About Us

About Us

CMD SPANISH STAYS offers adults, teens (14+) and middle school and high school groups from around the world the opportunity to improve their fluency through immersion while enjoying life in Spain in a safe environment just outside León (population 462,000) about 30 minutes from the mountains, 2 hours by train from Madrid and a little over an hour from the beach.

Our friendly, small-town language school is owned and managed by an Iowan (USA) who first came to León for a high school year abroad in 1995, settled down in the area some years later after university and founded her own translation and language education business in 2006. The Spanish Stays program is staffed with native Spanish teachers and activity leaders with international experience who all know what it's like to embark on such an adventure. Trust and quality are their top priorities. 

We work hard to ensure all of our participants have a memorable, rewarding and fun time practicing their Spanish skills with the locals through organized Spanish language and culture classes, Spanish buddy activities, Spanish dance, cooking and crafts classes, sports with Spanish coaches and teams (basketball, soccer, tennis, padel...), market visits, Spanish medieval festival events, tourism, tapas rounds, rural adventure activities, traditional Spanish games and more. 

In order to take best advantage of this experience, most of our language immersion students stay with carefully selected local families who are pleased to share their homes, treating participants like members of their own family. All of these host families are subject to background checks and home audits and must go through an orientation process which includes providing clean police records. At least breakfast and the evening meal are shared with the families. In some cases, lunch is provided at a nearby Spanish restaurant serving homemade food and, in other cases, with the families.  Hostel and other accommodation is possible in some cases.

Mornings are usually reserved for Spanish classes with certified native Spanish as a foreign language (ELE) teachers in our classrooms based on modern, learner-centered communicative methods with a lively, enjoyable approach. Although some practical classes are organized after lunch with students engaging in assignments like interviewing and surveying the locals in nearby parks or interacting at small shops, most afternoons are filled with walking tours, excursions, cultural and sports activities or gatherings with specially chosen Spanish buddies (locals of the same age as the participants interested in sharing their culture with visitors from abroad).

 A Letter from Our Director

Woman sitting in a wishing chair in Dublin

To all future participants, parents and fellow teachers,


As a former exchange student, current English teacher and mom of 3, I am well aware of the excitement and fears you face when thinking about going abroad with your students or sending your own child to another country to enjoy the experience of a lifetime.  Please know that you can contact me anytime with anything you need.


Just to give you a little background information, I grew up in small-town Colfax, Iowa (USA) where several local families (including my own) decided to embark on the amazing adventure of hosting foreign exchange students.  With up to 10 exchange students a year in a high school of approximately 300, the experience truly enriched us all.  Led by an incredibly dedicated teacher, our high school Spanish club was involved in all sorts of community service and cultural activities including two student travel experiences abroad to Spain and Ecuador which I readily participated in.  All of this inspired me to go abroad during my senior year in 1995.  I was placed with a lovely Spanish host family in León, Spain and took full advantage of this real language and culture immersion experience I was so lucky to have been given. (Thanks Mom!)


I went back home to study languages at Central College in Pella, Iowa, earning a Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude in Western European Studies and Modern Languages in 1999.  The highlight of my degree was spending a year abroad in Paris, France, attending the French Language and Culture Program offered by the Sorbonne.  I received my TEFL certificate to teach English as a Second or Foreign Language in Boston in 2001 and spent a few years teaching refugees in the New England area.  Still with a desire to learn another language and experience the world, I decided to become an aupair for a year in Munich, Germany in 2002, attaining an intermediate level of German.  After another six months as an aupair for a Dutch-American family outside Paris, I finally got married to a guy I had met during my high school exchange in León and settled down in the Trobajo del Camino / San Andrés del Rabanedo area in 2004.  I have been translating and teaching English ever since and even founded my own language school in January 2012.


The picture that accompanies this text is full of meaning for me personally. It was taken during a trip to Ireland with my own Spanish students learning English (and my oldest daughter) a few years ago. For me, it not only represents realizing my dream of one day walking in the steps of my high school Spanish teacher by making an impact on my own students in instilling a love for languages and cultural experiences, it symbolizes the hopes and wishes I have for my children, everyone who passes through my language school and for the world in general: to learn to communicate with and appreciate one another and find peace through exposure to other cultures and ideas.

Chanda

 About Our Location

Trobajo del Camino is a suburban area with a small-town look and feel just outside León, Spain right on the Way of St. James pilgrimage route.  Here, there are schools, several parks, a public health centre, a handful of supermarkets and various small shops.  

The center of León is just a 10-minute bus ride or 30-minute walk away.  In the center of León, there are all sorts of monuments, museums, parks, public services, shops, restaurants and a lively free tapas culture.  It's a small university city with students from all over the world arriving on student exchanges.  The local accent is quite neutral making it an excellent place to practice your Spanish and become fluent with all of the friendly people out and about on their paseos.

For more information, check out these websites and articles:


CMD Spanish Stays logo
 Calle Sira Sampedro 2
 24010 Trobajo del Camino (León), Spain

Call us! 
+34 987 801 821

Email us!
spanishstays@cmd-languages.com

Follow or tag us on Facebook or Instagram!
@cmdspanishstays

 Any questions?  Just ask us!

Share by: