With more and more North Americans moving to Costa Rica, many businesses opening “overseas” locations here and, of course, the explosive tourism industry, Costa Rica recognizes the ever-increasing need for a population proficient in English.
The government is pushing to make English a common language for the majority of the population. In order to make that goal a reality, over 1100 of the nation’s English teachers have entered the Costa Rica Multilingüe program to receive intensive training to improve their reading comprehension and conversational English skills. The government’s goal is for 75% of high school students attain proficiency in English by 2017.
The Ministry of Public Education (MEP) hopes to solve the problem of English teachers whose own skills make it difficult for them to teach classes <B>in</B> English.
Participating teachers will complete the program’s 140 classroom hours with twice-weekly classes running through December at 62 centers located throughout the country. Costa Rica’s academic year follows the calendar year, so the English teachers will put their newly honed skills to the test when the new school year begins in February.
A group including language specialists, teachers, and representatives of private industry will monitor the teachers’ progress and seek to more precisely identify the skills of teachers, students and professionals who use the English language in both the educational system and the private sector.
