Authentic Immersion: Live Spanish, Forge Real Connections with Host Families.
FLIPPING THE SCRIPT
Total Immersion: Why Living with a Host Family Accelerates Your Fluency.
Living with an Orbita Host Family is the core of our authentic immersion program. This experience forces you to immediately apply what you are learning in your Spanish classes, accelerating your fluency unlike any other method.
More Than a Stay: A Lifelong Family Connection. The connection forged here often transcends the program. Many of our students have built lifelong family bonds with their host families, often referring to them as their “mom” or “dad” forever. This deep connection leads many to visit them almost every year, proving that their host family truly became family for life
Ethical Pay Guarantees Quality and Stability: We are committed to being leaders in ethical compensation for our host families, offering wages designed for stability and growth. Your choice directly contributes to the economic security and dignity of these local families.
Practical Details & Comfort: We host different types of Mayan Host Families, ranging from multi-generational households. Our Host Families live between 3 and 12 minutes walking distance from the school and are equipped with reliable WIFI.
Student Placement Policy: We typically accommodate a minimum of 2 students and a maximum of 4 students per host family. We only accommodate larger groups when they are part of the same biological family or a pre-arranged group of friends traveling together.
Authentic Guatemalan Culinary Immersion: We truly hope you embrace our culinary traditions! Living with your host family means learning not only Spanish, but also sharing a vital part of Mayan culture. You will love the food, which features delicious, freshly made corn tortillas daily—as most meals are based around this homemade staple. Our former students consistently rave about the authentic host family meals.
what students are saying:
Recent Testimonials
I just finished studying for one week at Orbita, San Pedro. I had absolutely the best time here and only wish I could have stayed longer! My teacher Mary was amazing in every way, she was a fantastic teacher, very patient and great at explaining, and we had great conversations about her culture and the Lake, and we shared lots of laughs and jokes together. The structure of the classes were fantastic, each module followed on easily from the last, and you can work to any pace. I highly recommend this school, it is incredible value for money, and they also hold extra curricular activities! We went and played basketball and went swimming with the students and teachers and we all had a great time and lots of laughs. Thank you so much Rene, Mary and the rest of Orbita. I will be back if at all possible!
My girlfriend and I spent 3 AMAZING months in San Pedro la Laguna attending classes at Orbita Spanish School, August-November 2018. We toured several schools, but Orbita stood out dramatically based on the well-defined curriculum (there are unique course books for every week), the facilities (much larger building and many more desks/classrooms than other schools), the incredibly enthusiastic and fun teachers, and, of course, René! Spend five minutes talking to René, and you will understand why people choose Orbita. His curriculum is full of fun philosophical lessons and phrases to keep things interesting, and his passion for helping students learn Spanish is visible from miles away.
We HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend staying with a host family if you are able to. It is incredibly inexpensive to have a wonderful home, family, and three from-scratch homemade meals prepared every day, and it really gives you a feel for the local culture. Choose the lovely Ixmata family if you can!
I could not have been more impressed with Orbita. Everyone, Reneé, my teacher Eduardo, all felt like family super quickly and did everything in their power to push you to learn, but also to help you feel more comfortable. I was very nervous about doing a homestay because I haven’t done anything like that in my life, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I truly feel that there is no other way to pick up Spanish as quickly as staying with a family. After four weeks my Spanish had improved ten fold, even after studying in the US for a few years off and on, this place really took it to another level, with my conversation skills, that I didn’t think was possible. Please forget all other schools in the area and come here, you won’t regret it! I will definitely be coming back, I’m already missing it so much.
