Pueblo Ingles an Intense English Immersion Program in Spain

It is a bone-chilling and gray March day in Madrid. My husband and I are huddled together on a busy corner with twenty other English speaking volunteers from around the globe. Huddled nearby, an equal number of Spanish executives eye us with looks ranging from timid to terrified. We are waiting for a bus that will take us three hours from Madrid to a hotel near the ancient village of Barco de Avila in a remote area of the Gredos Mountain Range.

For the next eight days our two groups will be sequestered together for an intense English immersion program called Pueblo Ingles (previously known as Englishtown). The Pueblo Ingles program is the brainchild of American businessman, Richard Vaughan, who came to Spain in 1972 to teach English and never left. Dissatisfied with traditional English language school curriculums, Vaughan developed Pueblo Ingles to bridge the gap between classroom English and real world English conversations. He accomplishes this by pairing an equal number of English speaking volunteers with Spanish executives for an intense eight days of non-stop conversation. The program is expensive for the Spaniards. The English speaking participants are volunteers, paid only by room and board.

Come along with us on a rich and rewarding journey that will transform our two distinctly different groups from shy strangers to cherished friends.

Our Anglo group is a model of diversity. Composed of an almost equal number of men and women, our ages range from early 20’s to 70’s. We are writers, musicians, chemists, artists, executives, students, and retirees from the United States, Australia, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. A father and son from Hawaii are touring Europe on bikes for one year on a fellowship, teaching wheelchair tennis. A young woman originally from Nigeria, now living in Boston, is completing her PhD in organic chemistry at Harvard. There are a few couples, like Hank and I, and many single travelers.