Winter 2022 Spanish Immersion in Costa Rica: We’re back on Spanish immersion in Costa Rica this winter with a wonderful group of travelers. There are a handful of working professionals and retirees on our Adult Spanish Immersion Trip, a group of healthcare workers on the Medical Spanish Immersion Trip, and a family of 5 doing …
Summer 2021 Adult Spanish Immersion trip in Costa Rica: We all know that Spanish immersion is the best way for adults to learn Spanish. It’s intensive and the nature of taking time off work and traveling abroad eliminates your day-to-day distractions and obstacles to improving your Spanish. We weren’t sure if we would be able …
Summer 2021 Adult Spanish Immersion trip in Costa Rica Read More »
An exciting message from Leslie & Rory about summer 2021 Spanish Immersion programs in Costa Rica: 4 Adult Spanish immersion programs in Costa Rica this summer Program Dates 1wk Spanish Immersion Programs: 6/26/21 – 7/3/21 7/3/21 – 7/10/21 7/10/21 – 7/17/21 7/17/21 – 7/24/21 2wk Spanish Immersion Programs: 6/26/21 – 7/10/21 7/3/21 – 7/17/21 7/10/21 …
Spanish Immersion Programs in Costa Rica for Adults are back! Read More »
5 Practical tips to keep your Spanish proficiency moving forward after your immersion trip: Finishing up your Spanish immersion program is always met with mixed emotions. You’re happy with the progress you made during your trip, and you’re glad to be back home enjoying your familiar surroundings, but . Your biggest concern, however, is about letting …
During the third week on immersion, the high school participants visited Kamuk School in Tibás, Costa Rica to participate in a language exchange. This was truly a once in a lifetime experience for our participants. This was the first year CGI has partnered with Kamuk School to participate in a language exchange. The plan was …
High School Spanish and English Language Exchange in Costa Rica Read More »
High School Students on La Fortuna Excursion with Spanish Immersion Imagine opening the door of your hotel room and seeing a volcano right in front of you! That’s what the high school Spanish immersion students almost had in La Fortuna this past weekend (it was very cloudy, so we couldn’t really see the top). The …
High school students experience first week on Spanish immersion in Costa Rica. Two of the main focuses of the Common Ground International (CGI) high school Spanish immersion programs are host family stays while on immersion and community service that is sustainable and positively impacts the communities we are visiting. Our high school participants experienced both …
First Week on Immersion in Costa Rica: Host Families and Community Service Read More »
High school students on surf and Spanish immersion in Costa Rica! What an amazing first weekend on immersion! Last Thursday was arrival day for the high school Spanish immersion participants and everyone arrived safe and sound to Costa Rica. All the participants were extremely patient and handled themselves with such maturity with the long travel …
On April 18th, 2018 the Nicaraguan people stopped acquiescing to the oppression from their government and broke their silence in peaceful protest. The tipping point for the Nicaraguan people was a social security tax increase. Employees were to pay .75% more per month and employers were to pay 3.5% more. In Nicaragua, Social Security taxes …
Day 1: Orientation & Getting to know the town of Granada Nicaragua. Today (Sunday) we met up at 9am for a brief tour around Granada to learn about the history of this great city and make sure everyone knows where they can sample some of the great international foods here, where the banks are, the …
Day 1: Spanish Immersion for Adults, Educators & Medical Professionals Read More »
Summer Spanish Immersion Programs in Nicaragua & Costa Rica Begin! Students and professionals from all over the United States begin their Spanish language immersion program with Common Ground International over the weekend. High school Spanish immersion students flew to San José Costa Rica and Medical Spanish immersion participants, Teachers Spanish Immersion participants & Adult Spanish immersion …
Summer ’17 Spanish Immersion in Nicaragua and Costa Rica Begins! Read More »
International volunteer opportunities naturally attract good-hearted people who want to do service learning that feels great and helps others at the same time. Unfortunately, good intentions don’t always result in good outcomes for the recipients of this volunteer work. There are countless studies that document unintended consequences of well intentioned people doing “good” work on short-term …
Avoiding Ethical Complications With International Volunteer Opportunities Read More »
