Ted Purdom, from San Anselmo, California, graduated in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in English and enrolled in an overseas language program, aiming to learn Spanish. He ended up in Mallorca, the capital of the Balearic islands off the east coast of Spain, for the nine-month program. A friend told him about another program that placed American “language coaches” in Spain, called “Auxiliares de Conversación,” (conversation assistants), run by the Spanish Ministry of Education. So that November he opened The Bridge English Academy in Manacor, converting a former wine store into classrooms to give English language courses to locals. Then there’s the fact that the islanders’ first language isn’t Spanish, but Mallorquin, a dialect of Catalan.

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Persons: he’d, Ted Purdom, ”, Purdom, –, “, – Lluïsa, Apollonia, Neme Jimenez, iStock, ” Purdom, Llombards, Dennis Fischer Organizations: CNN, University of Oregon, Spanish Ministry of Education, Mallorca, English Academy, San Francisco Bay Area Locations: California, Mallorca, San Anselmo , California, Balearic, Spain, Spanish, Oviedo, Asturias, Mallorca’s, Palma, Manacor, American, kickstarting, San Francisco Bay, Francisco, Bay