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From: Patrick Just de la Paisières
To: info@samaralanguageschool.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 10:03 AM
Subject: Mi tiempo en Samara
İHola!
Mijn naam is Patrick Just de la Paisières. Ik kom uit Nederland en ben eind 2008 tien weken lang student geweest op de Intercultura Language School in Samara. Als ik zo naar de verhalen van andere oud-studenten op deze site kijk, zie ik dat er een probleem opdoemt. Hoe kan ik namelijk in slechts enkele alinea’s gaan vertellen over mijn wereldtijd in Samara?
Toen ik in Samara aankwam, sprak ik welgeteld drie woorden Spaans. Aangezien alle lessen volledig in het Spaans zijn, was het zeker de eerste dagen even wennen. De docenten gebruiken ter ondersteuning echter veel gebaren en helpen je echt om alles te begrijpen. Hierdoor leer je veel in korte tijd. Bovendien wordt de stof op verschillende manieren gepresenteerd: memory-spelletjes, presentaties, ‘knip-en-plak’-opdrachten, groepsdiscussies met andere studenten en het zingen van liedjes behoren allemaal tot het repertoire!
Doordat je bovendien bij een Spaanssprekend gastgezin leeft, wordt je gedwongen meerdere malen per dag je verhaal uitsluitend in het Spaans te doen. De Costa Ricaanse familie heeft verder ook ruime ervaring met studenten en weet zodoende ook prima hoe dingen geduldig moeten worden uitgelegd in het Spaans. Bovendien stimuleerde mijn gastgezin mij ook om Costa Rica ècht te leren kennen door mij mee te nemen naar familiefeestjes en rodeo´s.
Ondanks de goede lessen en de hulp van mijn Costa Ricaanse familie waren er wel momenten dat het studeren me moeilijk werd gemaakt. Hoe dat kwam? Samara is namelijk prachtig en er is altijd wel iets te beleven! De school is gelegen aan een heel mooi strand. Als er geen aapjes in de bomen te zien zijn, dan wordt er wel gesurft of geluierd in de hangmatten. Bovendien organiseert de school zelf ook erg veel activiteiten: excursies, danslessen, voetbalwedstrijden, filmavonden…. Alles is mogelijk! Je zult je dan ook geen moment vervelen in Samara!
Zelf ben ik erg blij dat ik de keus heb gemaakt om naar Intercultura Language School te gaan in Samara. Het was zonder twijfel de leukste tijd van mijn leven. Ik leerde er niet alleen Spaans, maar ook veel over de Latijns-Amerikaanse cultuur. Ik maakte er veel vrienden en beleefde er onvergetelijke momenten. Ik weet daarom ook zeker dat ik er snel weer zal terugkeren: Samara is toch een beetje mijn tweede thuis geworden!
İPura Vida!
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"Yo estuve a Samara por 2 semanas. Quiero agredecer a los profesores y a las recepcionistas por sus infinitas paciencia, attenciones y ayuda. Y a los estudiantes por su preciosa amistad. Por eso, yo me senti como en un paraiso! Muchas gracias!"
Emilie Ferland, 2008
Québec, Canada
choupetteno3@hotmail.com
From: elizabeth hanrahan
To: 4km53@queensu.ca
Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 12:47 PM
Subject: Re: Would love your advice on Intercultura Costa Rica
Hi Kim
I can seriously recommend Intercultura, I had 12 weeks in Heredia with a fab family and then followed that by 3 weeks in Samara where I surfed every day and kayaked and hired a 4x4 and did yoga at school every day and I have now returned to Heredia for what was supposed to be my final week but I loved samara so much I will return in 2 weeks as I have to leave the country as 90 days have passed.... the school is serious... you get 4 hours tuition every day and homework every night and an exam every friday which you need to pass in order to move up the ladder. There are dance classes and movies and weekend trips which I have taken and they are fantastic. There are also trips to San Jose to the museums and theatre and also cookery and jewellery classes which I have enjoyed.... I did not stay with a family in Samara as I chose a hotel so I cannot comment on that. I hope this is sufficient information for you Kim. By the way I am 42 years of age and I am doing this for myself not university (obviously!!!). So, good luck in your endeavours and if you should have any more questions feel free to ask. Also I had zero spanish when I arrived but after 14 weeks I have learned so much.
Best regards
Libby
THE ABOVE EMAIL WAS A RESPONSE TO THE FOLLOWING INQUIRY:
My name is Kim and I am a 20-year old Canadian searching for the best opportunity in Central America for studying Spanish. I am very interested in Intercultura Costa Rica. What were the pros and cons during your stay? Did you earn credit for university? Were the teachers very qualified and the classes serious? How did you find activities while there? Did you like the town and the beach? Is it possible and affordable to surf in Samara (that's my dream!)? Did you volunteer there? Do you think it could get a tad boring or repetitive after seven weeks (I have lots of credits to earn, lucky me)? How was the homestay?
Have you heard of any other great Spanish schools which combine serious academics and a beautiful location (preferably beach or surf)? I would really appreciate any help! Thanks so much and espero que pase un buen dia!
Kim
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Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 10:19 AM
Subject: Contact from Web Site
Hola, Adelita, Laura, and Vanesa! I studied at Intercultura in the Spring of 1995. I just wanted to drop a line to say \"hello\" and let you know that I think of you often and am glad to see that your school is going strong. My 5 week stay there although relatively short has really made a difference in my life. I plan to get back to Costa Rica at some point with my family so that they can experience what nobody can do justice with words. Vanesa (dancing queen!), my husband and I love to go latin dancing (when we have a sitter), and that is all because of you and your wonderful school. Keep up the great work, and I hope to see you all again sometime soon!
Christa Buchenberger (formerly Rockey) Fishers, Indiana
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On Mon Feb 25 3:41 , stefanie schmitz sent:
Hi Barbara,
time flys when you are busy! Already one month since
we have returned from Costa Rica to New Zealand.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you and the director of
the school Marcelo. My students and I had a fabulous
time in Heredia, everything went so well and was so
well organized. The families were so friendly and the
activities interesting. My students had the time of
their Life. So, thank you, thank you very much for
everything.
Stefanie Schmitz
Spanish Teacher
Waiuku College
New Zealand
From: Rodriguez, Maria Elena
To: 'Adelita Jiménez Morúx INTERCULTURA' ;
'Barbara Miller Centro de Idiomas Intercultura'
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 9:45 AM
Subject: UNC - MBA Program- Working Spanish
Hola Adelita y Bárbara: Primeramente, quiero agradecerles todas las atenciones que tuvieron con mi grupo y con mis asistentes. Tanto los estudiantes como Marilupe y René regresaron fascinados con Costa Rica, especialmente con su gente en Intercultura. En las evaluaciones, ellos mencionaron que sus profesoras eran muy lindas y sobre todo muy pacientes. Qué todos los atendieron muy bien, y les preguntaban seguido si estaban bien. También me dijeron que les gustaron mucho las visitas a las empresas, porque todas fueron diferentes y de diferentes tipos de producción y tamaño. (Gracias, Adelita por el contacto de la empresa La Mundial). Obviamente, que me contaron que algunos iban temblando a la experiencia del “canopy”, pero que al final estuvieron contentos con hacerla. Extiendan por favor, mi cariño y agradecimiento a Marcelo, Henry, Jerry, Mario, y todos los que trabajaron directamente con mi grupo. Qué bueno que también pudieron darles una clase de cocina que yo no tenía pero que fue muy buena. (gracias por la iniciativa). Espero que no los hayan cansado para volver a organizar otro viaje con un grupo de Ejecutivos en Mayo. Por dicha, si Dios lo permite, ahora sí voy con este grupo. Espero verlos a todos muy pronto.
Saludos,
María Elena Rodríguez
Director of Working Languages
Center for International Business Education and Research
Kenan-Flagler Business School
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
www.ciber.unc.edu
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From: George Beckley
To: Susannah Kenley (Intercultura Costa Rica)
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2008 4:24 PM
Subject: gracias
Hola Susannah,
¿Como está? Espero que usted tenga un buen semana!
Bueno, quisiera decir "muchas gracias" a usted y a la Intercultura. Tuve una buena experiencia, y disfrute mucho la opportunidad de habla y aprender la idioma española. Espero que yo regrese alla en el año proximo y quisiera decirles a mis amigos sobre su buena escuela.
Hasta luego!
George Beckley
Seattle, WA
From: Lindsay Jones:
lindsayfields@hotmail.com
Hola!
Me llamo Lindsay Fields Jones y fui estudiante en Intercultura en 1998. Hasta diez anos, mi espanol es mas o menos. :-) Siempre pienso en Costa Rica y espero que un dia, puedo regresar con mi esposo y mi hijo a visitar mis amigos de diez anos! Voy a escribir en Ingles ahora.
I wanted to send an email to your school as it is a long overdue THANK YOU for what your school has provided me. In 1998, I was still a college student and spent 5 or so months studying at Intercultura living with Felix y Emilia Segura Montero and their 3 daughters, Lorena, Darlene, and Carol. To this day, I am still in touch with them and we even talk to each other using the web camera every now and then!
I see that Intercultura has grown over the years and that you now have another campus! Que Bueno y fantastico!
Also, I am sure they won't remember me, but Marcelo and Vanessa were some of my teachers while I was studying. Marcelo made us listen to songs in Spanish and find the missing words and fill in the blanks on his worksheets. We listened to Ricky Martin and Shakira BEFORE they became huge successes in the US, where I am from. I was so proud to go home and say to my friends, "I listened to Shakira in SPANISH" before she came out with her English hits! Same goes for Ricky Martin.
Also, Vanessa was an incredible dance teacher and I still LOVE to dance salsa and meringue. I work for an International Business School and when we have fiestas, I am always dancing with the Latin Americans! My husband is from the UK and knows how to boogie, but not like those Latin's! Vanessa was great in organizing outings to the clubs so we could practice our dancing skills!
My experience in Costa Rica has remained one of the best and most happy times of my life. I loved every day and think about the great times very often. I celebrated my 21st birthday in Costa Rica, and I will never forget the kind, gentle nature of the Ticos.
So, again, thank you for everything you have provided for me and for all of your students over the years. You are a great school and keep up the great work.
Have a lovely day and maybe one day I will come back and visit with you again.
Adios!
Lindsay
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From: John Duvall
jtd4603@hotmail.com
To: info@interculturacostarica.com
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 8:11 PM
Subject: Muchas Gracias
Hello,
I know that to make this email legitimate I should be writing it in Spanish, but I am still traveling and unfortunately do not have the time to spend on such an email. I also do not want to wait any longer to thank you all for an amazing experience in Samara.
For four weeks I lived in Samara and traveled through Costa Rica. Everyone that I met on my trip was incredibly friendly and I left Costa Rica with a great fondness for the country and the people who live there. In fact, I left wishing that I had four more weeks to spend in Costa Rica.
Intercultura is an amazing place with full of amazing people. Nelsy was an excellent professora who made learning spanish fun and manageable. I looked forward to going to class every day and I plan on continuing to learn spanish at the university of Colorado.
Thank you all for such an amazing experience. Perhaps I will see you all again in the near future.
John Duvall
From: Shelly (roger.thorn@comcast.net)
To: 'Tyrone SLS'
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 11:03 AM
Subject: feedback
Dear Tyrone,
I would like to be sure that you and the teachers at Intercultura get some additional feedback on my experience with the school. Will you please pass on my note? It was truly a phenomenal experience to attend Intercultura. The campus was lovely and my two teachers – Carmen and Marla – were excellent. They were immensely personable, thoughtful, upbeat and helpful. The content was challenging, useful and well-presented. The format of 4 to 5 students worked extremely well as it was as much fun meeting new, interesting people with similar values as it was to learn the language. And the immersion experience of hearing and attempting to speak entirely in Spanish was key.
I’m very glad that I had planned for three weeks of instruction as each day and each week built amazingly on the last and my language skills grew by leaps and bounds. On a personal note, the way that I learned was interesting for me as I went through a number of times where I felt less confident than I had before. This usually occurred as I went through times of realizing what I didn’t know or when I was facing a personal fear of feeling overwhelmed or attempting to speak even when I couldn’t do it very well. But even more times, my confidence grew and my ability to speak conversationally grew exponentially. I loved getting insights into learning a new language that I had never experienced before which might be a bit hard to explain in writing but I’ll try: I learned to say what I knew how to say instead of having a thought in English that I tried to translate into Spanish. I learned to think in phrases or thoughts instead of individual words when speaking in Spanish. And I learned that when the language was flowing for me, that I could experience – albeit rarely and temporarily – the rhythms of the language that I so love. After I left the school and had a few days to practice Spanish before leaving the country I had some really fun times where I conversed with a security guard, taxi driver, etc. entirely in Spanish. My ability to understand native Spanish speakers has grown tremendously. It was immensely gratifying!
I’m sorry for not saying good-bye to Marla as I really appreciated her teaching style – she is an absolutely excellent teacher.
Thank you!
Sincerely,
Shelly Thorn
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From: Alice GLEISES
liloo_lop@hotmail.com
To: Laura Ellington
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2007 7:31 AM
Subject: RE: intercultura
Un grand merci à toute l’équipe de Intercultura pour cet accueil si chaleureux !!
J’ai passé 4 mois extraordinaires au sein de votre école, que ce soit à Heredia ou à Samara. Pendant cette période, j’ai pu découvrir en profondeur cette école et son personnel et je dois dire que tout a été parfait. L’organisation est surprenante, les professeurs sont compétents et tous très agréables. J’ai adoré le mélange de cultures et la bonne ambiance dans toutes les langues qui règnent au sein de l’établissement. J’ai également participé aux activités et aux excursions, ce qui m'a permis d’apprendre beaucoup sur la culture latine mais aussi de rencontrer de nouvelles personnes qui sont aujourd’hui des amis dispersés au 4 coins du monde.
