Program Reviews

Comprehensively good! Love working with prof and keeping my Spanish skills from rusting while I am social distancing at home. Tico lingo has everything organized well, I'm given material before and after class, via whatsapp in a PDF. Makes everything super easy. Classes go by quick and we spend a majority of time speaking which is what I was looking for. Actual practice. Speaking is the one thing I really can't practice with an app. Super glad to be using conversational skills and learning despite the distance barrier. Overall awesome experience, I'll keep at it until I can go back to check out Costa Rica again.

What a great time it is to work on your professional and personal development. For me, that was to continue improving my Spanish through online classes!

Tico Lingo Spanish teachers are well versed and have years of experiencing teaching beginner to advanced students. They are taking it to a new platform due to the recent developments. I have continued my studies with Zaida who is a joy to work with. When teaching Spanish-- her clarity, patience, and ease of explaining difficult grammar sets her apart. Besides her tour de force as a teacher, she is one of the sweetest and funnest people I've met. My Spanish level has gone from beginner to intermediate thanks to Zaida!

Spanish classes are conducted through Zoom and strictly in Spanish! We are able to work on exercises through the blackboard/screen sharing feature. I encourage everyone to support this small business and learn Spanish for work and for when we can travel again! I can't recommend Zaida enough!

I took classes with Tico Lingo at their school in Costa Rica and loved the experience. I learned a lot and was able to speak Spanish really well but haven't practiced in the past few months. Once I heard they were offering online classes, I signed up right away. It's so nice to reconnect with the fantastic people and brush the dust off my Spanish and start using it again. The face-to-face connection on zoom is great! I started at 2 hours a week and bumped up to 5 hours a week. Definitely recommend!

My online experience has surprisingly been great! I was a bit skeptical about the whole virtual/online Spanish class thing, but am actually seeing my Spanish speaking skills accelerate way faster than when I was using online mobile apps. I really love working face to face with someone, hearing their native accent, conversing and having the opportunity to try out new vocabulary.. It makes a huge difference! I'll never go back to the robot voice of duolingo, FluentU or Rosetta stone. It's comforting to have someone on the other line that actually wants to see me progress. Making a new friend in different country, and learning a new language feels like a huge achievement, success, and distraction from the scary world of Covid-19 right now. HIGHLY recommend Tico Lingo! Big shout out and thanks to the whole team for a great experience!

Loved absolutely everything about this course! I have learned more Spanish with Tico Lingo online than I did for six years at school. The best and most effective part was learning from a local which not only worked wonders for my pronunciation challenges :) but also helped me learn about Costa Rican culture. I have finally overcome my fear of speaking Spanish which, according to my teacher Freddie, is a natural part of the language learning journey. I am now really motivated to go to Costa Rica and start using what I have learned..
Muchas gracias!

I would absolutely recommend online Spanish classes with any of the wonderful teachers at Tico Lingo. I have been doing online classes with Tico Lingo for about 3 weeks. My teacher is Freddy Fraiñas. We have been working on preparing me to take my bilingual certification test. We practice grammar, conversation and writing. I am really enjoying my time with Tico Lingo and my Spanish has improved immensely. I wish that I could be in Costa Rica right now, actually taking these classes in person, but this is the next best thing!

Choosing Tico Lingo is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. My Spanish improved immensely and I found a home away from home.

My experience with Tico Lingo is multidimensional. I’ve taken group and independent classes both in person and online and had the pleasure of working with 2 different teachers. Though I planned on living in Costa Rica for 1 month, I love my Costa Riccan host family so much I decided to quarantine with them for the foreseeable future. Today is my 6 week anniversary.

Tico Lingo classes (both online and in-person) made my high school and university Spanish classes look bad. Humans can not learn a language by memorizing vocabulary and “fill in the blank” worksheets. Why? We need to develop an ear for the language and we need context in order for the language to actually stick. At Tico Lingo, students are expected to speak, listen and interact. This participation based curriculum propelled my Spanish from an elementary to intermediate level in just 4 weeks. Hell yeah!

