Experience Christmas and New Year in Costa Rica

CONTACT: director@aicr-edu.org / csr@aicr-edu.org / rdemes@aicr-edu.org
Have you ever wondered how Christmas and New Year's are celebrated in COSTA RICA? Here's your chance to find out - you can experience this amazing time, help others by volunteering and learn the language while taking a Christmas Spanish course in Costa Rica!
As you might expect, this time of the year in Costa Rica doesn't usually get much beyond mildly chilly temperatures and maybe a stiff wind (the best time of the year!).
With Amistad´s SPANISH CHRISTMAS BREAK you'll not only learn Spanish but also about how Christmas is celebrated in Costa Rica with games, trips and special, fun activities.

Starting Dates	December 08th,  15th and 22nd 2012.
Lessons per week	20
Duration	1-2-3 or 4 weeks
Levels	All levels, from beginner to advanced and Superior
Notes	If you decide to stay in Costa Rica for more than 2 weeks, you can switch over to a regular, Intensive Spanish Course of 20 lessons per week.
Lesson Duration	55 min.
Class Size	Max. 10 students per Spanish class.

Activities: Season cooking class, songs, lectures, piñata workshop, visit, café social, and volunteer opportunities.

Course Description

The 1 or 2 week Christmas program is designed for you to enjoy traditional Costa Rican celebrations and work on your language skills at the same time. Apart from 20 Spanish lessons per week, the school organizes excursions and cultural activities such as visits to typical Costa Rican Christmas gatherings, Costa Rica Christmas Cooking, nativity exhibits and Epiphany parades. Most of these activities are included in the price (except the transport costs and entrance fees). Please keep in mind some of these activities have special dates (like the Lights Parade in San Jose downtown); ask for the special activities before booking :)
Since the course falls in an off-peak period, museums and other sites of interest are often less crowded than at other times of the year. AMISTAD classes are held throughout the entire holiday season, but we do observe the 25th of December, the 1st of January and other local/special holidays.

PRICES

One week $215
Two weeks $410
Three weeks $630
Four weeks $800

Even Brad y Angelina spend their Christmas in Costa Rica *** Read about it.

Top 10 Reasons to Spend Christmas in Costa Rica * From our friends of Costa Rica Pages

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Save Costa Rican Sea Turtles Campaign

Save Costa Rican Sea Turtles this October, November and December for only $200 per week; for a minimum stay of 2 weeks.

This is the time when we get less help (people is not in vacations), and they need more help.

Come and help the turtles for just $200 per week, it includes:

Pick up from SJO International airport
First night with a host family all meals included
Transportation to the project
Introduction session
24/7 emergency phone number
Project
Housing
3 meals per day

Drop off is not included in case you want to travel around the country.

Transportation from the project can be arranged.

Las night stay and drop off from Central Valley can be arranged for extra $30

Just send an email to director@aicr-edu.org with the subject (SAVE THE TURTLES CAMPAIGN).

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Let´s celebrate Amistad´s Birthday

YES! Our birthday celebration is coming and you get the presents!

OCTOBER is our Birthday Month and we have offers for the whole Trimester!

During September, October and November SPANISH programs for $185 per week at our Main Campus in Santa Bárbara, and $235 at our Beach Campus in Esterillos ** VOLUNTEER Standard Programs for $115 and Special Programs for $145

Also a 5% discount in all our packages (4-1 / 8-4 weeks programs)

 No placement fee - No last-minute booking fee - No hidden fees!

We are sure you can take good advantage of this offer as you did with the previous one, we celebrate our 9th birthday, and we want you to be part of it.

Also, for all the bookings for 2013 that are confirmed before October 31st; we will keep 2012 fees. Fine applies in cancelations.

 

LET´S CELEBRATE TOGETHER!

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We like Summer * Special OFFER

As a tropical country, we love Summer in Costa Rica, that is why we want to give a Summer GIFT.

ONLY DURING JUNE 2012 and for new bookings!

ALL our programs for $200 per week at our Main Campus in Santa Bárbara, and $250 at our Beach Campus in Esterillos.

