C. R. Marcos wrote:
I'd be interested. But more important than the discount is the question of the hundreds of schools which is best? You should not choose a language school based solely on cost. Has anyone done any extensive research?
One of the reasons that I've greatly reduced my posting rate (after over 700 posts) was because I thought I had said just about all I had to say on the subject of Costa Rica (and then some). Generally, I don't like to repeat myself. As many other veteran posters like to say "do a search". Well, now once again I discover that one of my posts on this very subject is no longer here. What else and who else has been deleted? What's the point of making the effort to put down all this info or ask newbies to "Do the search" if its just going to be deleted? Why can't the admins here do like Rico did at the old board and create a searchable archive section rather than delete these words of wisdom for all time? Sorry to go on (again) but this really irks me.
As to CRMarcos's question: A while back, I made a post that answered his EXACT question. Yes, I've personally done fairly extensive research on this question. My review included many of the language schools in the greater San Jose area. As I recall the total number in SJ is more like 20-40 not quite "hundreds". I also looked at schools in other parts of the CR as well as in other countries. If you want to talk about a place with 100's of schools to choose from look to Antigua, Guatemala with nearly 1000 schools in that city alone albeit no where near the opportunities for whorticultural studies as SJ.
Anyway, in that post, I provided at least one link to a website that had a searchable database of language schools worldwide. That database included a rating system on a variety of measures (class size, cost, ancilliary programs, etc.) as well as many reviews written by the students themselves that had attended each school. Unfortunately, I no longer have that web address and don't feel like researching it all over again.
My post also included detailed summaries of several of the top rated schools which included CRLA, Forrester, ILISA and one other whose name I've since forgotten. I didn't say which one was "best". As is my usual philosophy, it really depends on the individual. Are you going for a one week course or a month long course. Do you need private instruction or is group instruction sufficient? How important is cost? Maybe there are miscellaneous factors that are important to particular individuals (e.g. if you want to mix morning spanish lessons with afternoon surfing lessons, consider signing up for a program in Jaco instead of SJ). Personally, I suspect there is probably not a significant difference in the quality of instruction at any of the top schools that I listed. There is some variation in cost.
I ended up choosing CRLA for my month-long study program. It was neither the cheapest option nor the most expensive. I signed up for 5 hrs/day 4 days/wk which left me with plenty of time to travel around the country a little during my 3 day weekends. I signed up for the group program, which was great since I ended up getting a lot of private instruction anyway but for the group rate. For me, class size varied from 1 (only me and my professora) to 6 (me and 5 attractive young gals from Europe). I'd say the average was 2-3, but that may vary depending on the time of year. Brother Novice attended while I was there and I'm sure he would give you equally favorable reviews.
Nuck and Zef:
You'd be surprised how much you can learn in just one week of formal training. Of course, how much you learn depends a great deal on how much you use it. Novice is right. You can practice with a chica (and add to your vocabulary), but it will be nothing like sitting down with an instructor, learning the vocabulary, conjugations, grammar, proper pronunciation, etc. If you just hang out in the BM all day and you're just as likely to be practicing your english with your CRT brothers or your broken spanglish with the chicas. If you sign up for a course, thats 4-6 hours of continuous practice that I doubt most of us would subject ourselves to if we just went down there for a simple vacation. Add more practice of what you've learned after class when you head over to the BM and you'll absorb even more.
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