ACTIVITIES

For students in the Spanish Language Intensives, ICADS offers a variety of activities during the time that you are not in class. You will have the opportunity to visit quality local museums, hear from expert lecturers on a variety of topics, taste-test a buffet of tropical fruit in ICADS’s fabulous Fiesta de Frutas, learn Latin dancing, volunteer in marginalized communities, and more.

While you’re here, check out San Jose’s cultural events, farmers’ markets, nightlife, and activities with your host family. Take advantage of weekends to travel to many of the nearby mountains, volcanoes, beaches, and other destinations – both popular and off the beaten track.

Here is a list of possible lectures and activities in which students may participate during the month:

Possible lecture topics:

- Environmental Issues in Costa Rica
- Sustainable Development
- Regional Human Rights Issues
- Third World Debt and Debt Restructuring
- Gender Issues in Latin America
- Costa Rican Health and Health Care Systems
- Banana, Pineapple or Coffee Plantations and their Effects on Local Communities
- The Social and Economic Situation of Indigenous Groups in Central America
- National Parks and their Management in Costa Rica
- Music and Culture in Latin America
- Poverty and Housing in Costa Rica

Activities and Field Trips:

- Latin dance class
- Cooking class
- Fruit festival
- Trip to a theater or concert
- Museum visits
- Trip to Cartago and surrounding area
- Visit to an organic farm
- Trip to a banana plantation

Community Service:

- Helping at a children’s soup kitchen
- Projects in an immigrant settlement
- Working with kids in local schools
- Activities with the homeless or elderly
- Bed-building projects
- Others

In months with a total enrollment of fewer than four students, formal lectures may not be presented, and an individualized schedule of volunteering and cultural activities will be created based on student interests and needs.

The Semester and Summer Programs have similar cultural activities built in during the time you are in Spanish courses.