International travel suggestions; especially in Central America International travel is amazingly fun and educational, but it does offer plenty of opportunity for challenges and difficulties. Thankfully, most of these can be avoided or at least reduced with a little forethought and planning. Check out our top 10 international travel suggestions below and have a successful …
International Travel Suggestions: 10 Tips for your next trip Read More »
Some of our favorite tropical fruits from Central America may or may not be familiar to you, but here is how you can enjoy them! We love sharing these tropical fruits with our clients on Spanish Immersion. They can be sweet, savory, or sour; and the textures range from meaty to gooey. Here is how …
How to cut, prepare & eat favorite tropical fruits from Central America Read More »
When you are learning a language, you often find yourself scrambling to build vocabulary first. Shortly thereafter you realize that you need to string that vocabulary together into meaningful thoughts and phrases that help you communicate. Verbs are the glue that stick vocabulary together and bring life to your communication. Learning verbs in Spanish is …
101 Verbs in Spanish – Essentials for Surviving Everyday Communication Read More »
The Immersion Fund does fundraising for travel scholarships by partnering with the House of Hope. The Immersion Fund offers unique fundraising opportunities and student travel scholarships for Spanish immersion participants. We all know that immersion is the best way to learn a language. The students and professionals who go on our Spanish immersion trips learn how to …
Fundraising for Travel Scholarships Serves a Greater Purpose Read More »
The Immersion Fund is about fundraising with a purpose. The Immersion Fund partners with the House of Hope, a place of refuge and dignity for many women in Managua, Nicaragua. We encourage participants who need to raise funds for their immersion trips to do fundraising with a purpose. Sure, there are lots of easy fundraising …
Fundraising with a Purpose- Meet the Women at House of Hope Read More »
What is the Tuesday Morning Program and what does it have to do with student fundraising? The Immersion Fund began with two primary goals of raising funds for scholarships for Spanish immersion participants and supporting the local communities we visit in Central America. To do this we’ve started a fundraising with a purpose program through …
Student Fundraising and Changed Lives on Tuesday Mornings Read More »
There are literally thousands of language schools in Latin America – how will you know if the school you’re looking at will be a good choice for you? If you’re a DIY (do it yourself) traveler who wants to take formal language classes abroad, you will need to select a language school to work with. On …
10 Question Framework to Vet Language Schools – Particularly in Latin America Read More »
The inside scoop on details that matter when searching for the right trip for your student… This is a great tool that helps guide your research to evaluate student travel programs. I am a mother of three who travels extensively with our high school student clients and my own children to Latin America. As you are checking out …
10 Essential Questions to Evaluate Student Travel Programs Read More »
Everyone says: “immersion is the best way to learn Spanish”. If that’s true, what makes Spanish immersion the best way to learn? Nearly every article you read about the best way to learn Spanish touts the value of a specific school, a particular method, the newest technology, or something else sparkly and shiny. All of those …
Educator Immersion Trips Make a Difference Communicating with parents can be a challenging, but essential, aspect of teaching. It gets exponentially harder when your student’s families don’t speak English. Being able to effectively communicate with parents is key to a student’s success in the classroom. Common Ground’s Spanish for Educators Immersion program is designed to …
Have you ever had that experience where chaos serendipitously turns to beauty, and you see rainbows and unicorns? Okay, maybe the rainbows and unicorns are a stretch, but linguistic chaos turning into Spanish proficiency is something we’ve figured out how to consistently deliver on our language immersion trips. What started out as serendipity, has become …
The Secret to Successful Language Immersion is Creating and Managing Chaos Read More »
The Immersion Fund has finally emerged… Since July, I’ve been working on a VERY exciting project, and it is finally ready! Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to introduce to you … The Immersion Fund! The Immersion Fund is a 501(c)3 organization created to help participants fund their Spanish immersion program while also making a difference …
