<p>Thank you to everyone for the input. It is good to get the perspective of folks on the board. Most of my friends (some who know the woman) are telling us that this is a great opportunity for her (and that there can be issues with families in programs that we might not have in this case)…but they aren’t thinking about all of the issues. I really value the opinions here and will let you know what transpires.</p>
<p>Very interesting topic for me; beginning to think about options for a DD a couple of years behind those here. And, yes, rather skittish for her safety. That has to come first.</p>
<p>@MaineLonghorn, I’d love to hear how it turned out for your DD! Dying for details here. What did she think of the experience, how did the academics/grading situation turn out, how hard will it be to make up for the time missed at her current school, would she do it again? Letting her go for a whole semester away is going to be a tough sell to my spouse!!</p>
<p>@ReadyToRoll - What did you decide to do?</p>
<p>Any others want to chime in on ideas? Ours is well on the way to fluency, but needs practical exposure, plus definitely needs more formal skills on grammar, reading and writing. Her school is teaching this, but painfully slowly…wasting more time on the students that don’t want to learn rather than teaching those that do. Sorely tempted to do MMLA, but have had mixed reports on that, and for that kind of money, it better be amazing. DD is more than willing to do total immersion and needs a serious program, not just a bunch of kids chattering in English in the dorms or getting into mischief.</p>
<p>@ReadyToRoll In the mean-time have her try out i-Talki. My kids are making huge progress in Chinese and Japanese speaking live-time over video chat using the paid teachers. You can also go a free route if you exchange language learning. <a href=“Learn Spanish online: Best lauguage resources for effective learning”>http://www.italki.com/learn-spanish/en-us</a></p>
<p>@24daffodils, DD had an absolutely incredible semester. She loved Cadiz and she made lots of friends. Her Spanish improved greatly - her teacher here in Maine just met with her and said she speaks “beautifully.”</p>
<p>Her grades in everything but math were excellent. Math is her hardest subject, and she got the equivalent of a C in it. But our high school has a math lab during the summer, and she is getting up to speed pretty quickly. She will meet with the guidance counselor in a couple of weeks to discuss her fall classes.</p>
<p>She grew up a lot and is even more poised than when she left. I would definitely send her again if we had it to do over!</p>
<p>Her dad flew over and got to meet her host parents. Although he could only communicate with them through DD, he was very impressed with them. He said it was obvious they cared for her as if she were their real daughter. The host father told DH that she is the hardest working young person he has met! After that visit, DH and DD drove all the way up the coast to Barcelona. They saw so many beautiful places! At a concert in Barcelona, she ran into another American student who went over with the same exchange program!</p>
<p>I could go on and on! I can’t recommend CIEE highly enough. Excellent organization. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!</p>
<p>I know that a lot of people probably won’t like this idea, but have her get a job in fast food. My daughter has been working at McDonald’s since her freshman year of high school and her Spanish is excellent. She had two years of Spanish and absolutely hated it, and barely made it through with a C. She went on a volunteer trip to Honduras last summer, and she ended up being the interpreter for the group. Some of the other kids on the trip had Spanish 4 and AP Spanish, and they could barely communicate. Being forced to speak the language every day really improves your language skills. </p>
<p>Come to Washington state in the summer and pick cherries.</p>
<p>Good ideas, everyone, on how to improve verbal skills. The McDonald’s suggestion is actually quite a good one.</p>
<p>To consider DD truly fluent, getting skilled at reading and writing is key for us as well.</p>
<p>@MaineLonghorn Were your DD’s classes in Spanish, so all her homework was in Spanish as well, and so her reading and writing in Spanish improved too? Did Cardiz seem safe for a young girl? Did you have any way of knowing the family she would be placed with, or was this a leap of faith? Basically, I’m all ears on anything you can share. So glad it was a great experience for your DD!</p>
<p>The State Department does not recommend travel to Mexico especially for students in non-certified programs.
I don’t think she’ll be allowed to travel by herself.
I have family in Mexico and even they don’t recommend travel for us.<br>
I think it is extremely risky and dangerous to send a young girl, by herself, to an unknown land with no protection or backing from any agency.<br>
She’s your daughter, think about it. </p>
<p>I also would hesitate to send my teenaged D to Mexico alone to stay with a family that I really didn’t know. They may be perfectly lovely people, but all sorts of issues could come up. Safety is a biggie. Outside of maybe Monterrey, Mexico is not particularly safe for a young girl by herself and, not knowing the situation, you can’t guarantee that she will be chaperoned well. Also, it might be pretty isolating for your D. </p>
<p>That being said, my kids have travelled extensively on their own and stayed with host families (in India, Norway and Italy) but these families were vetted by an organization. I liked knowing that if anything happened, there was an organization on the ground to help out. And my kids knew that they could contact their advisor and get help immediately. In Italy, my D did not get along with her host sister, but thanks to the organization, she knew other exchange students in the same town and was able to hang out with them and their host families. </p>
<p>Thanks so much for all of the suggestions everyone! We decided not to send DD on the trip to Nicaragua we had been considering at first - we got some feedback from local Hispanic friends that the area was not the safest so that pretty much made the decision right there for that - and then we were reluctant to send her to Mexico without a supervised program in place. DD is working this summer (not in a place where Spanish is spoken, unfortunately!) so a way to address her interest is still unresolved.</p>
<p>@Mainelonghorn which program did you daughter do? Sorry if I missed it but would love to know the name.</p>