Encore une fois pour cette incroyable expérience qui a marqué ma vie, je vous remercie ! Un merci particulier à Laura.
Los extraño mucho !
Pura vida,
Alice Gleises
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From: Olga.Dobson@bbh.com
To: Centro de Idiomas Intercultura
Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 3:22 PM
To all Intercultura staff
I want to say thank you for the bottom of my heart for the wonderful time and teachings you have provided to my kids James and Simona Dobson. They were happy to be in Costa Rica and would love to return. James Dobson would have loved to spend more time there! (I was thinking that a month was way too long but i was wrong!).
James told me he learned more Spanish there in 3 weeks then he would have here in US in one year.
I am very very grateful to all of you for the wonderful experiences you have offered these kids!
Please forward this e-mail to all Intercultura staff and especially to Barbara.
You are the best! Thanks again
Olga Dobson
From: "Jan Sharoff"
Jan.Sharoff@Adams12.org
To: "Barbara Miller ICCR" <
barbara@interculturacostarica.com>
Subject: Re: Re(2): Teen Spanish
Dear Evelyn, Barbara, Laura and Tyrone,
I want to thank you all for giving my daughter, Julie, a great
experience.
When she and Sarah got off the plane, I asked them on a scale from 1-10
with 10 being the best how would they rate their experience at
Intercultura they both said 10 and wished they could have stayed longer.
Both of them want to return to Costa Rica because of the great experience
they had. They traveled to many interesting places, learned a lot,
practiced their Spanish and had a lot of fun. They both have been
studying
Spanish every day at school for six years and said that this program
helped them a lot because they have never been exposed to native speakers
and needed that experience to improve. Julie also liked the other
students and had a lot of fun with them.
It is such a popular program that an assistant principal from my school
district was studying there at the same time Julie was. But even though
I knew several adults who attended Intercultural, I was worried about my
daughter traveling alone to a foreign country. It turned out to be a
great experience for Julie. She said her host mom was waiting for her with a
big sign and both moms took very good care of her and were better cooks than
me! She loved all of the activities and said they were geared toward
teens. She really liked her teacher and chaperones. Also, your program
saved me money beucase when I was looking at programs the ones that had
chaperones from Denver travelling to Costa Rica with the teens were more
expensive.
When she returned I felt that I picked the best program forJulie.
Thanks again for all of your help and please thank your staff and her
homestay families, as she enjoyed them very much!
Jan Sharoff
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Laura, I can't tell you how helpful the Spanish classes I took there have been to me in my work, and now in the ESL classes I'm teaching. I was so frustrated before I came there because I had studied Spanish several times in my life (high school, college, continuing education classes, medical "brush-up" classes), but I could never express myself or hold up my end of a conversation. I was actually terrified when I first arrived at Intercultura; in fact, so terrified that I'm amazed Marcelo was able to put me in the correct level. But Hernán was able to put me at ease very quickly, and the curriculum was so effective, that I was immediately more effective when I returned from just 2 weeks of study at Intercultura, and I've been back to study with you twice since. And there is so much about Costa Rica to love! The last time, I took a real chance and enrolled my husband, who had studied several other languages, but not much Spanish. It was his turn to be terrified, but, once again, I was impressed with how empowering his classes with Ana and Hernán were for him. He subsequently studied at another school while I took the TEFL certification. Even though he learned and enjoyed himself there, he said it couldn't compare with the experience at Intercultura, and he's pushing me to come back to Intercultura this year. What a turn around! My experience learning with your school in the immersion method inspired me to learn to teach English in a similar way, which I'm currently doing with hispanic immigrants here in Asheville, although in the future I might want to do so in a Spanish-speaking country. It's such an effective method, as my husband and I have experienced. Thanks so much for all you and your staff do. Keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Katie Winchell
katie@winchell.us
From: Kay Godfrey
To: 'Barbara Miller Centro de Idiomas Intercultura'
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2008 4:40 PM
Subject: Group Trip Feedback for Samara
Feed back from Lona Crist ACIS group. Hats off to Lucie with warm thanks! Thanks, Kay
TM: Lucie Angers – Lucie is Intercultura's group coordinator person and really went above and beyond for the group. Lucie was adorable according to Lona. "Lucie was marvelous!" She arranged sandwiches for the kids since their flight was early in the morning. The excursions that Lucie went with them on were great! The turtle refuge was an amazing experience for the students. She pushed this back and asked the park to stay open later so they could see the turtle eggs hatching. It was incredible! Lucie also went with Lona to a local movie store and purchased a Spanish movie for the group to watch during the evening. She also arranged a bonfire for the group one night at the beach. She purchased all the goodies to make smores too! The kids loved this!
Lastly, Lucie was able to help Lona set up a horseback riding excursion for the kids. Another great time!
