Our Spanish language school in Heredia / Costa Rica was founded in 1993. The primary goal of our school is to teach you the Spanish language in a warm yet intellectually challenging environment.

With several modern, spacious and well-equipped classrooms, lounges, patio areas and our beautiful tropical gardens, the social atmosphere is warm and welcoming.

Our professors have advanced university degrees and teaching certification. Our multilingual, friendly and professional staff are always on hand to help out with any personal or program issues students may need assistance with.

Classes are conducted entirely in Spanish, providing students from all over the world with a complete and intensive learning experience.

In addition, you have the opportunity to come to know Costa Rica, its traditions and its rich cultural heritage by participating in our daily cultural and extracurricular activities.

The colonial city of Heredia is located approximately 20 minutes by bus from the capital city of San José. Heredia provides all the conveniences of a medium-sized city in an environment, which has escaped, to a large extent, the common urban problems affecting the capital. It is home to the National University, and an important cultural center for Costa Rica. Furthermore, much of Heredia has managed to retain a typical Latin American pueblo feel despite increasing modernization.

The location of our Spanish language school within the city gives students easy access to transportation, shops and entertainment. At the same time, the tranquility and natural beauty of the mountains is only a few minutes away by taxi or bus.

In the downtown area students are usually no more than a 5 minute walk from a variety of services, including: sports center and olympic-size swimming pool; Internet café; gyms; bars, restaurants, discotheques; the National Universitys theatre and grounds; the International telephone office; clinics and travel agencies.

The province of Heredia is the coffee-growing capital of Costa Rica, where one can still see loaded ox-carts bringing in the beans from the coffee plantations characteristic of the green mountainsides. In the rural villages you will witness a way of life very different to that of the cities, and see vestiges of the old colonial architecture once typical in the entire Central Valley.

Heredias proximity to transportation hubs such as the airport and the central bus stations in San José make it an ideal base for your stay here. Easily accessible from the city are the nearby Poás and Barva volcanoes, and Costa Ricas numerous beaches and national parks.

Our Spanish program uses a combination of immersion teaching methods centered around the Communicative Approach. Our aim is to enable students to really express themselves in the language.

You can choose between:

Course 20h
4 lessons a day in a small group from Monday to Friday
Classes run from 8:30am to 12:30pm or from 1:30pm to 5:30pm. Students are informed of their timetable after their entrance exams. Schedules change every week.

Course 20+5h
4 lessons a day in a small group and 1 hours private class per day
Private lessons are available in the afternoons.

The course incorporates all aspects of language acquisition: conversation, grammar, reading, listening, writing, general comprehension and idiomatic expressions. In addition to formal textbooks, we use a wide variety of current materials: newspapers, literature, audio-cassettes, videos, advertisements, music, short stories and more. Classes also incorporate field-trips and out-of-class learning experiences by taking students to practice their Spanish in marketplaces, museums, buses, restaurants, and other areas where communication practice is a necessity.

Groups range from 1 to 6 students, the average group size being 3 to 5 for most of the year, except during high season (January to February and June to August), when 5 to 6 is the norm. When classes contain only 1 student, we reserve the right to reduce contact time to 3 hours per day in order to maintain academic program consistency.

Our core Spanish program consists of 12 different levels, from complete beginner through advanced. After these have been completed, students continue with six additional levels of high-advanced to superior level Spanish, which develop upon the literature used in lower levels and intensify work towards full proficiency in the various areas of language acquisition. Also covered at these levels are complex field projects, current events, linguistics, regional language usages and Costa Rican history. In addition, we have specialized courses for those who wish to study specific topics such as business, medical or media Spanish.

Each month we have a new activities calendar of special events and a variety of fun excursions, which are accompanied by a staff member and in which we encourage all our students to participate so as to promote social interaction with the locals. These activities include special dance or theater shows; soccer games; discussion groups; live music; discos and more.

LATIN DANCE CLASSES: From Monday through Thursday students have the opportunity to participate in classes where they will learn salsa, merengue, cumbia and marcado, the most popular dances in Costa Rica. This enables them to go out to discos with confidence and interact with Costa Ricans.

LECTURES: We hold periodic talks that cover a wide range of subjects and inform students about topics such as the ecology and environment of Costa Rica, Latin-American literature and politics. In the nearby National University, a permanently scheduled lecture series on the indigenous culture, peoples, and languages of Costa Rica is available to our students.

COOKING CLASS: Once a week we teach students how to make typical Costa Rican dishes, a nice skill to take home and share with friends and family!

LATIN MUSIC CLASS: In this weekly class students learn traditional and modern songs from different Spanish-speaking countries, analyzing their meaning and cultural significance. Feel free to join in and bring your own instrument!

Homestay
Living with a family who speaks only Spanish, in combination with intensive study, provides a wholly integrated exposure to both the language and the culture. In this way the learning process is greatly facilitated, as is the speed with which fluency is acquired.

Our host families are carefully selected and inspected and chosen for their hospitality. Accommodation can be arranged in single or shared rooms close to school on a half-board basis i.e. bed, breakfast and evening meal.

Hotels
If you prefer, there are several hotels within walking distance where we make your reservations.