www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Can any of you tell me what the going rate for classes are?

In many countries, you can find classes for $100 a month. However, be prepared to spend a LOT more than that on the intangibles... like drama.

why bother with English classes when she can just use Google translate to help her write RFM's

here was one link in the La Nacion paper


http://wvw.economicos.com/showad.aspx?p ... I=BCA11472


100 a month sounds right, depends on number of classes.

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The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

Unless it's daily for 4 hours/day, $100/month sounds high.

I don't know if it's a typo, but the website in the link above says ¢5,000 per month.

My woman was taking classes last year, 2-3 times/week (~6 hours per week), and it cost $25/month if I remember correctly.

Universal de Idiomas offers 6hrs/wk (i.e., 24hrs/mo) for c32,000 ($56) per month. It looks like you also have to pay an additional c10.000 annual enrollment fee. They're located on Avenida 2 behind El Presidente. A friend of mine attended classes there; she was pleased and her English definitely improved. She was, however, a pretty dedicated student.

http://www.ingles.co.cr/

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It's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money--Tom T. Hall
No man is a failure who is enjoying life--William Faulkner

I teach for universal de idiomas and also offer private classes at a reduced rate.Most schools charge way above what they should and do not focus on quality of the lessons as much as they should.

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Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly!

Forget ESL - what we need is Ana to start teaching B(lowjobs)SL. Now that is a class that the chicas should line up for - and we can actually benefit from!!

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These are just the opinion pages and I am just submitting mine.

Poco a poco la vieja sube el coco.

That is a lot of assumptions you make based on very little information....

Throughout Latin America, hard working people who have nothing to do with PFP view English as one of the skills that can improve your employmnet prospects. Is being bilingual such a sin? It would serve our country well if more Americans spoke multiple languages (for example, several governmnet agencies would kill [pun intended] for more Arabic speakers right now). Learning English is not merely about being Americanized- it is a reality a great deal of commerence is done in English due to globalization....

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I said hey baby, take a walk on the wild side.
Lou Reed

I agree totally with Brother Hank Daman and wonder why Brother Gypsy chimed in with a left-field unrelated rant. Like it or not, English is the language of commerce and technology and it's purely practical--English is flexible enough to absorb and/or coin new words to describe new or changed circumstances without a formal process or without going through impossible-to-pronounce linguistic changes. We (English-speakers) have taken words whole-cloth from every major and some minor languages, made them our own and sent them back into the world. This is not some "soft" colonialism--it's purely practical.
I would agree however that the insularity and cultural arrogance (not to mention desperation for assimilation by immigrants) of the US should be confronted--Spanish/ English bilingualism in schools is one small way of doing this. Thus I have spoken.

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"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

English? A language that will be 2nd class to the masses as all begin to understand the sheer numbers population wise in both China and India.

The Euro fastly eclipsed the dollar. Imagine the day when these "other" Nations figure out what's what....and adopt an Asian equivalent of the Euro.....Can you get to that?!

The time has long passed that English speaking knaves ramp up their own educations.

Learn Mandarin or Hindu.....the people of China and India shall, economically anyway, be running things soon enough: Their sheer numbers dictate this reality and, trust me, they ALL want A/C and colour televisions.....Not to mention cars, running water, electricity, washing machine and driers, cooking stoves, etc. and, yes, even more and more vice.

The bottom line is that all the world wants a white woman (gringa to the stupid amongst us....)....and soon enough....North America shall be it's own "monger" destination for those who shall be running things. Picture the "hordes" from Asia making their way to the US of A and gladly paying CIEN for North American "chicas". It's going to be a very funny payback....

Hold on....it's going to be a rocky ride for those unable to adapt.....

And their ain't no "brotherhood" that's going to prevent the inevitable.

"I told you before....
Stay away from my door...
And don't give me that "Brother, brother, brother......brother...."
(Apologies to John Lennon...).

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"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

Hank, go back to what I wrote and read it again, you won't find anything there against learning another language. As a matter of fact, one of the thing I dislike about Latinos is the fact that they come to USA and don't make an effort to learn English and even request service in Spanish.
I say it's a waste of time because in order to really learn something, the motivation must come from that person, not the sponsor, and by Mark asking the question about where the ESL school is located, that should be the clue as to who is interested. At least she should know where's the school.
I'm for education but like they say in my country of birth,"an school desk sits in a classrom for 20 years and learns nothing!"

_________________
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly!

I spent several years in the ESL business in SEA and did freelancing in Mexico.There are many people in Latin America I have come to believe have the skills to learn but not the funds.Especially with women.Many have taught themselves quite a bit of English and with some fine tuning could really be competent translators or customer service types in financial service or hospitality.Typical Catholic country.They get saddled with a K*D by a typical local guy whose maturity level ended at about age 10.
And that side tracks any efforts to capitalize on thier learning skills.

All in all, if she really wants to go to school, by all means send her. But I would be very specific about a few things with the school.
1)The primary instructor MUST be a native English speaker.Anything less in unprofessional and will hamper her learning experience.It is okay to have a tico tutor as a fill in or assistant.But learning ESL involves so much of an understanding of North American and European accents and tones, a tico primary will limit her.After all, if she ran into a English speaking tico in the business world, wouldn't he just speak espanol to her? If you were in Japan and saw an obvious looking American, would you speak to them in Japanese or English? I have had this argument with the head of Universal Idiomas many times. She says thier is no difference.But she and her tico instructors do not have any internationally accredited certifications and I and most competent native instructors have at least 4.
So neener-neener.

2) As to the relevancy of English question posed by Steven 1.English is becoming more relevant as an international language.Primarily because of the difficulty in learning to write Mandarin,Arabic,and Japanese Kanji.
If you talk to any native speaker of these languages, they will tell you they are very difficult languages to learn to read and write.People who are true masters of reading and writing Mandarin start at around age 6 with the writing (Chinese law) and age 4 with the verbal.If they study with great discipline in all grades and college, they will have it down perfectly by thier 35th birthday.So not the most practical international language.I speak some Mandarin from living in China and Taiwan.But if I go out with my Chinese friends, I can last about 45 min., then have to go to English.The tones give me a headache.

Yes, these languages are beyond difficult to "master".....however, I am certain you know as well as I do that when the locals start blabbering in local speak during the course of "business negotiations" (anything involving money or security)....you're balls done been squeezed or removed if you don't even have the bare basics. It's best to have a functional understanding and not let on just how much of THEIR lingo you comprendo....correct?! Particularly when you're on their turf....

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"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16