Academic Program
Program Coordinator: Greg Lyons
Spend two weeks studying Spanish at the Instituto de Cultura y Lengua Costarricense, in Alajuela, Costa Rica. Earn 4 credits of college Spanish at your level of proficiency! Then move to the Caribbean-side tropical environment research facility at La Selva for two full days of birding and natural history tours. The rest of the week is spent at the University of Georgia’s tropical research station, Ecolodge, in the Monteverde Cloud Forest to study the mountain rainforest. Finally, move to Cabo Blanco, on the Pacific Coast, to study tropical dry forest ecology and marine biology. Earn 4 credits in Field Biology (variously numbered BI 141, 188, or 200). This biology course, designed for non-science majors, is open to all students with an interest in learning more about three distinct biological environments of the tropics.
Instituto de Cultura y Lengua Costaricense
- Week One and Two of Program
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Depart from Portland, arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica. Host families will greet students and take them to their homes. After resting and visiting with host families on Sunday, students will take a Spanish placement test and an orientation tour of the Alajuela/San Jose area on Monday. Classes start at the Instituto de Cultura y Lengua Costarricense on Tuesday, and go through Friday. Afternoon activities include a museum visit and traditional Costa Rican games. Optional activities include a bird zoo (extra fee) and a weekend visit to Poas Volcano ($65). The weekend is also open for relaxation or individual travel, such as a local river tour. Spanish classes continue this week through Friday. Extracurricular activities include a movie, dancing class, and an optional visit to a local snake farm (extra fee).
Instituto de Cultura y Lengua Costarricense
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A private Spanish language institute, founded in 1992, specializing in teaching Spanish to foreigners. Located on top of a small hill with a view of distant fields, the Institute is surrounded by flowers and fruit trees and is only 10 minutes by bus from Alajuela (10 miles west of San José, the capital of Costa Rica). The ICLC is situated in Carillo, a suburb of Alajuela, about twenty miles northwest of San Jose, the capital city. Carillo homes will have most of the modern conveniences you are used to. The language school is about a 30-minute bus ride from your homestay. The ICLC campus, new as of 2006, has a small cafeteria/café, inside and outside classrooms, and a small library. With a population of around 100,000 and average temperatures of 74-80 degrees Fahrenheit, Alajuela offers the language traveler the relaxing environment of a small city and easy access to San José.
- Week Three
- Saturday, we will bus (3-4 hours) to La Selva tropical forest reserve, staying in the local town of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui for tours to the rich diversity of the lowland Tuesday, we will bus (6-7 hours) to Ecolodge, high in the tropical mountains northwest of Alajuela and settle in at Ecolodge San Luis, a learning and research facility run by the University of Georgia. We’ll spend four days learning about mountain tropical forest environment.
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La Selva Reserve
On Saturday after the second week in Costa Rica, we’ll go by bus to Sarapiqui, near this tropical rain forest reserve northeast of San Jose in the Caribbean foothills. Species diversity is amazing, including more than 1,850 species of plants, 350 of trees, 448 of birds, and 500 of ants! La Selva is one of the world’s most important sites for tropical ecosystem research, including projects on forest dynamics, biodiversity, nutrient cycling, and native species reforestation. Tours include an introduction to birding, natural history and research survey.
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Ecolodge San Luis
High in the forested mountains northwest of San Jose, this research station is near Monteverde, Costa Rica’s famous montane cloud forest. Ecolodge also has its own pre-montane forest, rich in plants and animals, and valuable for teaching. Ecolodge is a University of Georgia branch campus, including student union, computers, library, dining hall, classrooms, dorms, individual cabins, and lab facilities. We will spend four full days here, learning about tropical ecology. Two terrific optional activities that yield a bird’s-eye perspective on the rainforest are the Sky Walk Canopy Bridge Tour and Zipline ($55).
- Week Four
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An all-day trip—by bus and ferry—to Cabo Blanco, on the Pacific coast. Our last week will be spent investigating lowland tropical forest environments and marine ecology. On Saturday, we’ll ferry and bus back to San Jose to spend the night in a hotel. On Sunday, we’ll depart from the San Jose International Airport, arriving in Portland early Sunday evening.
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Cabo Blanco
The final week of our program is on the coast, at Cabo Blanco—another University of Georgia research and teaching site. We go by bus to Puntarenas, take a ferry across the Golfo de Nicoya, and drive to the edge of the Cabo Blanco Absolute Preserve. This remote area is open only for research and academic courses. Here, students will investigate dry tropical forests and the marine environment. This ecosystem differs from those at La Selva and Ecolodge, and students should enjoy life in a thatched palapa, snorkeling and investigating lowland forest environments.
Courses
Before you leave Oregon, register for the level of Spanish that you have not yet studied (SPAN 101, 102, 103, 201, 202, and 203 are available). Some colleges have placement exams if you are unsure. At ICLC, students are also tested and placed according to Spanish language ability: Superior, Advanced, Intermediate, Novice. By Tuesday of the first week, classes are in full swing, and are taught entirely in Spanish—no translations. This is total immersion!
PCC students will take Biology 200 and one of the following Portland Community College courses in Spanish:
Language Classes
There are four students per instructor. Instructors are rotated, and groups can change as conditions dictate. Instructors utilize speaking, listening, music, video, literature and newspapers during the course of a day. Instruction is 4 to 5 hours per day, five days per week. Students easily accumulate the 40 hours of Spanish instruction required by the Oregon college system for one term of college credit. In fact, they can accumulate over 50 hours of instruction.
Upon arrival, each student is given an oral and written exam to be placed at a level that matches his/her knowledge. Depending on the placement by ICLC, PCC students will be placed into the equivalent PCC course SPA 101 (First Year Spanish), 102 (First Year Spanish), 103 (First Year Spanish), 201 (Second Year Spanish), 202 (Second Year Spanish) or 203 (Second Year Spanish). Because of the intensive immersion contact in Spanish (20-25 hours per week of classroom instruction), students will earn the equivalent of one term of Spanish in two weeks.
Extracurricular Activities at ICLC
The group program consists of 20 hours of small group instruction (maximum 4 students/class), from Monday through Friday. However, students have the opportunity to do more than just study. Organized activities are part of the program every afternoon each weekday. The activities vary from week to week to keep the program lively. Common activities include:
- Latin dance classes
- Costa Rica's forests
- Latin music
- Costa Rican cooking classes
- Central American issues
- Costa Rican literature & history
- Spanish grammar topics
- Costa Rican art
Costa Rica is a safe country, and students are encouraged to travel on their own during the weekend between the two Spanish instructional weeks. However, ICLC can arrange group outings, including rafting on the Paquori River and trips to various other points of interest in Costa Rica.