Events & Blogs

Ready to switch stories? 💫 We’re putting Don Quijote back on the shelf (for now 😉) and diving into a captivating, slightly eerie, and beautifully written short story collection: 🕊️ “Birds in the Mouth” by Samanta Schweblin. 🔁 As always, it’s our DarKha Special Bilingual Book Club — where language learners and literature lovers meet to share, laugh, and practice Spanish & English in a relaxed, thoughtful space. 🗓️ Get a copy of book in PDFs in both Spanish and English at

Here at the academy, September is our month of coordinating and accommodating: matching parents with afterschool schedules filled with sports, music, dance… and of course, English! Lives are modified, groups are formed and tweaked, alliances made and broken — all because of fencing class. It's glorious madness. And then comes October.

Ah yes, the legendary Chapter 6… when everyone decides the best way to “cure” Don Quixote is to burn down his entire library. 📚🔥 While our would-be knight sleeps peacefully, dreaming of glorious adventures, the village priest and barber stage a full-on medieval intervention. They team up with the housekeeper and niece, grab some lanterns, and sneak into the library like they’re part of CSI: La Mancha. 🕵️‍♂️📖

So, our “valiant knight” Don Quijote has just been beaten up by some muleteers (big surprise). He’s lying half-dead in a field, when a kind farmer from his village finds him. Instead of proudly declaring his real name, Don Quijote insists (in true delusional fashion) on being called Valdovinos (a hero from an old ballad). Yes, he’s still roleplaying while bleeding. The poor farmer, trying to make sense of this nonsense, loads Don Quijote onto his donkey (not a noble steed, b

“Mommy, I slipped a note in your pocket. Everything will be okay. I’ll be back this afternoon.” That was from my 5-year-old nephew. He was off to his first day of school and feeling confident. More confident than his mother, who had set out all his clothes the evening before (she posted the picture…) and fretted about lunch and if he would find friends. I know this because it was on Facebook. Cute, I thought. And then came more postings of little kids, ...

📚✨ Bilingual Book Club Announcement! ✨📚 Hola, valientes lectores y caballeros andantes! ⚔️ This Friday at 7 PM at the academy, our Special Bilingual Book Club meets again — and we’re riding straight into Chapter 3 of Don Quijote de La Mancha! 🐴📖 What madness awaits in Chapter 3? Oh, just your average knight demanding to be dubbed in an inn he mistakes for a castle, with innkeepers, prostitutes, and muleteers all unwittingly cast as noble courtiers and holy men. 😅🏰👑

Summer has always been a season of contrasts, but I’ve never felt it more than when reflecting on life between my hometown in California and my current home here in Spain. Though the landscapes, traditions, and languages are different, there’s an unmistakable rhythm to summer that crosses cultures — one that celebrates community, connection, and the simple joy of staying cool.

Yes, I know—it’s quixotic. And we’re doing it anyway. We’re embarking on the bold adventure of reading the classic, the first modern novel ever written: Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes—together, in both archaic Spanish and English. Darcie with a group of students from California with Don Quijote and Sancho in Madrid. At DarKha Academy, our Bilingual Book Club meets twice a month to read aloud, share thoughts, and practice both languages in a warm, welc

It's like fish swimming in water — they don't even notice it. Take them out, plop them into new waters, and it’s traumatic. That's exactly what happens when you’re transplanted into the rhythms of a new culture. After six years in Spain, I still don’t think I’ll ever fully get used to Spain’s daily tempo.

The late afternoon air whipped my hair wildly, blocking and then revealing to me the vast plain tinted gold and rich pink. As the sun slid behind distant hills, the air not only whipped my body, but also my soul. The glory extended out of me into laughter, and it, too, was whipped away. «This is my Queendom», I told myself, pretending I was living hundreds of years ago in this very place. In my glee, I secretly searched for a silhouetted dragon flying out of the setting su

I woke with a start. Blinding rays of sunlight lit up the room like a divine spotlight, and I fumbled for my watch with a growing sense of d

"Trust me," I almost pleaded with my student, "don’t pronounce the W in the word answer." Then came the million-dollar question: Then why..

«¡Yo amo la paella!» exclaimed my little sister as we enjoyed a sunny afternoon in Alcúdia de Crespins. The warm air, the company...

The morning after the DANA flood,I remember questioning the purpose of the intense weather warnings had sounded the evening before. It only

We are continuing with "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain for Bilingual Book Club! It is an American Classic.

🎄 **Join Us for a Special Bilingual Christmas Party!** 🎄 Mark your calendars for Friday, December 20, and come celebrate the season at...

It’s touchy, to say the least. Personally, I have never observed my country being as divided as it currently is. I feel grateful to be here.

¡DarKha Senderismo Bilingüe🥾: El domingo 20 de octubre, ¡subimos a la Creueta de Xàtiva! Nos reunimos en la academia (Sant Doménec, 32)

DarKha Bilingual Hiking🥾: On Sunday, October 20, for our monthly bilingual hiking excursion we will climb to the Creueta in Xàtiva! Meet at

¡Seguiremos leyendo hasta el capítulo 6 de nuestro Libro para el Club de Lectura Bilingüe! Estamos leyendo "Las aventuras de Tom Sawyer" de