Foreign Travel, Service & Exchange Programs
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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
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
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
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
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
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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