Software Company and Immersion Schools Team Up to Promote Spanish Language Learning in Costa Rica
Recognizing the growing demand for English Spanish bilingualism a group of companies in Costa Rica team up to help people learn Spanish via immersion schools and English Spanish translation software.
(PRWEB) August 18, 2005
San Jose, Costa Rica (PRWEB) August 18, 2005 – SEER Education Corporation, a local education software company, and four progressive local Spanish immersion schools have teamed up to promote Spanish language learning and English Spanish bilingualism in Costa Rica in hopes of generating more economic benefit for the country. During the past twenty five years, Costa Rica has been increasingly transformed into a Spanish as a second language teaching center for tourists. SEER develops educational software products that assist people in developing English Spanish bilingualism, helping native English speakers learn Spanish, and native Spanish speakers learn English. Four leading local Spanish immersion schools; Academia Tica, COSI, CRLA and Universal de Idiomas are promoting the SEER products to their students at discounted prices in hopes that it will encourage students to continue their Spanish studies when they return home and hopefully come back to Costa Rica in the future with friends and colleagues for more advance language studies.
According to Madison Cloutier, president of SEER Education Corporation and a high tech entrepreneurial who was also involved in the travel industry for over 20 years said, "This teaming up of local Spanish immersion schools and a software company is indicative of the potential future for Costa Rica. Tourism is already a large industry segment in Costa Rica, the technology industry in Costa Rica is an up and coming segment, and English Spanish bilingualism is becoming more important through out the America's. Costa Rica is really at the nexus of this intersection: tourism, technology and second language education, and has the opportunity to leverage it for economic benefit."
Ana Mercedes RodrÃguez, director of Academia Tica, agrees and recently addressed travel industry executives at the annual Expo Tour here in Costa Rica regarding the growth of "Linguistic Tourism" and its economic benefit for Costa Rica. According to Ana, "During the past twenty five years, Costa Rica has been increasingly transformed into a Spanish as a second language teaching center for tourists, thanks to the favorable conditions here, such as the absence of an army, the balance of its social structure, political stability and a good transportation, telecommunications and health system. Other relevant factors include the quality of the Spanish spoken here and the countryÂ’s efforts in the educational field that has resulted in a large group of teachers who fulfill the highest standards of the teaching profession. Also visitors feel that they are in a continuous and holistic learning experience thanks to support from friendly host families and the communities. We believe in the advantages of using new technologies such as SEER to teach Spanish as a second language and that in the future this will help differentiate us from immersion schools in other parts of the world."
Madison believes that teaming up with Spanish immersion schools makes a lot of sense for his company. The SEER (Spanish English Education Resources) product is a comprehensive reference resource that provides great benefit to native English speakers who already have some basic understanding of the Spanish language. SEER includes the worldÂ’s most comprehensive English Spanish digital dictionary including synonyms, verb conjugations and idiomatic expressions, and the worldÂ’s only Interactive Computer Aided Translator (ICAT). People who are attending a Spanish immersion school receive the basic language skills and understanding needed to receive real value from the SEER product and by using SEER can continue the learning process for the rest of their life. Madison says, "It is a win, win, win situation for the students, immersion schools, and his company."
Julio Salas, owner of Universal de Idiomas, also sees the future of using more technology in language learning saying, "Technology provides our students an excellent tool through which to expose our students to the language being learned. It provides them with the opportunity of having at their fingertips a powerful tool to practice what is being learned each day in the classrooms. Our students who have used these technological innovations beyond the classroom setting have by far enhanced their command of the language (and in a shorter time) as compared to those that didn't. SEER products enable our students to practice comprehensively and at their own pace the four learning skills of language learning: speaking, reading, writing and listening."
According to Ronald Rivera, Spanish Curriculum Director at COSI (Costa Rica Spanish Institute), "We have looked at a lot of language learning software in the past and we have found SEER unique because we consider that this software it is very useful tool in order to complement the Spanish learning as well as English. According to our teacher commentaries, this kind of software really helps our students improve their language skills."
For more information regarding the companies mentioned:
Academia Tica – www. academiatica. com
COSI – www. cosi. co. cr
CRLA – www. learn-spanish. com
SEER Education Corporation – www. seeredu. com
Universal de Idiomas – www. universal-edu. com
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