Menu
What makes UCA Bilingual?
Learning to speak Spanish or English fluently and with confidence is a beneficial skill that opens doors for a lifetime! Bilingual kids have more opportunities in life – they can form friendships with kids from another culture, and on a broader scale, they have more options when it comes to deciding on a future career.
All classrooms are bilingual!
Daily Spanish Classes!
Related Arts Classes offered in Spanish!
At UCA, our bilingual teachers speak both Spanish and English to their students throughout the day; there are also designated Spanish and English times every day of the week when only that language is spoken. Spanish classes take place daily. Below, read more about the Spanish classes we offer!
Text books are MEP (Ministerio de Educación Pública) approved. All text books are written in Spanish only.
Students are placed in classes based on their level/grade, and their level of personal fluency
Clases de Español: Gramática
(Spanish Grammar Classes)
These fun and lively Spanish classes are specially geared toward our students who need to learn more about Spanish grammar. Students focus on developing conversation skills through interactive games and personal practice – they gain comfort listening to spoken Spanish, and still review things like verbs and how to conjugate them in different tenses, sentence structure, reading comprehension, and writing skills.
Clases de Estudios Sociales
(Social Studies Classes)
In these Spanish classes, students work on different activities that are focused on developing their awareness of Costa Rican history. They learn about the beautiful people of this land, their social structure, and their vast history. In addition, students will continue to work on reading comprehension, they will practice Spanish conversation, and express personal opinions and perspectives. Students are immersed in Costa Rican culture!
Clases de Arte
(Art Class)
Art class is meant to be enjoyed and celebrated! In these interesting classes, it’s a great time for learning in Spanish and creating new things! All art teachers plan projects that are age appropriate for students, and they match the “season” of the year – teachers always plan to incorporate projects that pertain to national and international holidays.
Clases de Educación Física
(Physical Education Class)
Students always love gym class! It’s a special class geared toward teaching students how to play and enjoy new kinds of physical activity. The idea behind this class is to introduce students to activities and games they haven’t learned before! It’s about learning to be a good sport on the field, and to work together with others in a team setting. Students also have the chance to focus their Spanish speaking skills in a different direction – they’re not focused on “classroom Spanish,” but rather learning vocabulary that is more conversational.
"We had not planned on sending our daughter to UCA but after an unpleasant situation at the other local school we decided to investigate further. Boy we are glad that happened! Turns out we met the best asset of UCA the director Scott Bogard and his wife Brigit. What a dynamic duo! Scott patiently went through the way UCA works with the students in a great no pressure situation. Sending one’s kids to a new school is always a stressful situation for us. So that was a good start. Then he talked about his teacher’s qualifications - they really go the extra mile to get the best teachers possible. This is unlike the other two schools our daughter went to where the teachers had just graduated and weren’t even fluent in English. Finally the program they use has a proven track record with thousands of students successfully entering top colleges in the US. Fast forward a year later: Our daughter has had an amazing teacher and assistant and has really progressed this year and loves school. UCA is a great choice anywhere in Costa Rica and by far the best choice in Ballena and Perez Zeledon."
Tony Murillo
Parent