My daughter and I are considering this organization for a short Spanish immersion experience for her. I’ve read good reviews, but I’d also like to hear feedback from anyone on CC who has used the program (or knows someone who has). Thank you!
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Anyone heard of it?
I have not heard of it, but here are a few things to check out:
- will she live with a local family that has hosted before? These two factors are important.
- American programs tend to cater to, well, Americans, and if this is one of them, odds are your daughter will end up hanging out with other Americans. Nothing wrong with that, but it WON’T be an immersion program as she’ll fall back on English. For that reason, I think European programs are better. At least she’ll be exposed to other Europeans.
- will there be an academic component? If so is it taught entirely in Spanish?
- small town or big city? It’s much easier to fall into speaking English in the latter
Do not expect a miracle after a “short” program. For the vast majority of people it takes at least a year to gain a level of fluency. For many of them, a lot longer than a year. Short programs are pleasant and you’ll certainly improve some of your language skills. But your daughter will return far from fluent.
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Thanks for the response, @katliamom!
I’m not expecting anything close to fluency (or a miracle), just a short dip into a Spanish-speaking environment, just to give her an idea what that’s like (and to maybe inspire her to gear up her game for AP Spanish senior year). Her Spanish classes are woefully inadequate compared to what I had in high school and this program includes four hours of conversation classes per day with native speakers to give her a taste of what “real” spanish is like, though she won’t have time to master much of anything. We can opt for her to be the only student with her host family so she will have more of an immersion situation) even if short term.
I have an idea what becoming conversant would take… as a teen I went on a six-week homestay in Spain (after three years of high school Spanish) and one in Denmark (after a two-week Danish crash course in Vermont) and did two extended tours of Peace Corps (one in Paraguay for three years). I’ve also volunteered for AFS in the U.S. It’s just part of my life experience and value system to nudge my daughter out in the world, if on a limited scale.
In my Spanish homestay eons ago there was no academic component at all but it WAS a total-immersion situation. I spent 24/7 with my host family (as the only student with that family) and only occasionally bumped into others from my American group. I’ve noticed (whether because of safety expectations of parents, to keep kids happy, or to keep them off their phones) programs these days tend to have a lot more structure, hand-holding and daily group activities with other American kids.
On the other hand, without this structure, my cautious homebody kid probably wouldn’t brave a program like this at all. I’ve traveled with her to South America and other places but she “hides” behind my fluency. I wouldn’t force the issue but she recently initiated some level of enthusiasm for doing a program on her own so I’m looking into it. She can’t go for long (maybe three weeks) because she has a full month of all-day band camp and does need a little summer down time before the exhausting college application season begins. It’s just…we live in a provincial, conservative small American town, and anything to get her out of that bubble for a bit and try her hand at practicing F.L is a good thing (in my book).
So I’m trying to find out more about the quality of this particular program and wondered if anyone on CC is familiar with it. Programs I know more about are set in southern Spain and it gets so darn hot there in summer. SPI has programs on the coast of Northern Spain with more moderate temps.
Anyone else with info or opinions about thier teen’s summer-abroad program, feel free to chime in.
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I actually LIKE programs with structure, and those four hours of conversation classes sound good to me; I also like programs with home stay. So these two make me think this will be a decent one.
You’re right about the hand-holding, but that’s apparently what us litigious boomers or Gen Xers want for our kids, and so programs supply it. Often reluctantly, I might add!
Also, so much depends on what the kid wants from the program. Having studied abroad, and worked in the filed, I’ve seen examples of kids making THE MOST of a program - really amping up their language skills and learning a ton. I’ve also seen many examples of the total opposite, of kids basically treating the whole experience as a luxurious extended vacation on mom and dad’s dime.
I hope you find a program you like, and that your daughter goes, and has a great experience. I sent my own daughter to Argentina for six months when she was in high school. She came back with a lot of Spanish spoken with the heaviest gringo accent you’ve ever heard. It was hard to keep a straight face: OK, so she’s got no language talent! But she also came back as a more mature, more independent internationally oriented person. Yes it was worth it.
Hello, my name is Andrew and I work with a high school study abroad company called Abbey Road Programs. We run 2-4 week summer Spanish immersion programs in Barcelona and Cadiz. Both Abbey Road and SPI run high quality and safe summer programs for teens. I would strongly encourage you to check us out if you have not done so already to compare and find the right program for your child. Our program in Cadiz is a home-stay and in Barcelona, students live in a student apartment complex. Happy New Year and good luck in your search!
Thank you, Andrew, I’ll check it out!
Have you made any decisions yet? I had a scheduled call with SPI and they never called me today and I couldn’t then reach anyone when I tried to call them which concerns me. I really like what I have read about Sol Abroad in Granada and also had a great call with them but I am not sure yet which program my daughter will do. Would love any additional help in this decision!
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@ehs2298 my D decided in the end that she doesn’t want to do it…would rather travel with me. But I got a voicemail about a week ago from someone at SPI saying that their deadline to register was coming up. I think it passed already, unfortunately. Good luck with your plans!
Years ago I spent two summers with The Experiment in INternational Living. You don’t hear so much about it these days but it’s a very old, established organization, maybe worth looking into…
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@inthegarden we have decided to do the sol abroad program in Granada and are about to sign up. We think the program looks great, her high school will give her dual-enrolled credit and the price is much better than other options. No doubt all the programs give an amazing experience. I went on a program with AIFS as a teen and loved it. Thanks so much for your response.
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