6 soon-to-be Becker High School seniors recently spent two weeks sharpening their Spanish-language skills while seeing the sights and meeting the residents of Costa Rica, accompanied by BHS Spanish teacher Amber Einerwold and other students and educators.
Taking part in the adventure were BHS students Katie Cantin, Sam Hanson, Jessica Heinen, Mikayla Mattson, Gaby Robles and Emma Schreifels.
The students have 6 completed courses through Spanish IV, and they spent the vast majority of their trip time speaking Spanish among themselves and with the people they met along the way. “It was almost like a “Spanish Immersion” experience, Einerwold said, especially the time each student spent living with a host family on the second week of the tour.
Students paid their own way on the tour, which was arranged by ISE, a Minneapolis travel agency that specializes in student tours to language destinations. The service was excellent, Einerwold said, with the flight, hotels, tour busses and guides all arranged in advance. The itinerary included overnights at the capitol city of San Jose, the Arenal Volcano, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, and Manuel Antonio National Park, followed by a week with host families in the city of Atenas.
The tour was accompanied by Jackie, a Costa Rican native who served as the guide for the first week of the tour. She was “truly passionate” about educating young people in the culture and biodiversity of her country, and she took great pains to communicate clearly with the students in Spanish every day, Einerwold said.
Getting to know the people was an important part of the trip, and the students made some good personal connections with their host families while learning about a country and culture that was “very different from Central Minnesota,” Einerwold said. The Costa Rican people were very friendly and welcoming, she said, always ready to “go the extra mile” to help with anything the group needed.
Costa Rica experienced the same World Cup soccer madness that gripped all of South American during their trip, Einerwold said, and the students were able to enjoy the frenzy while watching several games with their host families. It was especially joyous because Costa Rica did well in the tournament during the visit, she said.
Einerwold said she has spent time in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, but had not visited Costa Rica before. Given the great natural beauty of the country and the friendliness of the people, she said she would not hesitate to return.
