Volunteering in albergues to learn Spanish

[Tigerandahalf]

Would anyone have ideas on the above?

Thanks

 

[peregrino_tom]

I think it's usually the other way round - former pilgrims improving their Spanish first, in order to go back and do a decent job as volunteer hospitalera/os.

 

[Mark Lee]

I "volunteered" in one of the albergues for about two hours.
It was being run by an attractive young lady, and she asked that I man her post while she went to lunch and siesta. How could I say no?
It was kinda cool because I got to stamp and date about 6-7 pilgrim's passports while she was gone.

 

[Erin]

That sounds awesome Mark! What a true camino experience

 

[Stellere]

We met three or four hospitaleros in municipal albergues who didn't speak Spanish. They were generally English-speaking, and paired with a Spanish-speaking hospitalero. I think that if you planned on volunteering, and learned some basics before you went, it would be a great opportunity to practice your Spanish!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

It seems efficient to pair language learning with hospitalero-ing, but IMHO it is best to focus on one thing at a time.

Some people have tried volunteering at the pilgrim albergue in Salamanca while taking Spanish lessons in the mornings at one of the many language schools in town. It did not work out very well. Being a hospitalero is a full-time job. Unless you go in the dead of winter, there is little time for homework and study. The pilgrims speak a wide variety of languages, and even if you are paired with a Spanish hospitalero, he might not be up for giving Spanish lessons or coaching your usage.

 

[whariwharangi]

I've taken Spanish lessons in Spain at schools targeting foreigners who want to learn to speak Spanish.

A typical week is 20 hours of classes ... about half are grammar and half are vocabulary ... There is homework. Typically school regardless of subject means one hour of study for every hour of class.

Schools typically have morning classes and afternoon classes. If there are enough students then you have a choice. Otherwise you get whats available.

The better schools also have extracurricular activities introducing Spanish culture. (One of the optional evening classes was about the camino ... where I first heard tell of it)

Getting to and from classes takes time because you are on foot or relying on public transport.

I couldn't imagine holding down a full time hospitalero job at the same time.

 

[mspath]

For general info on becoming a camino hospitalero be sure to read this informative recent web by fellow Forum member Sillydoll aka Amawalker re Volunteering on the Camino. As always Sil offers useful tips, addresses, photos and links to other blogs.

MM

 

[oursonpolaire]

My guess is that you would either be: a) speaking English with the Dutch, German, UK, Irish, Canadian (some), and US pilgrims; b) really bad Spanish with the Spanish pilgrims, few of whom would be giving you much information on the agreement of nouns and verbs, the preterite, or the distinction between ser and estar; and c) sign language and pantomime with the Italian, Portuguese, Polish, and Korean pilgrims. I would agree with those who suggest that you can't do both easily. Perhaps if you were on one of the quieter routes, where you don't have many pilgrims, and could arrange for lessons--- in one of the towns on the del Norte, perhaps?