I take Spanish lessons with Mary twice a week over Google Meet while I am based in the United States and she is in Costa Rica, and it has been an excellent experience. Since I started working with her, I have improved significantly and built a strong foundation in Spanish.

I genuinely enjoy our classes. They are engaging, organized, and encouraging. Mary is an excellent teacher with extensive experience helping students who begin with little or no prior knowledge, and she explains concepts in a clear and approachable way.

I highly recommend Mary to anyone considering learning or improving their Spanish. She is patient, knowledgeable, and truly committed to her students’ progress.

I’ve been wanting to improve my Spanish skills for years and I finally made the commitment of taking online classes. I am SO GLAD that I did! My Tico Lingo instructor Marysella is amazing - she has helped me improve my grammar and vocabulary immensely over the past several weeks. Class is fun, interactive, adaptive, and tailored to my needs, and I’m always looking forward to the next class. If you’ve been considering taking Spanish classes, I highly recommend you go with Tico Lingo! I can’t wait to visit in person next time I’m in Costa Rica!

I had a great experience at Tico Lingo Language School in Costa Rica. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming. The students were wonderful, and I met many great people during my time there. The staff and teachers were excellent—patient, knowledgeable, and very supportive. Thanks to them and the immersive environment, I significantly improved my Spanish.

Choosing a homestay with a host family was also an amazing and enriching experience. It gave me the chance to practice Spanish every day while learning more about Costa Rican culture.

I highly recommend Tico Lingo to anyone looking for a great place to learn Spanish.

¡Pura vida!

My experience learning Spanish with Tico Lingo has been amazing. Marysella is an excellent teacher — sharp, empathetic, and super friendly. She makes classes feel comfortable, engaging, and supportive. She explains things clearly and is genuinely kind and encouraging. She has also been very flexible with scheduling, which has helped me stay consistent while working full time. The remote format works really well and makes it easy to share materials and coordinate lessons. I would absolutely recommend Tico Lingo and Marysella to anyone looking to learn Spanish from anywhere.

I attended one week of immersion lessons in Costa Rica and then continued with my instructor online. I’m so glad I did both. Zaida teaches in a way that works for mu brain and personality — in-person and online. My Spanish has improved greatly AND our lessons are so connective. I cannot say enough about rapport being a factor in how I learn — but Zaida is a very important part of my life as instructor, mentor, and friend. Immersion online has been amazing when I couldn’t do a second trip. That said, starting in person was ideal. The school is just charming and I loved being with other adult learners of various backgrounds, learning for various purposes. Heredia is a great location. Lodging with my Tica Mama was comfortable, connective. We are still in touch.

Zaida is incredible. She focuses on what you want to learn and is so patient. She’s fun and teaches in a way that makes you use your brain in a problem solving manner instead of just giving you the answer. I was her student in person at Tico Lingo in Costa Rica and continued with her online. Since coming back to the US and working full time it’s hard to continue to develop my Spanish skills, but with this program I feel really good about the business and the teachers and my Spanish (while still rough), isn’t disappearing like I thought it would. Pura Vida.

This was my second six-week stint as a student at Tico Lingo. My first experience left me longing to return, not just to Costa Rica, but specifically to Tico Lingo School. It took two years, owing to the pandemic, but it was worth the wait.

My second go-round has only strengthened my sense that I not only have a second home here, with established friends and connections, but that I once again have access to the best Spanish teachers I’ve ever met.

Tico Lingo is situated in the lovely, safe and historic town of Heredia which boasts one of the most comfortable climates possible, warm temperate days, cool nights and sunny skies, without the heat or humidity found in most of Central American. And while this was initially a deciding factor in choosing this school in 2020, Tico Lingo itself deserves all the credit for luring me back.

Chris Reidy, the owner and co-founder, has assembled a small team of truly exceptional people, from professor Freddy Fariñas, the head of curriculum (and simply the best Spanish instructor I have ever encountered anywhere, period, in part owing to his advanced degrees in both English and Spanish and in part owing to his passion for sharing the joy he finds in language) to the other excellent “profesors Y profesoras”, to Yenifer, the ever-helpful, tireless administrator, to Yammi, the custodian who keeps the school incredibly neat and clean, 24/7, and of course, Chris himself who deserves huge credit for putting it all together.

My home stay family was beyond welcoming, and provided delicious breakfasts and suppers in a clean, lovely home and a very private study area. And just about everyone else at the school expresses very high satisfaction with their host families as well.

The school’s intake process is easy with great pre-trip communication and almost effortless logistics for getting you to your homestay and to the school.

I would describe the facility as cozy, colorful, welcoming, airy, and over-the-top friendly, with free coffee, tea and snacks always available. It very quickly feels like home and I found myself staying long after classes to study in any one of the many niches available.

On both my visits I have returned having made life-long friends. (Call it a selection bias, but it is simply a fact that if you are a person interested in visiting another country to learn THEIR language, you will meet others with whom you have a lot in common.)

All the fun, daily, extra curricular activities and weekend tours, as well as the options for additional private classes are easily found on the web site. But it’s the intangibles, the specific culture of Tico Lingo that makes it so special.

Oh, and after this second six weeks, as I wistfully headed for home, it took me a minute to realize that the airline staff had actually checked me in entirely in Spanish, and that I had understood everything she told me.

That was a first 👍.

I very much plan to return again.

Chris and everyone at Tico Lingo are incredibly welcoming and flexible. No matter your level of Spanish, you will find Tico Lingo's online classes to be helpful. I have been taking online classes for about a year and a half now and my Spanish has seen significant improvement. Your teachers will create custom lesson plans to best suit your wants and needs and will keep things fresh and engaging. Learning/improving your Spanish is hard work, but Tico Lingo makes it fun and rewarding. Would highly recommend to all those looking to learn Spanish from the comfort of their home. ¡Pura vida!