Bringing Your High School Spanish Group: Relevance drives learning
This new approach to High School Spanish Study Abroad trips has punched the envelope of ‘relevance in education’. It hits all the bells on Bloom’s Taxonomy! You will find that SEPA’s Spanish Language School and Environmental Protection Center will propel your students’ learning before, during and after their trip, making your job of teaching Spanish significantly easier and your students’ ability to learn Spanish significantly easier because…everything they are learning is relevant!
Right from the beginning of Spanish class, before they ever step foot in Costa Rica, your students have a goal. They are thinking, ‘I have to learn this stuff! I’m going to Costa Rica!’ While they are here, they are thinking, ‘I’m really speaking Spanish and getting to know cool Costa Rican kids and a whole new family!’ and after they leave they are thinking, ‘I don’t want this to stop – I want to learn Spanish even more’. It is the quintessential win-win situation, the best possible hybrid of Spanish Exchange Student plus Spanish Study Abroad possible. And YOU are the one who makes it all possible!
As a newly-arrived group leader in Costa Rica, you are going to love the outstanding, smooth management of your students’ daily lessons and adventures by SEPA Spanish School staff. And while your students are learning with our teachers, you, too, can sit back and fine-tune your own Spanish language conversation skills with one of our fine instructors.
“It was a pleasure working with Nidia [the school director] and the SEPA School. The profesoras were always coming up with creative ways to help the students learn and practice their Spanish. Nidia was always available and willing to assist us in any situation. They truly cared about us, and each and every student.” Jacob Reilly, Overland Leader, 2015, jsr6191@gmail.com
Homestay:
Your students live, one per household, with a carefully-trained, carefully-chosen Costa Rican family. They are surrounded by Spanish language, Spanish culture, and Spanish life; this as opposed to the traditional Spanish study abroad trip, where students stay in hotels or dorms with other English-speaking students, consequently speaking very little Spanish. Imagine the difference in your students’ ability to speak Spanish after weeks of this amazing homestay setup!
Imagine, too, the difference in your experience as you spend your nights with your very own homestay family instead of walking hotel halls, looking for ‘happy wanderers’.
This will be the easiest and best trip abroad you ever booked for your students! You will arrive home refreshed and pumped to teach more Spanish to your enthusiastic kids.
Volunteer programs for your Spanish student groups:
Be sure to sign your students up for the volunteer programs (no extra charge). Besides learning to speak Spanish faster AND gaining a great appreciation of today’s ecology and social issues, those kids will be tired! But more importantly, they can add this volunteer experience to their college applications – a huge advantage in today’s competitive education market!
For more information, check out our Summer Programs.
Running Start for your high school Spanish students:
You want to bring your group of students to earn high school and college credits through an intensive Spanish course in Costa Rica? Look no farther. Why not try a quarter-long college level Spanish course through Mt. Hood Community College?
SEPA has partnered with Mt. Hood Community College in Oregon to provide an eight-week program called Spanish for University Credits that gives students the high school and college Spanish language credits they need to fulfill their school requirements. Many Spanish students have studied with us and gratefully received their credits through this excellent program.
How does one go about this? First, you need permission from your own school. Second, you need to contact Paul Eckhardt, to enroll yourself or your students in the Mt. Hood Community College Spanish Abroad Program. He is always delightedto add more students to the current Spanish credits program. Here is his contact information:
Mt. Hood Community College Director of Study Abroad, Humanities Division: Paul.Eckhardt@mhcc.edu, phone number 503-491-7497.
After that, your students’ place is assured here at SEPA Spanish Language School.
“Sometimes referred to as early college programs or dual enrollment programs, college-level learning opportunities in high school have a number of benefits for students, including preparing students for the academic rigors of college; lowering the cost of postsecondary education by enabling them to earn free college credits and shortening their time to degree completion; and providing students with information about the academic skills they will need to succeed in college.” www.ncfl.org
That’s all there is to it! We can’t wait to meet you!
If you have more questions just contact us. We love to share information and answer questions!
We pride ourselves on the smooth operation of our group programs; it is safe to say you hit the easy button and the learning button by coming to SEPA.
“I came with a group of twelve students from the United States and SEPA helped organize everything from language classes to ziplining. They were thoroughly organized and everyone I worked with went out of their way to make sure I got all of my needs taken care of.
“I was enormously impressed. I never had to worry about their reliability – everyone, from teachers to drivers, were on time and ready to go. The teachers prepared fun and dynamic exercises for the students and I was amazed at how much they learned!” Brittany Lefkoe, San Francisco, CA Overland Leader 2010
