Joan Linton

I love traveling, meeting new people, language, and doing nice things for others. Pueblo Inglés is all of these.

Yes, it takes a lot of energy to talk with people from morning to night, but the programs are so well managed you might find yourself wishing for more hours in the day.

As a volunteer, your most important function is to help the students realize that their English is much better when they relax and let it flow. You don’t need to understand grammar or to know what phrasal verbs are, you just need to be positive, kind, and a good listener.

If I travel as a normal tourist, I might have conversations about banal things with servers and taxi drivers and hotel staff, but in Pueblo, I have deep conversations with fascinating people about interesting things I wouldn’t have known existed were it not for the programs. Volunteering was never so rewarding, and at the same time I’m contributing something that is valuable to the learners and very easy for me. Win, win.

I have done immersion programs since 2008 and am still in touch with friends from many of them. These are students and volunteers from six continents. They tell me about their homes and lives, and I tell them about mine. I have visited PI friends in their local areas, and some have visited me here in California. Many of these people are among my dearest friends, and if not for PI I never would have known them. The PI staff are lovely people too and I am always happy to see them again.

English immersion programs are not a match for everyone, but if what I have written sounds interesting to you, I highly recommend that you apply. It’s an experience that can’t be put into words.