Language Interaction

I have been studying Spanish off and on for many years, and have had several types of learning situations. Even after years of starting anew as a beginner — or sometimes «advanced beginner» — I never felt like I was making much progress. In my work with Juan Carlos I have begun to feel more confident that learning Spanish is within my grasp. The method that Juan Carlos uses is a combination of listening, reading, and speaking. All lessons and conversations are conducted in Spanish and I am continually amazed that when Juan Carlos speaks with me he sounds like he could be speaking with someone who actually speaks Spanish. I tape our lessons, and am charged with listening to the lessons during the week. As he said would happen, I notice that my engagement in the lesson is noticeably improved week by week, and I am able not only to understand our conversations, but to participate in them. We chat about whatever we like for part of the lesson; review the homework assignment; and learn the topic for the day. When I leave the lesson, I find that I’m thinking in Spanish for a while. This is the first time I’ve taken lessons that I want to continue~ usually I begin to feel hopeless after a few months and drop out. I recommend Juan Carlos to anyone. He is a good teacher and he clearly enjoys his work!

Juan Carlos is an excellent Spanish teacher– the best I’ve had. I’ve taken years of Spanish in school, and traveled/​lived abroad, but still don’t have the fluency that I should after so long. His teaching strategy has hugely helped me to better understand the fundamentals of the language (which I have memorized for many tests, but don’t implement well in conversation). All of our communication is in Spanish, and he makes me record our classes on my phone so I can listen to them later. Many times, class just feels like a long, candid conversation, but I end up learning a lot and practicing the new things I’m learning throughout. I’ve only taken privates with Juan Carlos, but I highly recommend him as a teacher!

I love taking classes with Juan Carlos. I’ve progressed much more in a year and a half than I ever expected, and to the extent that I feel I could have progressed more, it’s only because I don’t always go as frequently as I should.
Juan Carlos makes it fun and low-​stress to learn Spanish, while maintaining just enough strictness and structure that you don’t get too casual about learning. He’s flexible with class schedules, and the classes are very reasonably priced for the amount of personal attention you get. He’s also just a cool, interesting guy!
I’m pretty sure I will be continuing to take classes with him for as long as I remain in NYC. Thanks, Juan Carlos :)

I have been a student of Juan Carlos Ayarza at Language Interaction for about six months now, and during that time, my Spanish speaking and comprehension abilities have grown by leaps and bounds. Prior to fortuitously stumbling upon Olé Hola, I was trying to teach myself through courses such as Pimsleur and other online resources. While these methods are good for getting your feet wet, they can’t compare to the level of immersion that one experiences in one on one classes. Juan Carlos is an absolutely fantastic teacher. He is patient, well organized, passionate about teaching, and a truly warm person. The classes are reasonably priced, and always enjoyable. I cannot recommend Olehola highly enough!

If you’re really ready to dig into Spanish this is the place. Language Interaction is run by Juan Carlos Ayarza, a native speaking Peruvian who was the Spanish tutor for Bloomberg during his mayoral run. His classes are thorough and completely in Spanish. But even if you’re just a beginner, the method he’s developed will enable you to get what he’s teaching. He offers group and private courses and every class is recorded for you to review later. He has developed his own workbooks which are included in the price, and also offers spanish classes in Costa Rica, Peru and Guatemala. Classes are either taught by him or one of his other teachers. I studied some Spanish in both high school and college but by the time I started studying with Juan Carlos it had been nearly 16 years and I had no fluency, mostly phrases and words. Studying with Language Interaction brought me up to a comfortable level of fluency and reminded me of the love I have for learning Spanish.