About Heredia
The Heredia campus is located in the colonial city of Heredia, 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.
Heredia’s central location 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
University’s 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.
Heredia’s 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
Rica’s numerous beaches and national parks.
View a movie
About the School Program
The school program uses a combination of immersion
teaching methods centered around the Communicative
Approach with a solid grammar component. Instead
of a traditional grammar program, classes are designed
to provide a fully balanced intensive immersion
experience for students. This means that they incorporate
all aspects of language acquisition: conversation,
grammar, reading, writing, general comprehension
and idiomatic expressions.
The teacher’s role
is seen as one of facilitator, where the students
have input into their own learning, thereby making
it more meaningful to their own experience. In addition
to formal textbooks, they use a wide variety of
current materials: newspapers, literature, audiocassettes/CD’s,
videos, advertisements, music, short stories and
more. Classes also incorporate field trips and out-of-class
learning. Thus classes remain interesting as well
as educational!
The core Spanish program consists of thirteen
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.
Specialized courses are offered
for those who wish to study specific topics such
as business, medical or media Spanish.
Please observe days the campus is closed:
JANUARY 1: New Years Day
APRIL 11: Juan Santamaría Day (Costa Rica's
national hero)
APRIL 10-14: Easter Week
MAY 1: Costa Rican Labor Day
JULY 25: Annexation of Guanacaste
AUGUST 15: Mother's Day
SEPTEMBER 15: Costa Rican Independence Day
OCTOBER 12: "Día de la Raza" Indigenous
Peoples' Day
DECEMBER: 11-29 Christmas Holidays
SCHOOL ACTIVITIES
Each month offers new activities and a calendar
of special events plus a variety of fun excursions,
which are accompanied by a staff member and who
encourage all 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.
For some of the more important national holidays
staff present educational performances relevant
to the occasion.
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 to discos with confidence
and interact with Costa Ricans. In Sámara,
dance class is once or twice a week.
LECTURES: Periodic talks are given 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
addition, there are permanently scheduled lecture
series on the indigenous culture, peoples, and languages
of Costa Rica.
INTERCAMBIOS: During these cultural exchanges Spanish
students meet with Costa Rican students at the school
to practice conversation skills in a relaxed atmosphere,
and to make new friends from the local community.
COOKING CLASS: Once a week students are taught 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!
|
