PICY: Language School and Immersion Program

I took two online Spanish classes with Karla in the last half year. After a year of university classes online, they are the only ones I still enjoy going to. With an abundance of energy Karla engages her students in language and culture inside and outside of the classroom. I did not speak a word of Spanish at first, so being taught all in Spanish was a overwhelming experience at first. However, this rapid immersion in the language allowed all of us to make progress really quickly. In the classes we studies hard, we danced, told and listened to stories, and formed a nice class community. Karla uses different platforms to stay in touch with students and google classroom to share information, this has been really helpful and effective. In weekly sessions with Raul we learned a lot about the culture and history of Yucatan, these sessions were also great because they exposed us to a greater variety of vocabulary. I can't wait to visit Yucatan and have a full immersion experience; the online classes gave me a great basis of language and culture that I can built on in Mexico.

I absolutely loved taking Spanish classes with PICY. I loved them so much that I got some for my mom for as Christmas gift. She loves them too! She asked me to today to sign her up for more. This team is so great at teaching not only language but how to navigate culture. I felt like other classes really focused on grammar and structure which, I never retained well even after 8 years of that. This class is 100% in Spanish and because its immersive and interactive I think is why it has worked so well for me. I found the topics and variety of teaching styles and evaluating techniques to be diverse. This team connects with you on a personal level and support you to expand your Spanish speaking abilities. I highly recommend.

There are amazing teachers that have a profound impact on your life beyond their excellent classes.. This was my experience with PICY. They are not only excellent at getting the best out of you, they will enable you to learn a lot more about yourself!

Before taking a class with PICY, I completed 2.5 years of traditional Spanish classes during high school. Like many students, I left those high school classes without any real ability to communicate or understand the language when not on paper. But then I took Karla's beginning Spanish class online for 10 weeks. I came into the class with fairly low expectations since my prior 2 years hadn't taught me much. Boy was I surprised when just 10 weeks later I could actually speak with confidence and understand basic conversations with native speakers. I definitely still have a lot to learn, but I'm beyond impressed with how much Karla managed to fit into the time we were in class (approximately 50 hours). In the beginning I was scared of saying the wrong things or sounding foolish, but Karla was super supportive and understanding. That fear soon faded when she got everyone talking and encouraged us to just try our best to communicate even if our grammar wasn't entirely correct or we didn't know a word. Put shortly, I learned way more than I was expecting to at PICY and Karla is an amazing teacher! I highly recommend taking a class if you're considering it.

I give PICY a hundred out of a hundred golden stars. I wanted to learn Spanish not only to understand the world through new sounds, but because I want to connect with a new culture, people, and place. I was dubious as to whether an online language class would help me learn Spanish. I find my retention and motivation are low when I enter into the virtual world of technology. Despite my reservations, I decided to embark and am beyond grateful that I took the leap! Five days a week for the last five months, I have had the privilege of spending an hour each morning with Karla, Raúl, and Lucero, immersing myself in a new environment of laughter, connection, and palabras nuevas. I went from knowing very basic questions and responses, such as “Where is the bathroom?” “Can I help you?” and “I am from Vermont” to understanding full lectures in Spanish, and working with past, present, and future tenses, imperative and conditional. Although I was nervous at first, I found that Karla’s bright and welcoming facilitation style left no room for fear. I have found my voice in a new language, thanks to PICY, and cannot recommend them enough whether it be for a beginner with no Spanish background, or a native speaker who wants to brush up on grammar. The trajectory of my life has changed because of the skills I have learned and continue to learn with Karla, Raúl, , and Lucero. And for that, I am deeply grateful.