About Samara Beach
Campus
 In
addition to the Heredia campus, students are offered
the chance to study in Playa Sámara
during the weeks they choose to do so. The campus
is a beautiful, new beachfront building overlooking
the ocean, with gardens leading straight to the
sand. Each classroom has AC and full audio-visual
equipment, as in Heredia.
Sámara is located on the northern pacific
coast and is a beautiful white sand beach lined
with palm trees. The ocean is ideal for swimming
and snorkeling, as it is protected by an offshore
coral reef.
Students are housed in local homestays, or they
can choose shared rooms in the hotel, with AC, hot
water, balcony, and pool, on a space-available basis.
The range of activities for outside class time includes:
horseback riding; kayaking; bicycle rentals; surfing;
visits to waterfalls; canopy tour; trips to nearby
beaches and national parks; bar/discotheques; restaurants
and more.
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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.
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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 who encourages
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, the staff
presents 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 held 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,
permanently scheduled lecture series are offered
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!
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