You do not get your full 4 hours here. The 4 hours includes the breaks. However, I actually preferred it that way because by the last ½ hour my brain is usually pretty full anyways, so I seemed to be able to stay focused here a little better. They divide the classes into 2 segments: grammar for the first ½ with one teacher, a break and then, conversation class with a different teacher for the 2nd ½. I really liked that method. It allowed for more exposure to different people. Just changing the teachers and the subject matter gave my brain a jolt and helped me to stay motivated. The curriculum was well organized. There was more variety than in Quito where we just conjugated verbs. We went from verbs to nouns to idioms to food to superlatives etc. So, there was definitely more covered although less intensively. Extras - On Monday we went on a tour of the city. It was fast and all in Spanish, so I missed a lot of what he was saying, but it is important none the less. They have morning and afternoon classes, so the activities take place at 11am and after 6:30pm . The morning activities are visits to museums and culture discussions (useless for beginners). The evening activities are Spanish films, dance and cooking classes. We enjoyed going to them to hang out with everyone, but EVERYONE went, so it was more like cooking demonstrations than actual classes etc. Amenities – Not much. This school has a great academic program, but not much else. There is an internet cafe across the street. A cafe/bar downstairs. A travel agent 3 blocks away, Terra Diversa, (who are recommended by the school, but I found to be extremely unorganized and not very helpful) Recommended? Yes, I thought their Spanish program was great. We stayed with an amazing host family(Although, not everyone is so lucky). For absolute beginners I still think Costa Rica Language Academy is the best school to go to, but I really enjoyed our stay here.