Photo Blog: Teaching English in Costa Rica
By Caitlin PetersonNovember 19, 2013

This blog post was written by guest writer and EFL teacher, Caitlin Peterson, graduate of the Bridge IDELT course.
My name is Caitlin, and since getting my TEFL certification, I have been teaching English at a school in Costa Rica, called Politécnico Internaciónal, since September 2013. There are two locations-one in Heredia and one in San José.
I love working at this institute…the staff is so supportive and the students are great. I’m teaching a beginner English class for the culinary arts program in San José on Friday nights, an intermediate class on Saturday mornings in San José, and a Monday/Wednesday night upper intermediate class in Heredia. I also do tutoring for two hours on Tuesday nights.
When I’m not teaching, I enjoy getting out of the city and seeing the beautiful rainforests and beaches that Costa Rica has to offer. The picture above was taken in March in Manuel Antonio, a national park about 3 1/2 hours from San José by bus. It’s one of my favorite places in Costa Rica…there are a ton of different animals and beautiful beaches.
Costa Rica is not only known for its beautiful beaches, but lush rainforests and a tropical climate year round. Ziplining, whitewater rafting and bungee jumping are just a few of the extreme sports you can do. My friend and I decided to go to Monteverde Cloud Forest and zipline…it was definitely an adrenaline rush! In addition to ziplining, there was a rappel and a Tarzan swing. The last cable was a one kilometer Superman zipline over a canyon!
Costa Rica also has great hiking. In May, I took a hike with some of the people from the school where I used to work, Máximo Nivel. It was challenging, but the scenery was amazing. We could see the whole Central Valley from the top!