Daily Staff Report
Vail, CO, Colorado
June 14, 2007
Business name: H&M Spanish Programs, LLC
Date opened: April, 2002
Owners: Jeff Hayslip and Sebastian Melgarejo
Contact info: Phone, 970-333-8642. On theWeb, www.hmspanishprograms.com. Email to info@hmspanishprograms.com Our address is 113 Mill Loft St. # B-205, Edwards, CO 81632
What goods or services do you provide?
We provide Spanish language services for companies, adults and children. For the fifth time this summer we will be running our Spanish Language Immersion Day Camps for children here in the Vail Valley. Along with our camps, we also offer company training, private and group lessons for adults and tutoring for children.
What strategy do you use to differentiate your business from your competition?
Sebastian and I work as a team developing every program and both of us have experience teaching children and adults in a variety of different environments and levels. We are both passionate about teaching the Spanish language and culture. We also work well as a team and are always looking for new and exciting ways to make language learning fun and attainable for everyone.
What philosophy do you follow in dealing with your customers?
What can your customers expect from you? Our approach to teaching is to make the classroom environment interesting, exciting and as real as possible. With all of our training programs we try to emphasize the use of Spanish in context pertinent to the needs of the company or student. We try to engage the student while at the same time taking the pressure off and allow them to express themselves without worrying about making a mistake. We have worked with several companies in the Vail Valley and we make sure to develop a flexible program and schedule to fit desired needs.
Tell us a little about your background, education and experience:
Jeff Hayslip: After graduating from the University of Wisconsin at Madison I worked in San Francisco and New York City on Wall Street. After five years of the financial world, I packed a backpack and traveled throughout South America. I ended up moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina where I lived for two years teaching English at Ernst and Young. When I came back to the U.S. six years ago I moved to Vail and started working at CMC teaching computers in Spanish. Since 2002 I have been teaching Spanish at St. Clare of Assisi in Edwards and next year, Sebastian and I will be working on a Spanish immersion program for a few local families here in Vail.
Sebastian Melgarejo: I was born and raised in Argentina where I earned a B.A and M.A in Psychology from Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I have worked around the world, in Italy, Spain, Argentina and the U.S. as a ski instructor. Since living in Vail I have taught skiing in Beaver Creek and Spanish at CMC and at the Vail Mountain School. Next year I will be working with Jeff on a Spanish immersion program for a few local families here in Vail.
What is the most humorous thing that has happened at your business since you opened?
At our Spanish immersion day camps humorous things happen all the time. We do a lot of acting and roll playing at camp and what the kids come up with is hilarious. We film different scenes throughout the week and show the finished product to the entire camp on the last day. We know we are doing something right when the entire camp is on the floor laughing from kids acting out scenes in Spanish.