Top 5 reasons why staying with a homestay family benefits Spanish students joining a Full Spanish Immersion Program.

Staying with a homestay family offers unparalleled opportunities to accelerate your Spanish language learning and cultural understanding of Mexico.

Staying with a homestay family is integral to the full immersion Spanish program at Instituto Cultural Oaxaca. Our carefully selected homestay families provide a welcoming and supportive environment where you can practice Spanish daily and experience authentic cultural immersion. Located less than 20 minutes walk from the Institute, our homestay families offer convenience and comfort, ensuring seamless integration into local life.

Homestay family at lunch

Here are five reasons you should stay with a Homestay family when staying Spanish in Oaxaca.

Reason 1: A deeper cultural understanding.

Staying with a local family allows you to experience Oaxaca's everyday customs and traditions, offering a deeper understanding of Mexican culture that goes beyond classroom learning.

Staying with a homestay family forces you to speak and listen to Spanish daily, and you learn more about Oaxaca's culture and local traditions. Suppose you opt for this form of lodging. In that case, you will live, eat and share most of your time with a homestay family, who usually involves you in family events such as dining out, camping and holiday festivities such as Christmas, Easter, and Day of the Dead.

Families that host students from the Instituto Cultural Oaxaca have been in contact with Spanish language students for many years. They are the best travel advisers in Oaxaca. While staying in Oaxaca, they will give you advice about cultural events, places to eat, and how to get to different villages in the valley of Oaxaca. Discover Oaxaca like a local.

Reason 2: Language practice and more Spanish

Living with a family enables you to interact on a daily basis in Spanish, helps you practice what you learned in class, enriches your vocabulary and gets you in contact with Spanish for more hours a day.

Reason 3: Responsible Tourism

Living with a homestay is a form of tourism that allows you to rent a room from a local family to learn the local lifestyle better and to improve your Spanish. When staying with a homestay family, you contribute enormously to the local economy because you generate greater economic benefits for local people who also become more culturally sensitive, and in exchange, they provide more enjoyable experiences through more meaningful connections with local people and a greater understanding of local cultural, social and environmental issues.

Reason 4: Enjoy eating authentic Oaxacan Food.

 Oaxaca is famous for its gastronomy, especially for the "Mole Negro," and the best is the one my Mom cooks. That is what most people in Oaxaca would say, and to be honest, there are amazing cooks among the women who host students from the Instituto Cultural Oaxaca, so if you plan to stay in Oaxaca for a few weeks living with a homestay family, will give you a local taste of the flavors of Oaxaca.

Reason 5: Affordability.

 We recommend that our students study Spanish in Oaxaca for one month if possible. Living with a homestay family can be a great economic benefit for the family and also for the student. For only US$28.00 per day, a student can get lodging, breakfast, and a great local adviser on where to go, eat or shop. 

Whether you come to Oaxaca or travel somewhere else to Learn a language, we strongly recommend that you live with a homestay family. As you can see, there are very good reasons to do so.