Located in the historical district of “The City of Roses”, IMAC Guadalajara is host to students of all ages ranging from 16 to over 70 from all over the world.

IMAC realizes that many people come to study Spanish while on vacation and so accordingly twist and bends its programs to accommodate travelers' schedules.

Our circumstance was a perfect example. My husband and I were in a group of seven travel writers in Guadalajara for a larger annual conference. We had, as a small enthusiastic tribe, elected to spend the week at IMAC before our professional meeting to experience some Spanish immersion. Although IMAC includes a substantial cultural element in their Spanish language school curriculum, we were extremely fortunate to have our own private and personal cultural guide, pictured at left.

“When we marry,” Ofelia explained, “ we never lose our father’s name. Alatorre is my father‘s name and Aubert is my husband’s.” Cultural Fact - Upon marriage a woman drops her mother's last name and replaces it with her husband's last name, with a de (of) in front of it.

We were comfortably billeted at our hotel, De Mendoza, www.demendoza.com.mx, located right in the middle of Guadalajara’s historic district. We all felt a bit sanctified when we learned we were staying in the old Santo Domingo Convent (nunnery), next to the Santa Maria de Gracia church (1542) that was the first metropolitan cathedral in all of Mexico.

The rooms were simple, a bit “monastic,” but utterly clean and comfortable. The staff was so accommodating and helpful, we all began to feel we were living with a great big family.

The dining room served fresh, tasty and reasonably priced food with excellent and gracious service. Hotel De Mendoza had become our boarding house home away from home.

Even if you weren’t booked into IMAC’s language program, staying at De Mendoza puts you close to the Degollado Theater, Government Place, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Canbañas Cultural Institute, the Regional Museum and the famous San Juan de Dios Market.

We seven were at all levels of classes for IMAC, the Spanish Language School. Before leaving home, we’d all filled out online, preliminary paperwork and a Spanish questionnaire to assess each of our proficiencies. When we arrived for our first morning of classes, each of us had personal meetings with instructors who further refined our class placements.

Never having studied any Spanish whatsoever, I was placed in Spanish class 101. That’s no Spanish language ever, none, nada.

Our IMAC teacher was a young woman with endless energy, patience and skills. She taught us the obligatory vocabulary and conjugation, but with a very personal and useable approach. In addition to engaging all of us in Spanish conversation with one another, she played different types/styles of Spanish music from different geographical cultural regions to give us a sense of various styles from tango to salsa to rumba. She was even cool enough to demonstrate the different dancing moves.

My class was fantastic. Fellow students included an automotive engineer from Germany, a language teacher from London, a young woman from California whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico but never learned Spanish, a young man from California who was trying to get a job in the state parks department, an older woman who wanted to travel in Latin America.

Our teacher also gave us IMAC t-shirts that declared “I Speak Spanish” and took us outside the classroom on a walking tour of the historical district. We were, after all, right in the middle of such treasures as the Palace of Justice with world-famous José Clemente Orozco murals and the Rotunda de los Jalisciences Ilustres.

Throughout the school, there were quite a few Mexican-Americans learning Spanish. Many students were there learning Spanish to enhance their employment opportunities. We were mixed in with the general student population that contributed to the wonderfully eclectic, cultural experience.