Overview
Duration
12 weeks
Tuition
Under $14/hour
Level
Beginner
Prerequisites
None
Class Time
2.5 hours/week
Group Size
4-10 students
Location
ILC, Carmel
Details
Dates:
10/13/26 - 12/29/26
(End date may change due to class needs)
Time:
Tuesdays, 6:30pm-9:00pm
Cost:
$430.00
(Includes $30 one-time enrollment fee. Does not include text books and optional tuition insurance)
What You’ll Learn
How to greet and introduce yourself with ease
Asking for names, origins, birthdays, and other basic info
Telling time, giving dates, and talking about routines
Describing people, places, emotions, and families
Navigating real-life small talk in Spanish
Mastering the present tense of regular verbs (-ar, -er, -ir)
Using key irregular verbs: ser, estar, tener
Weekly Itinerary
Each week includes speaking practice, games, cultural context, and real-world role-plays. You’ll use everything you learn — right away.
Week 1: Greetings, alphabet, numbers, colors: Introduce yourself, spell names, say your age
Week 2: Days, months, seasons: Talk about your birthday, plan around events
Week 3: Time & routines: Say when things happen and describe your day
Week 4: Regular verb conjugation: Describe daily life using simple verbs
Week 5: Ser vs. Estar: Talk about feelings, states, and characteristics
Week 6: Adjectives: Describe people, places, moods, and things
Week 7: Family & relationships: Talk about family members and basic relationships
Week 8: Possession & basic questions: Talk about what you have, ask simple follow-up questions
Week 9: Functional conversation practice: Combine routines, descriptions, and family in guided dialogues
Week 10: Full review: Build fluency through review activities, games, and role-play
Week 11: Presentation prep: Create and practice a personalized self-introduction speech
Week 12: Final presentation: Deliver your first full monologue in Spanish
Meet Your Instructor
Jim
Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese
Jim was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago but had the good fortune to live in Costa Rica in his late teens.
Costa Rica was an eye-opening experience for Jim, not only for bringing him up to native levels of fluency in the language, but also giving him a deep understanding of Latin culture and a fresh perspective of what it means to be outside his homeland, looking in. This experience drove Jim to pursue his undergraduate degree in Spanish Translation and International Business at Northern Illinois University. While at NIU, Jim lived in the Foreign Language Residency Program and was even slated to be a “native speaker.”
Throughout his time at NIU, Jim tutored in both Spanish and Portuguese for both Foreign Languages and Literature and the Athletics Department. Upon graduation, Jim joined the world of Life Sciences / Pharma and worked in several roles requiring deep engagement with Latin America. Travel to Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina and his “second home,” Costa Rica were common.
Jim lives with his wife, who is from Guadalajara, Mexico, and his bilingual daughter, who is now a student at Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business. Most importantly, Jim looks forward to sharing his passion for language with his students. Having been a tutor, a TA and having been immersed in warm cultures that encourage language learning, Jim knows what it’s like to start with an empty cup and fill it over days, months and years.