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The Institute was founded by the United Presbyterian Mission Board in Colombia in 1942. In 1950, the school was moved to San Jose, Costa Rica, where it continued to operate under the Presbyterian board until 1972. In that year, a non-profit Costa Rican association (Asociación del Instituto de Lengua Española) was formed which continues to govern the Institute through its annually elected Board of Directors. The Association and its Board are made up of Costa Rican pastors and missionaries including representatives of several of the denominations and agencies who send their missionaries to the school for language training.
During its 58 years of service, the Spanish Language Institute has had seven Directors, each of which has made valuable contributions to the organizational, academic, and spiritual life of the school.
The Rev. and Mrs. Allen D. Clark (1942) and Mr. And Mrs. Edward M. Clark (1943-1945) served in Medellin, Colombia. In 1950, under tile directorship of Dr. and Mrs. Otto LaPorte (1946-1959), the Institute was transferred from Medellin to San Jose, Costa Rica.
In 1977, the Institute moved from rented facilities in San Pedro to its present campus in San Francisco de Dos Ríos. The purchase of property and |
construction of buildings was administered by Dr. and Mrs. Aulden Coble (1959-1983), who also added audio-lingual teaching methods to the school's curriculum.
In 1984, the Rev. and Mrs. loran Long (1984-1991) obtained a written agreement pledging educational and cultural cooperation between the Institute and the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Education. The Longs introduced the Oral Proficiency Interview and communicative competence methods, as well as the FARO program of community language learning.
Mrs. Elizabeth Alfaro, who served as the Interim Director in 1992, was responsible for the compilation of the Institute's grammar and exercises books.
Julie Chamberlain assumed the directorship in January of 1993, and in August of that year, the Institute opened Sojourn Academy, a K-12 school for children whose parents are in language school. Five classrooms and a multipurpose room were added to Sojourn Academy in September 1997, together with two new classrooms for Rayitos de Sol Nursery School. The Student Life Department was officially organized two months later. In May of 2003 a second story was added to the northwest classroom pavilion, giving more room to both Sojourn Academy and the adult program. |