WHO WE ARE
Mission
Our mission is to offer our students the best language instruction in the city, make language learning affordable to everyone who wants to learn, and to serve as a space that facilitates collective cultural exchange, driven by collaboration, friendship, learning, and mutual respect.
Vision
Build this cooperative into the best school it can be, in developing real cultural exchange, in spreading knowledge and mutual understanding, and in expanding the model of fair living wages and cooperative business ownership in Oaxaca.
A Cooperative Built on Fairness and Respect
With our cooperative organizational structure, we value everyone’s contribution and are dedicated to the idea of mutual respect. We ensure that all of our earnings are shared fairly among our teachers and staff, providing a fair living wage to everyone who works with us. At the same time, we strive to make our classes affordable to all students who want to learn, including offering Travelers & Cultural Exchange Scholarships to keep our program accessible.
Immersive & Communicative Methodology
Our philosophy is that learning a language requires a communicative approach and that it has to happen in the language that is being learned—making our classes immersive by nature. While it might sound a little intimidating for beginners, we believe this is the only real way to learn. After a day or two, our students find they make much more progress than when they’ve tried to learn solely by translating between languages. It also means we welcome students who speak any language into our classes.
A Non-Commercial Cultural Space for Everyone
We are the first language school in the city dedicated to being a cultural space as well. We want our space to be as non-commercial as possible, focusing on a richer exchange of ideas, experiences, and opportunities between our city and the world. We seek to hold events here for our students and Oaxacans to attend together, taking advantage of Oaxaca’s cultural, social, and political richness.
OUR STORY
The name of our space and school is La Guarida, which means “The Hideout.” We chose it in part because our first space was only a half-block from the Zócalo (the city square), but to enter, you had to walk through a hallway and then climb up a flight of stairs to reach the terrace and classrooms, reminding us of a treehouse. So while it was little hidden—making it the perfect space for our students to learned without too many distractions—it was also just a stairway away from the beating heart of the city.
Perhaps more importantly, though, we chose the name because it conjures up the idea of a group of people coming together and making a plan to do something big or important. And we see this project as a big and important one. And it’s not just our project. We see you, our students, as co-conspirators and equal partners with us in this venture—in helping us build this cooperative into the best school it can be, in developing real cultural exchange, in spreading knowledge and mutual understanding, and in expanding the model of fair living wages and cooperative business ownership in Oaxaca. We will work tirelessly to fulfill our mission.
From you we ask that you come to classes eager to learn, contribute and share space with everyone. We also greatly appreciate and will always welcome all of your constructive feedback so that we can continue to grow and offer the best Spanish learning options in the city.
Meet the Team
La Guarida is more than a project; it’s our shared goal. We bring our full selves to every class—open-minded, collaborative, and dedicated to a fair, teacher-led community. Meet the people behind the mission.
Come visit us in person at the address below:
LA GUARIDA:
Escuela Cooperativa de Español
+ Espacio Cultural
Calle Gral Joaquín Amaro 402, Col. Figueroa
Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca
México