International travel to the developing countries in Central America offers amazingly rich opportunities to explore the tropical beauty of the Americas that you don’t see in other parts of the world, but it comes with inherent risks that you should be aware of. My family just got robbed burglarized in Costa Rica on a weekend trip. …
International travel is an amazing opportunity to get out and experience the world. But traveling itself doesn’t guarantee language development. In fact, a high percentage of university students who spend a semester abroad don’t even return home with significant growth in the host language. Some travelers develop their language more than others – even if …
10 Bulletproof tips to maximize language growth on any travel experience Read More »
Communication style is the way you say what you say – and it has huge implications on the results of a conversation between parties. Pay special attention to this post if you have had frustrated negotiations, unresolved confrontations, or simply want to communicate more effectively across cultures. It’s one thing to have language barrier between …
Indirect Communication Style – Straight Talk about Beating Around the Bush Read More »
Living with a host family in Costa Rica and attending interactive and stimulating language classes, puts you in a unique position to learn Spanish outside of just a regular classroom. You are able to experience the Costa Rican Culture first-hand. When we arrived, in Manuel-Antonio, I was in the Honeymoon stage—trying to find the best …
Live It Up and Make the Most of your Immersion Experience! Read More »
Small talk is a big deal! Conversational Spanish topics that are sure to get people talking. Don’t let yourself be at a loss for words when you’re on Spanish Immersion! You likely selected a program with host family lodging because you recognize the linguistic and cultural value of interacting with people in their home – …
Keep reading, because the information below will keep you from thinking: “I wish someone had told me that earlier about my host family!” Okay, picture this… You have just touched down in Costa Rica for your immersion experience, and your mind is running wild! Is your host family going to be nice? Will the water …
Everyone knows intuitively and experientially that Spanish immersion is the best way to learn Spanish. However, just because you’re traveling, doesn’t guarantee language growth on Spanish immersion! We love Spanish Immersion programs for our high school students, undergraduate students and professional clients because we know it puts them in the best situation to learn Spanish. …
4 Obstacles to Exponential Language Growth on Spanish Immersion Read More »
The host family experience on our Spanish immersion programs in Costa Rica is always a highlight for the majority of our participants. At the same time, it’s also one of the components of the Spanish immersion programs that participants and prospective participants are most curious and, to be honest, apprehensive about. There is a lot …
8 Surefire Tips to Have an Amazing Host Family Experience Read More »
What did our participants think of learning to speak Spanish in Costa Rica? “I’m going to Costa Rica!” is a statement that brings to mind sun-filled sandy honeymoons or zip-lining adventures with families. When it comes to Common Ground International and our summer immersion trips, sun, sand and zip-lining certainly come into play but …
Reflection: The Summer High School Spanish Immersion trip Read More »
There are many medical Spanish immersion programs and thousands of Spanish study abroad opportunities around the world – so what makes Common Ground’s Spanish immersion programs so unique? Several more things that make our programs special… Our unique Medical Spanish immersion trips – whether you are a working healthcare professional or a healthcare student – place a balanced …
Medical Spanish Immersion Trips – What makes CGI unique? Read More »
Summer ’13 High School Spanish Immersion in Costa Rica: Our High School Immersion Students had a life-changing summer in Costa Rica! Before departing the USA, we talked extensively about the challenges, benefits and beauties of this unique Spanish Immersion program that combines living with host families, intensive Spanish classes, meaningful volunteer work and of …
Spanish Immersion in Costa Rica and the 5 C’s of Foreign Language Education The 5 C’s of Foreign Language Education have been developed by ACTFL as the national standard for foreign language teaching,* and have been wholly adopted at the local level by educational organizations, including The Colorado Congress of Foreign Language Teachers(CCFLT). Common Ground …
Spanish Immersion and the 5 C’s of Foreign Language Education Read More »
