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The agreement between the
government and the
Cultural Center is to give
scholarships for English
classes to people with
limited economic
resources. / A.M. Costa
Rica wire services photo.
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4,000
teachers training in English
language teaching
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Through the program of the
Government Alliance for
Bilingualism, known as ABi,
4,000 teachers are in the
process of training for the
teaching of the English
language.
Friday at the North American
Costa Rican Cultural Center,
President Carlos Alvarado signed
a presidential decree declaring
the ABi program to be in of
public interest, this because of
its importance because bilingual
individuals have better job
prospects.
“I urge students to take
advantage of it and do their
best to forge a better future,”
said Alvarado.
The agreement between the
government and the Cultural
Center is to give scholarships
for English classes to people
with limited economic resources.
The Cultural Center also is
opening a new course for 80
students, with the support of
the National Geographic Learning
Program.
The ABi program has the goal of
converting Costa Rica into a
bilingual country and with it
"improve the attraction of
investments, boost employment
generation, and increase
opportunities for study abroad,"
said the government in its
statement.
This year, the Alliance for
Bilingualism trained 500 people
in San Carlos*
in the northern part of the
country, as A.M. Costa Rica
reported April 1.
Program hopes are that students
will certify their level of
English at the end of 12 months
of training to show they have
acquired skills necessary to
improve their chances of finding
employment and will be part of a
labor intermediation process.
In the case of San Carlos,
teaching English is part of a
focus primarily on tourism, the
growing trade, services sectors
and information technologies.
The government's goal is to
train 1,000 people from the
north in the different types of
programs, namely: skills for
life, the Alliance for
Bilingualism and the various
training programs of the
Ministry of Labor.
According to the Ministry of
Labor, the government invested
about $129,605 in the Alliance
for Bilingualism program to
teach the English language,
which is developed by the
government, together itself,
Fundación Aliarse, the Ministry
of Education and other public
institutions. The courses are
provided by teachers from the
United States.
Last November the statistics
from the Ministry of Labor
showed that speaking English
means better jobs.
The Labor Ministry presented the
study on "The benefits of
bilingualism in Costa Rica,"
that was carried out by the
Development Observatory of the
Costa Rica University.
Researchers Alejandro Abarca
and Suráyabi Ramírez did the
study. It was an analysis of the
labor benefits of speaking
English in Costa Rica and was
based on data from the
statistics from the Statistics
and Censuses National Institute
from 2005 to 2017.
What stands out in the study
is that people with knowledge of
English have better working
conditions than non-bilingual
people of similar age, academic
training, and social status,
among others.
The study confirms that, on
average, an English speaker
receives $241 more in their
monthly salary compared to a
monolingual person even though
the English speaker works an
average of nearly an hour less
per week.
Benefits are different as
well. The study shows that
bilinguals have 2.5 percent more
holidays, 2.7 percent more
possibility of having social
security and 1.4 percent more
chances of an aguinaldo or
Christmas bonus than a
non-bilingual person.
Steven Núñez, Labor minister,
said that seeing the results of
the study, "we are clearer that
we are on the right track to
focus our efforts in promoting
the study of this second
language through the ABi and
with the start of English
courses with native teachers
from English speaking
countries."
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Have you heard from a group of
young Costa Ricans who may be
interested in learning English
for free in the ABi program? We
would like to know your thoughts
on this story. Send your
comments to news@amcostarica.com
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