Spanish lessons in the Sacred Valley, in person in Huarán

Learn Spanish in the Sacred Valley

Whether you are here for a few weeks of volunteering, a retreat, remote work with a view of the mountains, or for good, the valley opens up once you can talk to people: the stallholder at the market, the colectivo driver, the neighbours, the family you are staying with. A phrasebook gets you through “gracias” and “¿cuánto cuesta?”. Real conversations need practice with someone who hears your mistakes and helps you fix them on the spot.

Alberto Sánchez is a native Spanish teacher from Spain who lives in Huarán, in the middle of the valley. He gives private Spanish lessons at home, one to one, and online when you are not around. If you have been looking for Spanish classes in Urubamba or Calca, this is the same thing without the group: the whole hour is yours.

One-to-one lessons in Huarán, or in a café in Urubamba

Lessons take place at Alberto’s home in Huarán, a village on the road between Calca and Urubamba, about 8 km from Calca and 9 km from Urubamba as the crow flies. If you are staying in Urubamba, the lesson can sometimes be held in a café in town instead: just ask.

One to one means you speak for most of the hour instead of waiting for your turn, the pace follows yours, and each lesson starts from what you need to say this week. A Spanish teacher who sits across the table from you also catches what an app never will: the word you avoid, the tense you always dodge, the sound you swallow.

What you can work on

• Spanish for travelling in Peru and Latin America: buses and taxis, markets, accommodation, health, meeting people.
• Conversation: guided speaking to stop freezing and start answering naturally.
• Grammar: past tenses, the subjunctive, ser and estar, explained clearly and then practised until they come out without thinking.
• DELE and SIELE preparation, with mock papers and detailed feedback.
• Spanish for work and job interviews: mock interviews, the vocabulary of your field, meetings and emails.

Every level, from your first word to C1

Lessons go from complete beginner to C1. If you have never studied Spanish, the first explanations can be given in English or in French: Alberto speaks English at C1 level and French at C2. Spanish then takes over, one sentence at a time.

If you already get by, the first lesson is where Alberto listens to you speak, tells you honestly where you stand and sets a first goal with you. Not sure of your level? The free level test takes five minutes.

A native Spanish teacher, twenty-one years in the classroom

Alberto was born in Valladolid, in Spain. He has taught Spanish for twenty-one years in Spain, France, the United States, Tunisia and the French overseas territories. He holds a Máster ELE, the master’s degree in teaching Spanish as a foreign language, and a degree in French philology.

Because he lives here, the Spanish you practise with him is the Latin American Spanish spoken in Peru, with Spain’s variants pointed out when they matter. And there is good news for learners: the Andean accent of Cusco and the Sacred Valley is one of the clearest and slowest in the Spanish-speaking world.

Prices for lessons in the valley

• Trial lesson, 30 minutes: free.
• 1 hour in person: 40 soles.
• 5 hours in person: 200 soles.

Online lessons on Google Meet cost $23 an hour, $95 for five hours and $160 for ten. Details are in the pricing section.

Online when you are not in the valley

When you leave the valley, the lessons do not have to stop. They continue online on Google Meet with the same teacher, from wherever you are, with a written recap after each lesson. The booking calendar below shows the free slots in your own time zone, so you can also start online before you even arrive in Peru: see Spanish for travel.

Where to find the lessons

The Google Maps listing below is Alberto’s, in Huarán. Before your first in-person lesson, write to him on WhatsApp to agree on the time and the place: his home in Huarán or a café in Urubamba.