<p>My younger daughter (high school sophomore) would like to live in Spain or Argentina for at least a semester during her senior year. Do any of you have recommendations for excellent programs (i.e. safe! They really screen the host family, or provide safe dorms, etc.) to look into? Thanks.</p>
<p>School Year Abroad (run out of Phillips Academy, Andover). Pricey but first rate.</p>
<p>my daughters school has reps come from this program & I have heard good things about it
<a href="http://www.worldlearning.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.worldlearning.org/</a></p>
<p>im applying to rotary for my senior year... its very safe, very well-respected and pretty inexpensive because your education ect. is paid for by a scholarship :-)
<a href="http://www.rotary.org/programs/youth_ex/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.rotary.org/programs/youth_ex/index.html</a></p>
<p>Take a look at Rotary, first of all they are reliable from what I've heard and are definitely cheaper than other programs, I think the do a program in Argentina but I'm not so sure about Spain. Also take a look at AFS, they are more expensive than rotary would be but I think they have a program in Spain (I know the Spanish exchange student at my school this year went through AFS)</p>
<p>My kids have gone with AFS and with YFU - these are somewhat expensive, but both organizations have very strong programs in many countries, and they certainly know what they are doing. My kids both had great host families -- my son was only in a short summer program but he was very sad when he had to leave is hosts to come home after too short of a time there; my daughter got along great with her host family, especially with her host sister- she spent a semester in Russia.</p>
<p>SYA is the way to go if you want to devote an entire year. You'll become near native at speaking your target language. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.sya.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.sya.org/</a></p>
<p>It kind of depends on what you want. With SYA, students are attending a school where much of their instruction is in English -- this certainly helps them keep up with their studies. </p>
<p>With AFS/YFU and similar programs, the kids attend a local high school, where instruction is all in the language of the host country, except for the English class -- which of course is instruction in English as a foreign language. Their classmates are local kids. </p>
<p>It is true that there is very little subject-learning going on -- my daughter was very lucky if she could get a general idea of what was being discussed in class, and it was a struggle to try to make a dent in the work, much less keep up. But to me, that is the experience that I think created the most growth for her -- it challenged her and stretched her far beyond what she was before. It also forced her to socialize with the local kids. She realized when there was a week's break from school that she learned more of the language through socializing than from sitting in class. </p>
<p>AFS/YFU and similar programs offer true cultural and language immersion with a semester/year abroad, but very little in the way of hand-holding. Generally, the kids are on their own -- there may be a handful of other students placed in the same city, but if so, they are often assigned to different schools and contact is limited. It is not easy, but at least for my daughter it was definitely a life-changing experience.</p>
<p>My son attends Wooster School in Danbury CT. They offer a year abroad program to either France or Spain, generally for sophomores.</p>
<p>My son was offered the opportunity to go as a freshman, but we decided to wait for sophomore year. It's a total immersion program -- living with a host family and attending local school. Wooster welcomes students from other schools to be part of this program. The program is similar to what Calmom describes above. We've blocked out my son's academic program for 4 years including the year abroad so that he will meet all graduation and college admission requirements -- including Algebra II in two summer components but that's another thread!</p>
<p>I second calmom's endorsement of YFU.</p>
<p>My daughter spent an amazing eight weeks in Japan between her junior and senior years of high school. She had a fair amount of Japanese before she went which was fortunate since she ended up in a suburb with no English speakers for miles and miles. Like calmom's daughter, mine also attended high school there and wasn't able to follow all that was going on in class, but socially she soared and made many friends that she still writes to regularly. Her conversation skills noticably improved, too.</p>
<p>Even on these short programs, YFU discourages a lot of contact from home and in retrospect I think that was wise, though at the time I found it VERY difficult. She made life long friends and cried her eyes out when it was time to leave her host family.</p>
<p>One really good thing about YFU is the availability of scholarships, need AND merit based. My daughter went on a full merit scholarship - all we did was provide her with some spending money (she came back with all of it, too - her host family was extremely generous).</p>
<p>She came back with a confidence she didn't have before. It was wonderful preparation for the transition to college life and living away from home.</p>
<p>My D spent a semester in Argentina with GicArg -- here's their website -- <a href="http://www.gicarg.com%5B/url%5D">http://www.gicarg.com</a>.</p>
<p>Cheaper than most US-based programs (total price was about $5K including airfare & spending money). She lived with a couple in Buenos Aires, went to a tiny private h.s., and traveled quite a bit. It was a life-changing experience: she came back confident, self-reliant and fluent in Spanish (well, almost...)</p>
<p>I want to note that YFU and AFS scholarships are generally available for only some countries -- Germany and Japan are the countries with the most scholarships, although AFS did also send a group of students to Egypt this summer, all on scholarship. (I posted the AFS announcement a few months ago on CC - and at least one CC kid responded and was accepted to the program). </p>
<p>The family contact thing is variable - my son had almost no contact with me during his time in Thailand, but technology has intervened, and my daughter spent her semester in Russia with a cell phone and text messaging capabilities - and so we had contact on a daily basis. While my d. was in Russia, starting with the day she arrived, there were several horrific and well-publicized acts of terrorism - so basically, we ended up with very regular contact. With cell phones and the internet, it is possible for kids to be on the other side of the globe and for there to be instantaneous communication about almost anything. My d. did not have internet access from her host family's home - instead, she would go to an internet cafe once a week -- but my d. now is in China for a brief homestay, where she does have internet access - and she is taking care of business as usual.</p>
<p>Calmom incorrectly stated: "With SYA, students are attending a school where much of their instruction is in English..."</p>
<p>Clarification: SYA France conducts all classes in French with French instructors except for English and Math. All other classes are in French, and students take noontime meals at one of two local lycee with French studetns.</p>
<p>I believe this pattern of majority target langague classes applies to other SYA sites.</p>
<p>Our D returned from SYA fluent, happy and in love with France. Highly recommended.</p>
<p>I think Calmom might have been referring to the Italian or Chinese programs, which don't require previous study of the language and thus I assume it is not always used in a classroom setting. Either way, SYA is phenomenal and will get you near native in the language you choose to study. My father did the France program and still gets French people asking him what part of France he's from because his accent is so good. All because of SYA.</p>
<p>Slightly off topic, but I thought I would post here: AFS is looking for host families in the US for the coming school year; they also need short-term families for hosting for a period of one week to one month, while permanent hosting spots are found. Basically they have more students coming than spots for them right now, and it is very important that they have at least a tempory spot for everyone. This would be to host students age 15-18 from all over the world. If you have room, hosting an exchange student is a great idea, and it also is a nice way to help fill an empty spot in the nest if you have a student going off to college this year. </p>
<p>Anyone interested should send me a PM and also tell me where you are located (city, state) and I will put you in touch with the right people at AFS to make it happen.</p>
<p>Follow up to my previous post -- I contacted AFS for more information that I could post here, and here is what they sent me:
[quote]
AFS Seeks Area Families to Host Exchange Students and Teachers</p>
<p>Each year, AFS Intercultural Programs exchanges more than 11,000 young people from throughout the world. 2006 has been designated as the 'Year of Study Abroad' by the U.S. Senate, and this year, AFS-USA will welcome more than 2,800 high school students and teachers from approximately 50 countries to the United States. Most students will study for 11 months in high schools while being hosted by families who are eager to share their homes and lives with these outstanding young people. AFS Visiting Teachers will volunteer in U.S. schools to work with educators and their students, and will also live with host families while participating in school and community life.</p>
<p>AFS is currently seeking families who are interested in learning more about how to become a host family. AFS also needs volunteers and liaisons to help ensure that families, schools, and students receive the support they need to make this a wonderful experience for all. AFS (formerly the American Field Service) is a worldwide, nonprofit organization that has been leading international high school student exchange for more than 58 years. Host families and students receive the support of community-based AFS volunteers throughout the students' stay in the U.S.</p>
<p>Families are asked to include their international students in their daily lives, to provide a bed and meals, and to give their hosted students the same kind of support they would give to their own family members. AFS Students come with their own spending money and secondary medical coverage. </p>
<p>Individuals are also needed to be AFS 'aunts' and 'uncles' to share special times with students. There is a wide range of volunteer positions available as well, such as liaisons who meet monthly with students and their host families, helping with community events, and making high school presentations. Taking part in AFS' mission of improving international understanding is something American families can do for themselves, their communities, and the world. For more information about AFS programs abroad, hosting, or volunteering, please call 1-800-AFS-INFO or visit <a href="http://www.afs.org/usa%5B/url%5D">www.afs.org/usa</a>
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Just curiouse. How about the people from other country want to stay in US in high school ?</p>
<p>EIL experiment in international living is fantastic.</p>