No placement fee - No last-minute booking fee - No hidden fees!

Just the opportunity to take care of this Special Offer.

WE LOVE SUMMER TIME!

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We did it! We´re opening in Esterillos beach, and you´re invited to join!

We finally did it! Yes, we are opening a Beach Campus in Esterillos Beach; Marco is ready with his summer hat and his surf boards... Oh yes... a surf board is a must when going to the beach and area we choose to open our Beach Campus! ~ As you see, Marco is in charge of operations at the beach (we will introduce you with his team in time); and Alexander, Rebecca and Robert (with the rest of the staff you know) will work and support from the Main Campus. BIG Opening Party is getting prepared for June 2nd, 2012.

We choose this location as opposed to other beach locations, because of its proximity to: other beaches, the Central Valley and because it has really good access and roads (the opposite of the beaches in Guanacaste, where it takes one hour to go from one beach to the other even with your own car… dirt roads are awful to drive!). 

Esterillos is just minutes away from Jacó, Pochotal, Hermosa, Herradura, Guapinol, Bejuco, Bandera Beaches... and when we say minutes away we mean it, you can even go in a bike!!!! Route 34 goes all the way around this coast, even more... just a little ride and a cruise trip and participants can get to Nicoya Gulf, where we offer Teaching, Children, Turtles, and more volunteer projects (Nicoya Gulf has many beaches too, such as Montezuma, Cabo Blanco, Malpais... and going a little more to Guanacaste area easy access to Camaronal, Bejuco and Samara).

 

This long beach has tide pools at its northern end, where a sculpture of a  mermaid sits atop the rocks… and our school is just 200 meters from this sculpture… All our students are allowed to use La Sirena Hotel facilities (access to bar, activities and pool).

La Sirena is just 50 meters from the shore!!!

We decided to make a partnership with this incredible small hotel, so our participants can have real fun at this place without interfering with the educational goals of the Institute.

As you can see, we are all cover and ready to start... we just need you!

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Amistad´s social responsibility program… Help your organization by helping others!

We are glad to announce our special program to fundraise economical and human resources and help for Amistad´s foundation www.fundadeico.org.

As one of our clients you are constantly helping us to support FUNDADEICO´s projects; and that is why we want to make you part of this by giving you this incredible offer that is going to also provide human and economical help to the foundation.

Starting on May 15^th, 2012; we are going to offer 3 special packages (all included) in our Main Campus, in beautiful and semi-rural Santa Barbara (These prices apply ONLY throughout FUNDADEICO and the promotion ends by November 1^st, 2012):

PACKAGE #1

2 weeks program

Pick up from the airport

40 hours of Spanish lessons (20 per week)

Spanish text/working book

Volunteer project 20 hours per week (40 hours in total) * Applicable only to projects near the Institute´s Main Campus.

Private room

3 meals per day

Laundry service once a week

Latino Dancing lessons

Costa Rican Cooking and Tropical Fruits lessons depending on the schedule.

One Day Tour (See description here http://costaricainside.com/odt_pacifichighlights.html)

ONLY $510 the whole package for a minimum of 3 participants.

REAL VALUE $610

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PACKAGE #2

4 weeks program

Pick up from the airport

80 hours of Spanish lessons (20 per week)

Spanish text/working book

Volunteer project 20 hours per week (80 hours in total) * Applicable only to projects near the Institute´s Main Campus.

Private room

3 meals per day

Laundry service once a week

Latino Dancing lessons

Costa Rican Cooking and Tropical Fruits lessons depending on the schedule.

One Day Tour (See description here http://costaricainside.com/odt_pacifichighlights.html)

ONLY $999 the whole package for a minimum of 3 participants.

REAL VALUE $1220

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PACKAGE #3

4 weeks program [1 week of Spanish followed by 3 weeks in a volunteer project]

Pick up from the airport

20 hours of Spanish lessons (the first week)

Spanish text/working book

Volunteer project 20 hours per week (60 hours in total) * Applicable only to projects near the Institute´s Main Campus.

Private room

3 meals per day

Laundry service once a week

Latino Dancing lessons

Costa Rican Cooking and Tropical Fruits lessons depending on the schedule.

One Day Tour (See description here http://costaricainside.com/odt_pacifichighlights.html)

ONLY $590 the whole package for a minimum of 3 participants.

REAL VALUE $682

 For more information about these amazing programs please write to info@fundadeico.org

Some pictures for these packages...

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Health program in Costa Rica – a volunteer’s testimonial!

As a direct provider we offer many opportunities for volunteers to get first-hand experience in the health sector.
Depending on their level of knowledge, specialization, and skill, they may check blood pressure, distribute food and medicine, weigh babies, accompany emergency response vehicles, and help with other first-aid procedures.
Examples of places where volunteers are needed are hospitals, senior care centers, the Red Cross and EBAIS (small clinics in individual communities). Assistance with public health community campaigns and other basic education can also be part of the job.

The projects provide a wonderful opportunity to doctors, nurses, medical and pre-medical students to become familiar with the challenges and health issues of Costa Rica, and they would benefit the most from this type of volunteer work.
To already get an idea of how a specific volunteer placement is like, read the following testimonial of Christel Bauló Estevez from Spain from our partner agency Volunteer Work Latin America, who completed four weeks assisting at a senior care center:


“From the first moment the language institute and my host family gave me a very warm welcome, I have had one great experience after the other. I really couldn’t have made a better decision to change my hometown Barcelona to live and work a while in Costa Rica!
On the first day, the Spanish school provided us with all the necessary information regarding our stay in Costa Rica. The volunteer coordinator accompanied me to the health center where I was presented to the director and my new colleagues.

The schedule was set up such a way that in the mornings you would be learning Spanish or go volunteering. Since my native tongue is Spanish, I decided to do four weeks of volunteer work and enjoy the school’s activities in the afternoon. They offered us amongst other Latin dance and Caribbean cooking classes, which was a so much fun!
The school is very well looked-after and situated in beautiful natural surroundings. Here we ate our breakfast, had access to wi-fi and computers to communicate with our ‘European families’ and they helped us organize our weekend trips. I was also very happy to improve my English, while helping the other students improve their Spanish; and as it turned out my grammar and vocab were not that bad after all!

The project resulted to be an incredibly enriching experience for my professional career.  My tasks at the retirement home were (as I’m an official nurse), to prepare and distribute medications, check on vital signals, sanitary education and provide treatments to the elderly…all with very limited resources. This is when I realized how fortunate we are in Europe. I started to really appreciate the jobs and installations we have in Europe, i.e. the quality of medical assistance, and also value the efforts of the nurses at the home to give the ageing residents a dignified assistance full of affection.
Over the weekend, my roommate Elke from Belgium and I visited the Volcano Poás and the paradisiac beaches of Puerto Viejo de Limón, Montezuma, Santa Teresa and Jaco. Here we enjoyed spectacular sunsets, looked at the surfers waiting for their waves and got to know people from all over the world while dancing salsa at a fiesta on the beach!
After these experiences I understand why the Tico greeting is “Pura Vida!!”
For more information about our health volunteer projects click here.

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More pictures of our future Campus at the beach, and the great beach.

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Teaching and Children Programs at the beach ** New Beach Campus

We finally made the next step; after working hard for several months we are ready with 18 new projects in different beach locations all around the country; from Guanacaste (Northem Zone) to the Caribbean; several schools and families opened their doors to Amistad; we are very proud of this because it means that we are doing a good job in other areas.
We are now ready to receive all your applications for Teaching and for Children from people that will like to do this at the beach.

Click on the map to see the picture bigger

BEACH CAMPUS
We are also proud to announce our new Campus at Esterillos Beach; just 15 minutes from Jaco beach, Central Pacific; and 30 minutes from Manuel Antonio, Quepos beach.
Esterillos beach is divided into three sections, West, Central and East each with a small village. Surfing is the main attraction here. This long beach has tide pools at its northern end, where a sculpture of a mermaid sits atop the rocks.This ear of Costa Rica's Central Pacific has one of the most consistent and cleanest breaks for surfers. Waves frequently break head high and are great year round. Besides Surfing, the waters are friendly towards all sorts of activities, such as Horseback riding, ATVs, sport fishing, kayaking and more. At low tide, the size of Esterillos beach increases dramatically, creating a blemish free vastness of dark sand waiting to be explored by beach combers.
Esterillos can be reached by either the north or south end from Highway 34 (Costanera Sur). Quepos and nearby Manuel Antonio National Park are less than an hour drive down the highway to the south. Just 20 minutes south of Playa Hermosa, Playa Esterillos is a great stop for any travelers seeking soothing ocean breezes and plenty of sunshine and shade. Located near the fun town of Jaco Beach, with tons of fun places to eat and adventure tours available as well.
We are working on some final details (government permissions, reparations and others), and will come to you with more information very soon... but, for now, please take a peek!

Amistad Beach Campus

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New partnership

We are glad to announce our new partnership with Terra Costa Rica, an organization that brings volunteers to the country; Amistad is proud to be their Spanish school; same way we do it for ItoI International and Real Gap; we are really glad about growing our Spanish students community with more citizens from around the whole world.
With more than 8 years teaching Spanish to more than 3.000 students now, Amistad is always looking for better ways to work and spread the language and the culture!

Welcome as part of our net of organizations offering real, nice experiences to students and volunteers visiting Costa Rica!

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Hospede un Voluntario y gane

Únase a nuestra red nacional de familias hospedadoras.

Unirse a los intercambios internacionales es algo que vale la pena para toda su familia. A continuación encontrará algunos de los beneficios de hospedar un estudiante internacional con Amistad Institute.

 

Anímese y consulte al correo electrónico familias@aicr-edu.org o al teléfono 2269.0000 con la encargada de Familias.

Beneficio económico

Muchas otras organizaciones le "venden" la idea de que el dinero no es lo importante--- ¡y es verdad!; pero sabemos que la economía mundial actual a veces no da para mantener otra persona en la familia (especialmente un adulto); es por eso que solicitamos a nuestros voluntarios una colaboración para poder ofrecer a nuestras familias un estipendio semanal que cubra la estadía del voluntario; nos sentimos felices de decir que esta colaboración, según nos han reportado algunas familias, es suficiente inclusive para comprar la alimentación de la familia entera; liberando a la misma de este gasto mientras los voluntarios están en sus casas.

Siembre la Solidaridad y el Voluntariado en su Familia

Las familias de todo tipo, de todas formas y tamaños, se benefician inmensamente de hacer cosas juntos para ayudar a alguien. Esto es especialmente cierto cuando usted hospeda a un voluntario de Amistad. Los padres experimentan la alegría de compartir el desarrollo de un hijo más. Los hermanos de todas las edades se benefician al relacionarse estrechamente con un estudiante de otro país. Y al compartir el deseo de entender otras culturas y dejar una huella, su familia crecerá junta en el proceso.

Comparta su Orgullo por Costa Rica

Cuando usted hospeda, juega un rol directo en la promoción de los valores costarricenses, pero más importante aún, en el desarrollo del adulto que su estudiante de intercambio llegará a ser. Cuando él/la voluntario/a que usted hospeda regrese a su país, las lecciones que habrá aprendido en Costa Rica le ayudarán a tomar las decisiones más importantes de su vida.

Aprenda Más Sobre el Mundo

Hospedar es una excelente forma de aprender sobre el mundo sin dejar su casa. Los padres e hijos de edad similar pueden aprender un nuevo idioma, interiorizar la realidad del mundo más allá de su casa o vecindario, ¡e incluso aprender a preparar exquisitos platos de cocina internacional!
Todos nuestros voluntarios hablan muy buen inglés, pero también es posible practicar otros idiomas como Alemán, Italilano o Francés.  Al hospedar un voluntario usted le brinda la oportunidad a su familia de practicar el idioma de su interés en su propia casa. Los voluntarios también tienen la expectativa de aprender el español durante su estadía en el país. Es cuestión de ponerse de acuerdo.
Vivir con un voluntario de otra cultura es una educación en sí misma, y no tiene mayor costo.

