Blog #3: Vaughan Town - August 13-18

What is Vaughan Town?  It is a reputable and successful English immersion program founded by the American Richard Vaughan aimed at Spaniards who wish to improve their English fluency. The program consists on matching Spanish students with English speaking volunteers, and making them speak English nonstop for six intense days. Nadia and I signed up as volunteers, as we really wanted to experience Spain in a unique way. Wearing our English teaching hats, we ended up in the beautiful Hotel Izan built on the hills of Sierra de Gredos, one of Vaughan Town’s sites. Here, we met 15 Spaniards and 17 English-speaking volunteers from various backgrounds. In exchange of our time (from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm) we received free accommodation and three meals a day. We certainly earned our fare and also truly enjoyed it.

What did we do all day?  Talk, talk, and talk with our Spanish counterparts in English only. In a fascinating way, as relationships developed, our small talk evolved into personal talk and in many cases ended up in intimate conversation. Nadia and I were particularly drawn to the Spaniards, and connected with them in a personal way. Nadia was very liked by the younger peers, particularly by a few handsome men (married) who loved her energy and enthusiasm. Our challenge was to keep our English tongue going, as speaking Spanish was tempting yet strictly forbidden. We learned that these students pay a lot of money for the program, and ought to receive first-class English immersion, and that, they got.

The program is well run, and students are constantly rotating volunteers to get exposed to different accents and communication styles. We tackled together numerous phrasal verbs and idioms with examples, which I thought was a lot of fun when used in context. We also role-played telephone conversations, and finally the students presented to the group various skits, which they prepared from scratch. At the end of the program I delivered a speech that I am pasting below, which speaks for itself. In short, Nadia and I loved wearing teacher, conversationalist, mentor and friend hats and had trouble saying goodbye. We walked away full handed and proud of our dedication to breaking language barriers.

Vaughan Town in Gredos, August 13-18, 2017

Vaughan Town in Gredos

August 13-18, 2017

By Violeta Esquinazi

Somewhere in the middle of La Puerta de Gredos' mountain range lies the scenic Izan Hotel, one of the venues of Spain's renowned English immersion program Vaughan Town. Here, a number of English-hungry Spaniards (the learners) meet an eclectic group of Spanish-starved Anglos (the conversationalists) to engage in a weeklong conversation about everything and anything.

The Vaughan's agenda is to impose communication in English ONLY, so the learners are submitted to endless conversation drills, and a bombardment of phrasal verbs and idioms. The latter's hope is merely to survive in the wilderness of limited speech, rather than running out the door pretending they feel under the weather, or plain and simple, ending up calling it a day.

The fact remains that the Spanish captives will have to pull themselves together, perhaps going back to the drawing board of basic grammar rules without cutting corners until the words sink in to the neurones of their brains. In any event, anticipation of getting through six days of verbal torture runs high and only time will tell them if signing up for this program was either a curse or a blessing in disguise.

After the group settles down in their respective chambers, most don't know what to expect. The Anglos hope to get their act together impressing the Spaniards with their distinct English accents, making it near to impossible to be understood, a strategy to show them they've got all the power. The truth is that no one wants to miss the boat, and everyone in their own unique way rises to the occasion in ways unimagined.

As the week unfolds, some folks hold back their emotions, often wondering if they can take in so many one-to-one sessions. Others get through the experience biting the bullet, rushing into conversations about their sex life in order to avoid philosophical topics that might get them into tongue twists. Many beat around the bush hoping the Anglos will cut them some slack and let them go off to the bar in order to get their frustration out of their system.

Weather you are Anglo, Spaniard, learner or conversationalist, the Management Team will constantly crack you down. Giovanna will likely walk into any possible mischief and remind you to do it over, and Pete will remind you to arrive on time, on the dot, or else things will get out of hand and you will be asked to go off. At the same time, Pete's many talents will entertain you; at times his humour will drag on cracking you up in laughter or make you feel that he is pulling your leg.

One thing is for sure, that at the end of these intense five days of endless speaking we become friends and know a lot about each other. Besides learning phrasal verbs, idioms and vocabulary, we learn aspects of each other's life journey, unique cultural background, life challenges and achievements and dreams and aspirations.

As the program comes to an end, emotion builds up. The Spanish are put to the test preparing and presenting a topic in front of the group, which requires skill, wit, fluency and courage, and the Anglos stand by and cheer their way to achievement.

Before we go off on our final field trip to Barco de Avila to drink yet more beer, the whole delegation poses for a group photo in order to preserve the memory and remember the faces of old and new friends.

As to my own experience, I feel that I have spent the week standing in the middle of a bridge looking both ways and feeling a strong sense of belonging. I believe that language barriers disappear beyond the power of words when people built together a bridge of cross-cultural understanding that fosters meaningful connections and friendship. My reward was to walk away fully handed and happy hearted.

Vaughan Town must be doing something right building these bridges of understanding amongst people of the globe well beyond teaching the English language.

Note: Text in bold denotes phrasal verbs and idiomatic expressions learned during the week.