<p>Hello- I am a current graduate student who has studied abroad in Spain (Valencia, 2008), and am looking for another Spanish program for the spring of 2011. I am going to be graduating in December with my masters in Social Studies for secondary education, and am looking to go back abroad during the following semester to Latin America. The main reason I am going is to get 12 more credits in Spanish, which I need in order to get certification in teaching the language (New York State requires 30 credits in Spanish to apply for the certification test, I currently have 18). So I am looking for an institute/university that would be able to offer me 12 credits of Spanish in 4-5 months, with the Spanish courses being upper intermediate/advanced in difficulty. A program that offers successive courses would be ideal (i.e.- taking intermedio 1 for weeks 1-3, intermedio 2 for weeks 4-6, avanzado 1 for weeks 7-10, etc.). The credits earned would have to be recognized in some way internationally, since I ultimately have to forward my transcripts to the state department for approval in order to take the certification test.</p>
<p>I would prefer the program to offer a host family experience, since that worked rather well for me during my semester abroad in Spain. I am not leaning towards to Argentina or Chile, since I have heard that the accents in both countries are pretty harsh and dont align well with that of Castilian (this could just be rumors thought- if any of you have any input on this, I would love to hear it). Also, the destruction caused by the somewhat recent earthquake makes me hesitant to go to Chile, so I would probably not consider going there (though I will be visiting the country at some point during the semester). The main countries I am looking at right now include Peru (Cusco or Lima), Colombia (Bogotá), or Ecuador (Quito), but Im definitely open to hear new suggestions.</p>
<p>Let me know what you think and if you know any programs that might be able to fit the above stated needs, thanks!</p>