SCSU is readying to launch its first faculty-led program in Guanacaste, Costa Rica for students interested in teaching, traveling and learning Spanish.
La Paz Community School is an international, dual language school of 400 students in grades PreK through 12. Students range in English and Spanish linguistic proficiency and approximately half the students are native Costa Ricans.
Sightseeing in San José
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
-
During a three day weekend which fell in the middle of Trimester I of the fall semester at La Paz Community School, we drove to the Costa Rican's capital, San José. The drive took 5 hours, mainly because of the one-lane road that spans the distance between the shoreline communities here on Guanacaste and the province of San José. Though it is paradise in on the Pacific coast, I was craving some culture and enjoyed a weekend visiting museums, cafes, theaters, and shopping plazas.
We stayed downtown and appreciated the proximity to the Central Market, Artisans craft market, national theater and museums - all walkable. My favorite was the Pre-Columbian Museum de Oro, located one block from our hotel and directly adjacent to the National Teatro. Amazing place and well worth a visit!
Pre-Columbian Museo del Oro
The Jade Museum and the National Museum were our next stops. Worth checking both out on your trip to San José. The National Museum illuminated a timeline of the "discovery of America" that was well articulated with visuals, dates and narratives.
The national theater is worth a visit. Do yourself a favor a book a dramatized tour which has the tour guides dress in costume and speak about period pieces throughout the theater, which was imported from Italy, in the way of sculptures, paintings, and architecture.
El Teatro, located in the heart of downtown
During one of your breaks, rest your feet at one of the city's best coffee brewhouses, La Mancha Café, which featured a live jazz band while during our visit. In the same plaza was the La Casa de Cocoa where I tried rocas de cacao, which is cacao caramelizado y recibierto de chocolate. Their slogan - from bean to bar craft chocolate cafe - is spot on! I bought a pant load of coffee and chocolate to take back to friends in the United States.
The College of Education has partnered with La Paz's Visitor Education program to offer our students a three-credit, faculty-led experience to the La Paz Community School where you will be be paired with an educator. Over the course of three weeks you will observe classrooms, co-plan lessons and assessments, design instructional materials to meet the discipline-specific needs of English and Spanish language learners, and deliver your own lesson plans. Further information about La Paz's Visitor Education Program can be found on the school's site : " La Paz Community School is an internationally renowned leader in the areas of Dual language education, place-based education and Cross-cultural competence. The people, practices, and setting of La Paz have consistently served as a source of inspiration and reflection to visiting educators. Discover La Paz provides an invigorating opportunity for teams of educators to engage with empo...
Despite what I had heard about the rainy season beginning in August and stretching through November, the majority of my days in Guanacaste have been sunny and dry. Few days have been filled with rain but even during the downpours, joy can be heard across campus. Kids carry on being kids, recess remains scheduled and even administrators take turns on the courts. Liz Reinemo, secondary school principal, lands her shot on net Positive energy all around, even when the skies are cloudy. There is something cleansing and refreshing about this rain. It's warm and enough of it to wash away all that came before and start anew!
Even though Costa Rica occupies just 0.03% of world land mass, it boasts 5% of the world's biodiversity in flora and fauna. The flowers have been remarkable, in bright hues of burnt orange, fiery red, pale yellow and all shades of pink, punctuating the landscape across the country, none brighter than in Guanacaste. Blue porterweed Cheilocostus speciosus , or crêpe ginger I've frequently called upon my "Picture this" app to identify the flora that surrounds La Paz Community School. According to the app, the images I captured include: Crêpe ginger, monstera obliqua, Flame of the woods, Cochineal Nopal Cactus, Queen's wreath and Blue porterweed. Brahea, palms in Arecaceae family ...
Comments
Post a Comment