Costa Rica

The Costa Rica Summer Spanish Language Program takes place in San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia, Costa Rica from mid May through the last week of June. This is a direct-credit, full immersion, language intensive University of Virginia program that allows students to complete their foreign language requirement (through SPAN 2020) immediately at the end of the spring semester, in six (6) weeks, following completion of either Spanish 1020 or Spanish 1060.

For more advanced students, the program offers a two-course, six credit sequence that includes SPAN 3010 and SPAN 3031 (Latin American Cinema/Conversation), both of which can be applied toward completion of the Spanish major.

Class size in this intensive language program is generally comprised of no more than five students to each professor. Formal language instruction is complemented by homestays with Costa Rican families, numerous in-country excursions (a three-day capstone trip to the Monteverde nature preserve and the Guanacaste coastal region), bi-weekly cultural activities (e.g., Latin dance and cooking classes, plays, movies, music, museum visits, and instruction on environmental preservation), and the need to use and communicate in Spanish on a daily basis.

The program is directed by Paula Sprague, General Faculty, Associate Professor of Spanish.

Please visit the UVa in Costa Rica Facebook page!