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.
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 Rodríguez, 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 country’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 world’s most
comprehensive English Spanish digital dictionary including synonyms, verb
conjugations and idiomatic expressions, and the world’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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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb273716.htm