Our Past Guests and Students

• 

  The Hentons

  Glen and Kathy Henton

  (USA – While living in Villa Urquiza, Buenos Aires, Argentina)

  “We consider it a privilege to write this recommendation of Elsa Sabato as Spanish teacher and hostess to internationals.

  We arrived in Argentina in October of 2002 to begin our mission effort here and were very blessed to stay in the home of Sra. Sabato for five weeks. Sra. Sabato gave our fifteen year-old daughter Spanish classes for three hours, five mornings a week. Since we left her home, we have each continued to take Spanish classes from her for two hours a week and our daughter has continued to study with Sra. Sabato four hours a week.

  We have nothing but the highest praise for her as a person of fine culture and integrity, as a teacher who possesses a spirit of kindness and encouragement, and as a hostess whose home is dedicated to the comfort of her guests. We were served wonderful Argentine meals and shown the finest of Argentine manners and customs. Sra. Sabato treats students and guests with a high standard of behavior since this is her own way of life. Our daughter has learned every facet of Spanish grammar from Sra. Sabato and is now, after one year, able to converse comfortably and accurately in the Spanish language.

  We trust that this recommendation will serve to open doors of friendships and professionalism for Sra. Sabato and those who will have the blessing of associating with her. We would be happy to answer any questions prospective students and quests might have concerning Sra. Sabato.”

• 

  Seth Liebman

  Seth Liebman (USA)

  “Studying Spanish with Elsa while staying at her home in Buenos Aires was one of the best experiences of my life. Elsa is a warm and wonderful person, and she makes her students feel comfortable in her home from the moment of their arrival. Elsa’s home is beautiful, and is located near the center of Buenos Aires, close to the metro and major bus lines. The meals Elsa serves are abundant and delicious, and she cares about preparing and serving food that you like. If you do not speak Spanish when you arrive, Elsa will have you communicating in Spanish in a very short time. If you do speak Spanish, you will find Elsa to be fascinating. She can and will converse with you on a variety of topics, including art, literature, and philosophy. If you are interested in studying Spanish in the exciting and cosmopolitan city of Buenos Aires, I think you will find staying with Elsa and taking lessons from her to be most rewarding and worthwhile.”

• Fritz Reimnitz (Germany)

  “I would like to thank Elsa very much for all she did. I have been very happy with the accommodation she provided for me in her flat, which is vast and quiet and pleasantly cold during the summer months, when I spent some weeks there attending a Spanish course at hers. Her flat is also quite conveniently situated in Buenos Aires; its central locationis near to the Congress, Abasto Shopping Center, restaurants on Montevideo Street, Recoleta and so on.

  She serves good food, especially the really very special sandwiches.

  About the classes, I liked her very unique and individual way of teaching, her knowledge of art, culture and history. It has really been a pleasure to be her student.

  I learned a lot of Spanish from Elsa in a special and personal way.”

• 

  Owen Haaga

  Owen Haaga (USA)

  “I would recommend to anyone that they stay with Elsa in Buenos Aires. Apart from the good food and convenient location (close to public transportation, museums, shopping, nightlife, the university, etc.), it was fantastic just to spend time in such a welcoming and cultured household. Many of my enduring memories of Buenos Aires are the long discussions about art, philosophy, and history that I would often have with Elsa after dinner. In terms of immersion language learning, I probably learned much more from talking to Elsa than from taking undergraduate courses in the U.B.A., which is saying quite a lot. It really was the perfect immersion language learning experience. More than that, it was a fantastic life experience overall. Having such a great home to go back to made everything else about Buenos Aires more fun as well. One word of warning, though: try to leave yourself and open ended ticket. I originally came to stay for a semester, and ended up staying the whole year!”

• Susanne Hennig (Germany)

  “I am a flight attendant at Lufthansa and I have studied Spanish with Elsa since October, 2002. I really like working with her because she is a very good teacher, she’s experienced and very patient. Besides, it was great for me to have flexible hours. I can highly recommend her.”

• 

  Peggy Lafleur

  Peggy Lafleur (USA)

  “It has already been twelve years since when I first went to Buenos Aires to learn Spanish in the home of Elsa Sabato. To this day I think back on that experience as one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.

  Every day Elsa would give me private lessons for half the day. She worked very hard to understand what I was interested in learning and tailor the lessons to my needs. In my case, I was learning Spanish in order to work with our customers in Latin America. Therefore Elsa tailored my lessons to helping me write and give presentations in Powerpoint, learn cultural differences between the countries, conduct professional and social conversations, and importantly, learn how to effectively travel.

  In the afternoons, I was free to enjoy the city and practice getting around. Elsa would often suggest a museum or neighborhood and prepare me for how to get there or what to do. This proved to be very valuable as I ended up truly using my Spanish.

  I was given my own bedroom so there was ample privacy and an opportunity to spend some quiet time absorbing everything I had learned. The house was very lovely – all in all a very nice place to live and learn lodging.

  Elsa and I, and the rest of the family, have kept in touch ever since my first trip. Indeed I have always visited them when returning to Argentina. Elsa Sabato is a gifted teacher – I really don’t think I would have learned as much as I did without working with someone like her.

  I highly recommend taking Spanish classes with Elsa Sabato!”