Gane Habilidades Interculturales

Nuestra vida personal y laboral ha cambiado dramáticamente en los últimos años. Hospedar a un voluntario le permite ganar habilidades interculturales valiosas que usted y su familia pueden aplicar en su vida cotidiana. Mejorar su capacidad para entender o hablar un idioma extranjero o perder el miedo a utilizarlo, ganar conocimiento sobre la forma de pensar de personas de distintas partes del mundo, y aprender a convivir y apreciar esas diferencias, son solo algunas de las habilidades que usted puede desarrollar hospedando un voluntario.

Diviértase

Las familias anfitrionas y voluntarios se ríen y se divierten mucho. La rutina diaria de la familia se ve renovada  y se descubren a menudo nuevas formas de disfrutar en familia.

Cambie el Mundo

Sí, suena ambicioso, pero es verdad: cuando usted hospeda un voluntario de Amistad Institute, usted tiene el poder de cambiar al mundo, un voluntario a la vez; ya que está colaborando con una persona que viene a nuestro país a ayudar y conocer, produciendo desarrollo y repartición de la riqueza.

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Hi everybody!

My name is Marco Bolaños and I am the Academic & Programs Director at Amistad Institute. I have been working in the international students and volunteering area since 1992, which means 20 years of experience. I am finishing my Master Degree in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language Teacher. You can reach me at: director@aicr-edu.org for any further questions.

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Holy Week Schedule

Hi everybody... during Holy Week we will close on Wednesday April 4th [2012] at 12.00 p.m. and will be back on track on Monday April 9th.
Have a nice Holy Week!

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Spanish language immersion from a former student

