Foreign Travel, Service & Exchange Programs
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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
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
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
Feb 2006
I have a 15 yo son who is interested in a summer program abroad
( preferably Spain or Costa Rica). He has 3 yrs of high school
spanish. I was wondering if anyone has any recomendations. He
has never spent an extended time away from home so this would
be his first experience. I am particularly interested in what
homestays were like and also what the adult supervision was like.
I know many of these programs are quite expensive - does anyone
know if financial aid is available.
Thanks
My daughter went to Spain with ECI-Edu-Culture International and she had a
terrific time...see their website at www.educulture.org. It was 4 weeks in
Spain with 3 weeks of Spanish language study in Granada (mornings) with
activities and additional travel/stay options.
Linda
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.
MAREJOYS@aol.com
(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)
Amigos
It is too late for your child to go this summer, but next fall you
might want to think about sending your child to Amigos next summer,
an international program for high school and college kids that sends
them to Latin America to do community service. From Amigos:
"Volunteer to spend your summer providing public health services to
our neighbors in Latin America. Young people from the US develop
leadership skills and an understanding of other cultures while
participating in this unique program". My 17 year old daughter is
going to Paraguay this summer. Amigos is very intensive and requires
a lot of work throughout the year before your child goes away. You
can get more information about Amigos at this web site:
www.amigoslink.org
(April 2000)
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