Learn Spanish on the Beach in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

As a health care worker in USA I wished to speak another language but never made the effort in school. I came to Maximal Nivel for a cultural experience and to prioritize language learning. I started at 'Zero Espanol' and stayed with an amazing kind host family. My instruction was high quality and personalized. The school offered many excursions and free programs for participants. I am very happy to spend a week in Costa Rica working on a skill I always avoided due to fear. I hope to return with my family or send my children to summer camp when they are older.

From start to finish the whole trip was well organized. The classes are super fun, which make the learning much easier and you are excited for every class. The teachers I had, Runnia and especially Francis were perfect. Never had learning spanish been so fun to me. I got a lot more fluent in my spanish, cause the classes are based on ongoing conversations. The structure around Maximo is great aswell. They are super helpful and try to make things fit for you as good as possible. Classes are rearranged if possible. The best part about the trip are the people tho, they are so welcoming and fun. The cooking and salsa classes make you get a taste of the culture and are designed super immersive. You have a variety of options to design your trip (Tandem-Program housing options, etc.). Quepos/Manuel Antonio is a nice small town. You have great nature, animals, beaches and restaurants/sodas, but most importantly Quepos is home to friendly and open people. The whole team of Maximo in Quepos are super fun and open. I’m
super glad I did this trip and will sure remeber it for a long time. I hope to be back one day.

Overall, the Maximo Nivel institute is a pretty good place to learn Spanish. The teachers are very interactive and motivated to help you learn, and they are locals as well. The classes include both grammar lessons and a fair amount of talking back and forth. The school itself is not in Manuel Antonio, but a small town called Quepos about 15 minutes away from Manuel Antonio. However there are buses that can take you to and from both towns for under a dollar. Overall, the program is a good way to brush up on Spanish against a beautiful tropical backdrop!

The staff was very nice and helped me a lot to feel comfortable and to get to know the area. The teacher was really good and the lessons helped me improve my Spanish very quickly. Although I only took three weeks of classes, I felt like it was a very rewarding experience. First, I had one to one lessons, but later, anoter student joined us and the three of us talked a lot, which was really important for me. The service of Maximo was amazing, the Wifi was very good, I got coffee and water for free and I met a lot of amazing, nice people, which was really helpful considering I did not know anyone when I arrived. Also, I loved the extracurricular activities like cooking classes! I wished I could have continued taking classes, but for a longer period of time, I could not afford the costs. Nevertheless, I had an amazing experience with Maximo.

We have attended Maximo Nivel Costa Rica in Manuel Antonio this summer and last.
Last summer we took private lessons which were great! My two kids were in class together ages 7 and 11. We attended 4 hours a day for two weeks. They learned so much!
This summer my daughter begged to go back. She’s 8 years old and since we had a shorter stay she attended 2 hours per day for a week she in private lessons.
In comparison to Spanish class in the US she learned about a semester of knowledge in 3 weeks combined.
The teachers are all really great and we learned so much Spanish especially the conversational piece.
We took our own supplies with us such as pencils, pens, highlighters and notebooks. The school gas snacks available for purchase and the provide tea and coffee complimentary.

I arrived at Maximo Nivel intending to improve my Spanish, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I was so happy to find that there is so much more going on than I had anticipated. I found myself a part of a beautiful and unique community that was made up of the staff, volunteers, and students in the program. I made close relationships and countless memories. The Spanish classes exceeded my expectations, and I improved so much!! I even was starting to get the hang of Salsa dancing by the end of it. I chose to spend, a more than conventional, four months with Maximo Nivel, and honestly every second was worth it. I would travel outside the city some weekends or take advantage of really cool stuff happening in San Jose. By the end of my experience, I was leaving three families. My host family, who genuinely are like parents to me. My Maximo family, all of the awesome people who I would say hi to every day and get support from often (including great teachers). And finally, the weird mixed up group of people I met along the way from air force groups to people on gap years like me to the Costarican friends I am going to miss so much. I will never forget my time in Costa Rica, and what it has done for me, I owe a lot of that to this great program.

If you are really serious about learning Spanish, complete immersion is undoubtably the way to go. When you stay with a host family that speaks no English you have little choice but to try. It may be daunting at first, but whomever you speak to will generally offer encouragement and will complement you on your Spanish, even though you might think it's not very good. Finding your way around by riding the San Jose bus routes is an adventure in itself, and if you get lost you can always find a taxi to take you back home.

Seeing how other cultures live and how they've learned to adapt to problems unique to them gives you an appreciation of their solutions and broadens your mind as to their uniqueness. I can't speak about other Latin American cultures, but I can say that Ticos are some of the most welcoming people I've ever met.

You will be overawed by Costa Rica's countryside. From beaches to wildlife to active volcanoes, get ready to be wowed by the sights of Poaz, Arenal, and other volcanoes. The beach and jungle wild life in Manuel Antonio is not to be missed.

This was the third Spanish immersion program I have done. The program through Maximo Nivel in Costa Rica was the best. An evaluation test is conducted prior to the start of classes to ensure students are placed with peers of a similar level of proficiency. You are able to learn at at an accelerated rate because of the small classes and intimate attention from instructors. I was in a class with only one other students which meant that classes were specifically tailored to my needs and abilities. The program focuses on the application of proper grammar in conversation, but instructors are open to unrelated questions. Many times I would ask a random question about vocabulary or about a particular phrase and the instructor was happy and willing to pause the lesson in order to answer. In this way, I was able to expand my vocabulary everyday. Lessons are conducted in Spanish, but the instructors are fluent in English. I learned more Spanish in four weeks, than I did over the course of four semesters in the United States. An immersion program is the best way to learn a language.