An experience such as this would never be possible in the USA.

I came to Jaco in June with my family. My daughter had an internship here in Jaco so we decided to come along. We discovered IPAI (Instituto Pacifico de Idiomas) and I have been taking classes for two months. My Spanish has improved significantly due to my wonderful and very patient teachers and the fun and relaxing environment that they have created. I look forward to coming back to learn more. IPAI is a family owned and operated school. Augusto and Johanna, along with many other instructors, provide a great learning environment. I will be sending my kids down to do a homestay program so that they can live with a local family and study Spanish. I

I attended this school a few years back. I had never attended any spanish classes of any kind before I arrived. No highschool classes...nothing. My experience at Ipai was INCREDIBLE. The family who runs/operates this school really made the experience something special. As I said before... I couldn't speak more than "Hola" before arriving, and by the time I left I had an excellent understanding for the structure of the Spanish language, and was able to have coherent conversations with people in a new language. These people taught me a second language, and did so in less than one month. I gained so much more than just learning the language at this school though. I was immersed living with a local family (provided as part of the school program), and we did numerous tours around the local area. I can't say enough good things about the experience I had attending this school, and getting to know the family who owns it. One of the most rewarding traveling experiences I've experienced to date. I would rate the experience 7 out of 5 stars of I could.

I had an amazing experience at IPAI! The teachers were great, and I learned more in my 4 weeks at the school than I did in 4 years of high school and college courses. I was most impressed with the quality of the curriculum and the organization of the course. I felt that Augusto (the school's director) put a lot of thought into planning the organization of the Spanish classes, and as a result, I learned a lot quickly. I would highly recommend IPAI to anyone interested in learning Spanish, and given the opportunity, I would return to study there myself.