We had high hopes. High in the sky apple pie hopes. Just before leaving Key West, we’d searched the net and found a Spanish language school, Amistad Instutitue, that uses the immersion technique to teach Spanish, along with a thousand other techniques. There are at least one million of these schools in Costa Rica. The one we chose came highly recommended by our Costa Rica landlord as well as a fellow tenant on the finca, and is right in our village. So close, in fact, we could have walked there. We did not walk there because walking anywhere in Costa Rica involves walking straight uphill. That’s why all the women have nice butts. I’d like to have a nice butt, but walking uphill makes me short of breath. My butt is fine.
So we land in Costa Rica on Saturday 28 January. Marcus, the director of the school, who we had never met, only talked to on the phone, MET US AT THE AIRPORT. We were so surprised by this generosity. And, as U.S. citizens, naturally suspicious. The director of the school was meeting us at the airport? On a Saturday? And all we were doing was spending two weeks in a class? But meet us he did. Negotiated a taxi van for us and our 16 bags for a reasonable sum. Drove to our house, helped us unpack. And told us he’d meet us at our house on the following Monday to show us the way to class. Now that’s service. What a nice man!
On Sunday 29 January we unpack and buy a coffeemaker. You know, take care of the critical issues before us.
Monday 30 January, Marcus shows up at 8am (on time, not tico time which would have been 15 minutes late). We follow him and seconds later, we arrive at our class. We meet Esther, our profesora [pro-fess-SORE-ah, female professor]. Let me say this about Esther: WE LOVE ESTHER. She is beautiful, funny, gets our dumb Gringo jokes without her being able to speak a word of English. She is patient, persistent and has a nice butt. Unfortunately, despite everyone’s best efforts, we did not learn to speak Spanish. We were in that class 8a-noon Monday through Friday speaking only Spanish and, although we learned essential basics, we cannot "speak" Spanish by ANY stretch of the imagination. Perhaps our goals were a little unrealistic.
YOU THINK?
This is not Esther’s fault nor the fault of the school. We love them at the school (and they love us). But I don’t see how learning Spanish via the immersion method could work unless you IMMERSE. TOTALLY. Learning another language is más difícil [mahss dee-FEE-sill, very difficult]. For immersion to work, you have to break down the old way of thinking, kill it, execute it, wipe the slate clean, become language-less… THEN start inputting. I’m not sure how you would do this without totally immersing: living with people who ONLY speak the other language, being forced to learn to communicate. Werner Erhard could probably think of a quick efficient way. But you can’t just force the new over the old. Especially if you are old. Like Hal.
The four of us learn in entirely different ways. For instance, I mimic and am bold to experiment. Trial and error is my forte. Why waste time studying?
Hal wants to know the Latin derivative, the past, present, future gerund, explicative, expletive, blah blah blah – the man can pick apart a word.
Ryan does exactly what the instructor tells him to do (unless the instructor is me). He is anxious to please, to master the task at hand, and he went after it.
Mo… Mo somehow manages to pass out sitting up with his eyes open. It’s the most amazing thing. I’m sure this is a gift. I’m not sure how he will use it…. He can order at McDonald’s in Spanish and he can now, after 30 days, answer "Como está, Morgan?" [KOE-moe s-TAH, how are you] There is hope. As long as there is a God.
The day after the immersion school ended, Hal bought a course online called Rocket Spanish to continue his basic learning. This offers a system for learning a language and he is quite pleased with it. This is right up Hal’s alley. He spends 30 minutes a day repeating words, phrases. He walks around with a stack of cards, getting the rest of us to quiz him on today’s lesson. He will master this, there is no doubt. This is a man who, about five years ago, arrived home with a $2,000 piano and a book and taught himself to play.
The boys are in a wonderful private school run by a woman who I swear is the clone of Miss Jean Brody. She has a very definite opinion of how children should be taught and what they should be taught: "The jobs our children will have don’t even exist today." We like her, even though we suspect she is a little to the left of us politically, (so will likely stuff our children full of political correctness which we will have to undo). But we like her attitude.
If they graduate from the European School, they will earn an I.B., an International Baccalaureate, and be certified native speakers of English and Spanish. Mo better come out of his coma. Almost all their classmates are Costa Rican and speak English. Fortunately for us, they speak Spanish almost exclusively outside of class so the boys are getting a dose. They have Spanish class twice a week and we were promised a Spanish tutor in place of French class.
The schools in Costa Rica have an interesting class schedule. They don’t have math everyday, just twice a week. They have all their subjects twice a week, except English (Miss Brody is big on the humanities) which they have thrice weekly. They have drama (oh yes) and a two hour art class which Ryan is not wild about. He is not artistically inclined or interested so that is 2 hours of hell for him… although he did enjoy making the wire sculptures!
They ride the bus to school – let’s not talk about how fast the buses might go over those skinny mountainous roads with sheer drop offs into 3′ ditches… Hey, I can’t protect them from everything. The Costa Ricans adore their children, revere their children. If they are going to be cautious about anything, it will be with their children on these wicked roads. As my precious boys are lurching around the hairpin curves, they are learning Spanish from their compadres [comb-PA-drace, pals] en el autobus [L ow-toe-BOOSS, the bus].
If you want to learn a foreign language, you might want to forget the immersion method unless you are going to IMMERSE by living with a local family, called a "homestay." These are also set up by the Amistad Institute. Homestays include Spanish
classes for a couple of hours everyday, then working as a volunteer in some capacity the rest of the day. Not only is this kind of immersion extremely effective, it would be interesting
and very productive.
You must be 100% committed to living through the period of adjustment and culture shock. If you can trick your brain into thinking you are in immediate danger and MUST learn to speak Spanish NOW, that would be helpful.
So far, I’ve been able to avoid all danger with the waving-my-arms, pointing, smiling and putting-together-the-few-Spanish-phrases-I-know method. I just need to know how to to say "Hola! Yo quiero los zapatos rojos en la ventana, por favor." [Hi! I want those red shoes in the window.] And I’m set.
As in much of life, our hindsight is 20/20. One of the things we’ve done right the first time around, besides get married and gleefully receive Mo and Ryan from the arms of the universe, is move to Costa Rica for a year. So far so good. Mas pronto. Hasta la vista, mis amigos!
    Love, Saratica

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