morning after we were to arrive in La Paz.
Our kids had Juan as a teacher the first day, and they had a great time and learned how to pronounce the Spanish alphabet, how to answer a few questions, and took a homework assignment with them for their next class. We enjoyed sitting in the pretty courtyard under a mango tree and grape vine, talking with Juan’s wife, Marta, and a variety of expats who arrived for their class. For the second class, our boys had two classmates their age and a new teacher. They loved this class as well, and played with the other kids afterwards while we talked with more expats. If we were staying longer we definitely would have signed up for more classes! When we drove back through La Paz a week later on our way back to the airport, my older son asked if we had signed them up for another class before we flew home. He was very disappointed when I said there was not enough time. I should mention that when I first told him that they were going to take Spanish lessons he whined about having to «go to school» during his vacation.
I highly recommend El Nopal, Juan and Marta, and the community they have created for anyone of any age! Their prices are very reasonable and you will find excellent language instruction together with a super friendly atmosphere.