Tico Lingo is a rarity, a collection of genuine people who run a remarkable business. The teachers, administrators and staff... there are no words. #puravida

I studied for a month at Tico Lingo in early 2019 as part of a gap semester abroad in Latin America straight out of high school. Despite travelling solo, I never felt alone due to the amazing staff and social scene at Tico Lingo. I arrived with a very low/basic level of Spanish. I did the 30 hour per week Super Intensive program, which involved 4 hours of group lessons and 2 hours of private lessons everyday. Despite being called "super intensive", it never felt this way. The classes were low pressure, interactive, fun, and flew by everyday. Freddie and Zaida, my teachers, were both incredibly friendly and willing to help with anything I needed. Within a month, I was conversational and having great conversations with my host family. Without a doubt, I learned more in one month at Tico Lingo than I did in 3 years of high school Spanish. In addition to the classes, Tico Lingo also had a great social scene. There were social activities everyday after class, as well as a weekly social/conversational practice with Heredia locals. If you're ever bored, there's no shortage of things to do around Heredia. I recommend Tico Lingo to anyone of any age who wants to learn Spanish. During my time there, I met students of all ages, 18-65+. Don't let age or fear keep you from doing this. Tico Lingo is seriously worth it.

I have been at the Tico Lingo Spanish school in Heredia, Costa Rica for the past five weeks and have one more week of study remaining. I am 64 years of age and retired. I came here as a beginner who knew a tiny bit of Spanish and understood very little when listening to others speak the language.

Considering that I grossly underestimated the scope of learning a new language and have been humbled by how big a project it is, I can still emphatically state that my experience here has greatly exceeded my expectations in every way.

This school is fortunate enough to employ some extraordinary individuals. Head of Spanish, Freddie Fariña, is simply a brilliant linguist and teacher. His ability to understand the English language in more detail than most native English speakers has made the inevitable confusion that arises from fundamental differences between these two languages remarkably easier to understand and navigate.

He is simply the best Spanish teacher I’ve ever encountered.

The other professors at the school are all highly qualified and effective as well and through some optional private lessons I have had the delightful experience of studying under most of them.

The support staff, especially Yenifer in the front office who is the heart and soul of the day to day operations, all combine their personalities with those of the faculty to create an environment that is welcoming, supportive, and always fun.

The range of students here is delightful, from many young adults, middle aged folks on up through old guys like me, with everyone interacting together in friendly and respectful ways. It’s a great atmosphere. I have made several friends who will remain my friends for the rest of my life.

My homestay experience has also been more than I could’ve hoped for. I can only speak for my particular hostess, Sandra, but the food has been delicious and my freedom to come and go as I please has never been a problem. Her home is lovely with an indoor garden, it’s open and airy and I feel completely at home here.

The school was founded about five years ago by a young American named Christopher who, along with his friend Freddie Fariña has done a remarkable job in assembling his staff and creating a lovely environment.

I chose the school for number of reasons before knowing any of the people there. Primarily, I wanted to be in a safe environment where the temperature was not excessively hot and where there were fewer tourists who might contaminate my environment with English.

The town of Heredia in Costa Rica sits at about 3600 feet in altitude on the Leeward side of the mountains thus enjoying temperate weather and a dryer climate. It is remarkably comfortable here. The small city of Heredia has it’s downtown at a 10 minute walk from the school and is a half hour by car from the international airport. It is remarkably safe and friendly, with clean streets and lovely people with lovely parks and a very cool market place.

I miss my wife and look forward to returning home but I have every intention of returning here for another six weeks of instruction. I have at least quadrupled my Spanish abilities during this time and although I still have far to go before I can understand native speakers easily, I now know that that goal is within my reach. I highly recommend the school to anybody looking for a positive experience in learning Spanish. I will be back.

A once (or twice or thrice...) in a lifetime opportunity to study with amazing teachers, be surrounded by compassionate people and experience cultural immersion. What I loved was the personalized attention and the support of the staff. This suits my learning compared to a larger institution. The level of instruction was fast paced but allowed adequate time and practice for learning. Love, love the people here.

The community surrounding the school is safe; the people are warm and kind. The central mercado has wonderful food and there's a huge farmers market every Friday.