Who we are? | Speak&Travel

Speak and Travel

Who we are?

Speak and Travel is a Company fully dedicated to organize full immersion programs for students who wish to learn English in the US. Our goal is to offer the chance to increase their knowledge of English as a foreign language, at the same time that we offer a very unique, unforgettable and secure life experience.

Speak and Travel was born in 2014 and created by Carlos Feijoo and María Pola.

Maria Pola has a Business Administration Degree (BA) from Georgia State University in Atlanta. Maria lived in the United States for five years (from 1989 until 1994). She has stayed in permanent touch with her host family and friends since then. Maria has worked in the tourism industry for many years. She has occupied different management positions in several hotels in the Canary Islands since 1997. In the year 2008, they decide to move to Oviedo, and Maria starts organizing several programs for foreign students learning Spanish as a second language.

All those years of experience in the travel and tourism industry, the experience with international students, and her personal experience as an Exchange student in the US, has contributed to the idea of creating the company Speak and Travel. All those experiences put together helped them to become a reference in Language Courses in Spain.

María Pola

CEO

Carlos Feijoo

CEO

Our

Experience

Since their beginning in 2014, we have searched for motivated and loving families willing to offer a unique experience to our students. There is nothing better as to having been an international Student in the USA to be able to understand their culture and habits. It is the best way to know the challenges and difficulties that all new students find during their personal experiences in this foreign country.

Maria knows this country perfectly, and she knows all the corners and places that are worth to be visited. She also knows that each case needs to be treated individually, trying to match hobbies and expectations. Not all the students feel comfortable everywhere in the country, and the experience has showed her that being able to choose a State for the experience is very important to match the student’s expectations.

Why we are

different?

The answer to this question is very easy: Because we are small, and that allows us to treat each case by name and last name. Our contact is direct with the local coordinators, and that allows us to explain to them all the peculiarities of each student. The coordinators also give us the details from the host families, and all that information helps to make sure that each student is hosted by the perfect host family! This creates a personal contact with the student and the families since the beginning of the experience. Students can ask for help or require personal attention at any time, also at their final destination. And the families in Spain can, at any time, ask for assistance or help, and they can communicate their concerns to be solved as soon as possible.

In Speak and Travel, we think that each experience must be unique, and that closeness must give a true feeling of security and tranquility to students and families. Each student requires special attention and the correct selection of a host family. The permanent contact between Asturias (person who interviews and screens the students) and USA (the person who selects the host family) guarantees that each case is treated individually and supervising all the details.

Our

Programs

Speak and Travel organizes full immersion programs in host families, since they understand it as the only efficient method to learn a foreign language. Speak and Travel does not offer programs in residential schools or summer camps, where daily contact with other Spanish students cannot be avoided. Speak and Travel guarantees the absolute immersion in the American culture and the English language, and only then, SAT guarantees the learning of the language and the deep use of the course.

Speak and Travel offers two summer programs:

Speak and Travel also offers semester and academic school year programs in the US, living with host families, and attending public or private High Schools.

SUMMER PROGRAMS

ACADEMIC COURSES

Team

in the USA

Speak and Travel is grateful to have the amazing help of coordinators, who do the host family search for all of our students.

Nancy Hickson

Augusta Area coordinator

Nancy Hickson was Maria’s host mother during the years that she was a student in the US, and they have preserved a very close and familiar relationship since then. She perfectly knows the challenges that host families must handle when they host a Spanish student, as well as the expectations of our teenagers. She still lives in North Augusta, South Carolina, and she selects the families in the cities of Augusta (also in the Georgia side), and in Aiken.

Cerissa Fulmer

Columbia Area Coordinator

Cerissa Fulmer lives in the city of Columbia, and selects the families in that city and also in Aiken. Her family, when she was still in High School, hosted a student from Spain. Since then, and almost 20 years after that first experience, she has always cooperated with different student programs. She has helped to find families and homes for students from many different countries. Cerissa has also been a host Mom for students from South Korea, Norway, Germany and Colombia, so she has a very extensive experience.

Tiffany Beesley

Greenville Coordinator

Tiffany Beesly lives in Greenville and selects the host families in this town. Tiffany and her family host students from different nationalities very often. They really enjoy sharing their home and culture, and they understand better than anyone the needs and fears of any student when they first arrive to America! Tiffany is generous, caring and loving with all of them, and she knows how to find the perfect host family for every kid!

Shana Wentzell

CEO California Agency

Shana Wentzell organizes the summer program in California and coordinates the Academic Year program also in this State. Shana has been working with international students since she created her agency in 1994. She is the mother of 6 children, and she has been hosting students in her home since then.