Summer is finally here! And that means camp season has offically begun. Whether you’re choosing to stay virtual or venturing back out to in-person gatherings, Camp Kallpachay has you covered! I had the pleasure of connecting with the Founder and Director of Kallpachay, Miriam Epstein, and her dedicated team. She shared with us the mission of her Spanish immersion camp (based in Altadena, CA), the benefits of learning a second language, and how Kallpachay stands outs from similar programs.
Tell us a little bit about Kallpachay and the services you offer.
Kallpachay provides quality, innovative, creatively-inspired Spanish immersion language classes and curriculum for educators, administrators, and parents to connect students to all aspects of Spanish culture.
Kallpachay programs are designed to increase comfortability with speaking Spanish and conversational ability from any starting point, ensuring that comprehension and fluency go hand-in-hand.
Our specialty is teaching children (and children at heart) Spanish through immersion.
We offer:
IN-PERSON PROGRAMS (Greater Los Angeles Area): summer camps, backyard pods, private tutoring
ONLINE PROGRAMS: public and private group classes, one-on-one classes and tutoring
OTHER: after-school enrichment programs, core-subject Spanish program management, signature curriculum, custom curriculum
How did you get started and what inspired you to start your business?
Kallpachay has, from its inception, been nothing short of a labor of love. My goal in starting this company was to provide children with enriching Spanish education experiences and honor their enthusiasm for life and learning. Children, I felt, deserve to learn Spanish with dynamic teachers and engaging lessons.
We’ve had the distinct privilege to experience the fruits of our labor when visiting our classes and seeing our students bubbling with excitement. I, too, am filled with excitement when I witness their success; when they recall Spanish vocabulary as they play games, when they help each other learn, when they are creative, sing songs, and apply themselves to the learning process. It’s clearer now more than ever before that our students are part of a new wave of cultural appreciation and heritage.
Our families represent the mosaic of cultures that is the heartbeat of our community, and it is thanks to these families that our company has been able to expand and grow to serve the world community online. I am grateful for their enthusiasm, encouragement, and commitment; it fuels my passion for this work and serves as the inspiration for the Kallpachay family to continue to develop projects aimed at providing families and administrators with quality, progressive, arts-based, 100% Spanish immersion resources. To that end, we continue to strive to live up to Kallpachay’s Quechua name: to persevere and inspire!
Miriam and her team shared with us the following points highlighting the benefits of learning a new language in an immersive environment.
- Elicits heightened engagement from students
- Improves cognitive ability across all educational goals
- Provides new avenues to expand student achievement
- Increases global awareness and, as a result, empathy
- Prepares students for the competitive edge in the global marketplace
- Increases income potential
- Fosters fluency practice
- Trains the ear to pick up accents more easily
- Faster acquisition keeps student motivation high
- More intellectually engaging than other language-learning methods
- Develops problem-solving strategies and socio-emotional skills
- Allows for more prolonged, focused, and effective exposure to target language
And parents are loving this approach!
“One of the things I love most about Kallpachay is the immersion approach where the teachers only speak Spanish to the children. It changes the way they learn and it makes their perception of the language much sharper.” -Kathleen B.
“Immersion provides the environment where the child is learning, and at Kallpachay they are incorporating the culture, the music, and other fun things. The kids will follow along…and they’re speaking and they’re learning and they don’t even know it. ” -Sandra N.
- We gradually increase children’s verbal ability by using all the language components (reading, writing, comprehension) to support their strength in speaking. This is at the heart of all of our programs!
- Our online program design includes a site director to monitor quality and support the students, parents, and teachers.
- Inclusive and supportive community
- Heart-centered approach
- Innovative, play-based curriculum
- Classes include singing, art projects, science topics and experiments
- Engages children’s curiosity about the world
- Cultural Curriculum
Lastly, I asked Miriam and her team what aspirations and goals they have for Kallpachay.
We aspire to increase our student enrollment in our online language classes as well as continue to develop other resources for at-home learning. Our brand’s mascot is a friendly and curious Loro (Loreto), and along with his friends they will lead the way for us to share more of their personality-driven content on social media and other platforms.
Loreto has a personality that supports our students’ engagement; he has a can-do attitude and, much like the meaning of our company name “to persevere and inspire”, he strives never to give up. (Kallpachay is a word from the indigneous Quechan language of Peru.)
We are preparing to release a blend of adjunct learning materials and resources in both physical and online formats. We will continue to utilize our hands-on approach to maintain our quality and tailor experiences that fit the needs of our students to help them advance as language learners.
For more information about Kallpachay:
