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Foreign Travel, Service & Exchange Programs

Berkeley Parents Network > Reviews > Summer Camps & School Breaks > Foreign Travel & Exchange Programs


Questions Related Pages Reviews of Specific Programs

Volunteering In Central or South America With Teens

April 2009

Hi there Our family (includes 14 and 16 year old boys)is looking to do a 2 week volunteer project in Peru, Costa Rica or Ecuador this summer. Does anyone have any programs they could recommend? I would love to hear from you ASAP!! Thanks kindly Audrey


Check with www.ecologyproject.org/english/costa_rica.html, www.leatherback.org/lasbaulas/costa-rica, www.earthwatch.org/expeditions/paladino.html. Earthwatch is probably the most expensive of these but you work under a university researcher. I took about 12 high school students to Costa Rica to study leatherback sea turtles with EcologyProject and it was a fabulous experience for all of us. They also have projects in the Galapagos. Earthwatch has projects all over the world. kathryn

Reasonably-priced volunteer placements for 16-year-old

March 2009

Would like suggestions for almost 16 year old son for volunteering placements, organizations outside of Bay Area that are priced reasonably or offer financial aid. Looking for 2-3 week stints. Rustic Pathways would be an example of very expensive. Sarah


Sino Language Gateway has a great volunteer summer program for teens 15-18. Visit http://www.sinolanguage.com/2009/programs/news_item.asp?NewsID=188 (copy and paste the whole URL) you will see what it is about. It offers teens to do English teaching to Chinese kids, earn as many as 80 community service credits, immerse into Chinese language and culture, and travel a bit inside of China.

The program is very reasonablly priced. It is cheaper than most other non-profit volunteer opportunities. The program is so packed that truly offers a lot to teens. Check it out or call call 1-866- WITH-SLG for more info. Anna


Summer programs for Spanish in Spain

Dec 2008

I am looking for summer programs in Spain for Spanish language for my 15 year old son.Any recommendation will be appreciated. Thank you Iman


My son has spent the past three summers with the Johns Hopkins CTY program. He has not been to their 3 week program in Spain, but the courses that he has attended have all been terrific. Here is a link to their Spanish program: http://cty.jhu.edu/summer/spain/index.html Karen
Recommendation for Spanish classes for teens or adults I highly recommend Instituto Mesoamerica in west Berkeley (near University and Bonita) as a great place to learn Spanish. Arturo Sosa, the director, is a wonderful teacher. He is a native speaker from Mexico, and is full of helpful explanations to make grammar stick! Besides his language teaching skills, Arturo has lots to share about the culture and history of latin america, and of latinos in the US. He is flexible with scheduling, and the classes are fun. His website is http://www.institutomesoamerica.com/index.html and phone # is (510) 849-3434 Sarah R

College freshman wants to volunteer in Latin America

Nov 2008

My daughter is a college freshman, taking her 5th year of spanish (studying international relations), and currently working part time at a immigrant rights organization. She has a fantasy of spending part of her summer in some kind of volunteer capacity in Latin America. Does anybody know of good potential organization to check out, or any other tips, like on how this could be affordable... Thank you, lysa


Look in to Amigos de las Americas. They seem to have a really well organized program and they seem to prepare the teens very well for their summer away. The kids can choose from many Central and South American countries and the type of volunteer work they want to do. They spend the summer -- or at least 5 weeks-- with a family. The teen must have at least 2 years high school Spanish so your child would definitely be ready. I did the same kind of thing when I was a teenager and I came home speaking Spanish fluently. I was able to challenge 2 years of college Spanish and I ended up getting one degree in Spanish literature. We are planning on having our kids do this program. I think the volunteer work runs the gamut from working in classrooms to actually building housing. They have a very informative website. anon

HS sophomore looking for summer program in Central America

Feb 2007

I have daughter who is a sophmore at Berkeley High School. She is looking for a fun, well organized resident summer program for a couple weeks. She's in Spanish at school, so maybe a program in central america, or a program with a focus on community service. Any ideas? laura


hi, you could contact ''seeds of learning'' -- they have GREAT programs. their website is http://www.seedsoflearning.org/ i've known their director, annie bacon, since she was a middle schooler, and she is terrific. leela
My son spent 4 weeks in costa Rica last summer with a program called Global Routes. His experience was '' life altering'' , he felt. Global Routes is both a cultural exchange program along with communithy service. He went with 18 other teens from around the country . They spent a week orienting and going to the cloud forest and volcano and then headed to a small village where he lived with a family for 2 weeks. At the village they built a commuity kitchen and worked hard. He loved his homestay and really getitng to know the Costa Rican family he lived with. His spanish improved alot over the course of the time he spent there. The last 5 days they went to the coast and went river rafting and vacationed. I highly recommend Global Routes to any teen interested in experiencing another culture with community service and language. They have been around for 30 years and REALLY know what they are doing! www.globalroutes.com for more info most of the kids were between their sophmore and junior year but a few were after their junior year and 1 was before his sophmore year- to give you an idea of ages.
parent of teen

Summer abroad recommendation for 15-year-old

Feb 2007

My 15 year old would like to participate in a program abroad this summer where she can use her spanish and French language skills. She's never done this before so would like to be with a group, maybe with a family, work, volunteer etc...She is very resourceful, talented and has much to contribute. Safety is my main concern. I saw a question about AFS on teens network. What does it stand for? thanks, mona


AFS stands for the American Field Service. My parents were very involved with AFS in Southern California thirty years ago. We made lifelong friends with families in England, Austria, Germany, Italy and Belgium because of AFS.

AFS sends students for either a summer or a school year. Unless they've changed things, they do NOT take a student's language preference into account. My brothers both studied German, and spent a year in Italy and Flemish- speaking Belgium, respectively. But it opened worlds to them. One brother came back to major in Engineering and Italian.

Under the best circumstance, AFS interviews both the host families and the students, and matches them pretty well. The student may share a bedroom with a child of the same gender, and goes to school in a school where there is an AFS Club so that they meet other interesting students. The local AFS organization is supposed to organize activities and weekends away in other communities, to see more of the country.

In the worst situation, the student finds themself in a family with no experience with teens, no teen children, no interests in common, and placed in low level classes at school with no support at all. If it's not a good match, the local AFS club is supposed to help them find another home.

Two of my family's AFS students have stayed members of our family. One would have been much happier in another family, and bailed halfway through the year. A friend of mine spent her AFS summer on an island in Sweden on a farm with no one but the family to talk with. Not so great. good luck


AFS stands for American Field Service, and was actually started 90 years ago by volunteer WWI ambulance drivers. Like the Experiment in International Living it is an old and established program which had the mission of encouraging understanding between people of different cultures with the goal of making the world a better and safer place. I've included the URL below, I have no idea about how the current programs are administered, or how students are selected.

Like others who have posted here, I was an AFS student in Switzerland in the Summer of 1974. My sister went to Finland in Summer 1970. We both had wonderful experiences both with our student groups and host families. It would seem there is more control now over where you go and whether you speak the language. In the '70s you agreed to go wherever they sent you. http://www.afs.org/AFSI/
Heather


AFS, which stands for Amercian Fields Service, began providing opportunities for high school kids to experience other cultures after WW II in the hopes that increasing cultural understanding would promote peace. The organization is extremely well organized and offers programs in 50 different countries. The Bay Area has a very active chapter. I spent my junior year in Brazil through AFS (many years ago) and it was a life-changing experience! I hope that my now 11-year old will have a similar opportunity in a few years. Check out their website http://www.afs.org/AFSI/
Kim
I would highly recommend Visions Service Adventures for your daughter looking to spend the summer overseas practicing her language. My daughter went to Guadeloupe for a month last year with the program. The 25 teens worked about 6 hours a day, weekdays, volunteering in various capacities in a remote part of the islands. The people in the area spoke only french so the kids were forced to use thier language skills. The kids also spent time hiking, snorkeling, sailing etc in the afternoons and on weekends. My daughter had a fabulous time! The program was well organized and the kids well supervised. Visions offers programs in spanish speaking destinations as well. aappert

Teen Summer Travel for Spanish learning and service

Nov 2006

I have a son who will turn 16 this spring. We are interested in an abroad teen travel experience that could include language study (Spanish), community service, adventure and fun. If any of you have had a child recently complete such a program, we would be very grateful to learn more about it. He is interested in going to Spain or Latin America. Thanks! Martha


Good for you & your son that you all are considering this type of experience for him. International travel & service work are among the finest ways to for a teen to grow. I have two recommendations. The first is Amigos de las Americas, a highly regarded Latin America service/study program.

Second, my children (ages 8, 11, 13 & niece 14) and I went to Ayacucho, Peru last summer with Cross Cultural Solutions. We did service work, some Spanish study, and there were weekend travel/adventure opportunities. The volunteer group included several high school students who were on their own on the program. I think they had good experiences with CCS--we certainly did. All of us really liked living and working in Peru. CCS does a good job--I would feel confident sending my kids on their own with CCS when they are old enough.

CCS has programs in many countries; in Latin America, they are in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Peru and Brazil.

www.crossculturalsolutions.org.

I'd be glad to answer other questions. Anne


Cultural Homestay International

March 2002

Has anyone heard of the Cultural Homestay International organization that arranges language classes/homestays overseas? We too are looking for reputable summer language programs.


Reply to the request for information on Cultural Homestay International:

I am the director of Language Studies International, an ESL language school in Berkeley and we deal with Cultural Homestay International. They are a very reputable organization which arranges for short and long term school/cultural stays both here and abroad as well as work experience programs. (We provide the ESL teaching portion of the programs for their adult students who then are placed in work experience programs all over the USA). Their head office is in San Anselmo and their director is Gayle Emson 415 459 5397 ex 125.

We have 18 language schools and programs around the world offering language and host accommodation all year (www.lsi.edu)... our school in Frankfurt organizes and sends European high school students to the USA for 1 semester or one academic year through Cultural Homestay International and they have been very pleased;

If you wish more info on CHI (or LSI), feel free to contact me at 841 4695.

Helen


Natural History Adventures

This is a summer program run by Mare Staten, who is a teacher in Albany, and who has run both summer camps and travel programs for many years. She has a deep respect and enthusiasm for kids, nature, and travel. Our readers would benefit to know about these programs. Lili (Feb 2000)
Family Adventures to Costa Rica and Galapagos! I am an Albany teacher and parent who coordinates Natural History Adventures in the summer time. These trips are ideal for families with kids over the age of 12. From July 18-28, we will be exploring Costa Rica, and from July 31-August 10, we will delve into the wonders of the Enchanted Galapagos Islands. Please contact me for further information. (March 2000)

University-sponsored Travel

Several campuses of UC offer study abroad programs open to older teens. I have the 1998 catalogs. UC Davis offered programs in Rome, Nice, London. UC Irvine offered one in Cambridge. They study literature, history, art, etc. I am sure other colleges have similar offerings. Try summer-sessions.ucdavis.edu or http://www.summer.uci.edu/summer/ Duke has several international programs for kids in 10th, 11th and 12th grades. Try www.tip.duke.edu or call 919/683-1725 -- Sunsol (Jan 2000)
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