<p>My D went to a two week Spanish immersion program at Concordia last summer and had a great time but doesn't wish to return this summer. We're trying to find an immersion program that runs 3-4 weeks in Latin or South America (preferably) or Spain. If possible, she'd prefer the housing to be in some type of residence with other students or, if a home stay, one in which she's with another student (she's not all that comfortable with the idea of being the only guest in someone's home for several weeks). I checked the summer programs forum but much of it is a bit dated and I'd really love to hear from other parents.</p>
<p>The only program that was mentioned positively several times is Spanish Through Leadership in Nicaragua which we will look into--would love either feedback about this program or any other you may be familiar with.</p>
<p>There was a thread on this topic just a few weeks ago in the Summer Programs forum. Check out Casa Xelaju in Guatemala. My D went for 3 weeks and had a great time–nice homestay experience, good instructors, some volunteer opportunities in the community. She learned a lot of Spanish. The price seemed reasonable, though I forget what it was exactly. My D went with a group from her school, but said older kids and adults come by themselves for varying lengths of time.</p>
<p>Thank you Jingle. I believe I did see that thread and I did note the option in Guatemala. I think I just became a little overwhelmed and the majority of the options were rather dated. My hesitancy about a program in Guatemala is that my SIL is Guatemalan and said that it has become incredibly unsafe there; she won’t go back with my brother and her kids because she believes it is too dangerous. Can you comment about safety–was this a concern at all?</p>
<p>I don’t know how comfortable you or your daughter would be with this, but there are plenty of Spanish schools in countries like Nicaragua and Costa Rica that will organize a homestay for you, and they are very cheap. Here is one: matagalpa. info/ EN/home_eem. php
(without spaces.) Nicaragua is a very safe country, and people are really friendly and helpful. PM me if you want to know more about my experiences in Central America.</p>
<p>i don’t have any experience with this, but it looks interesting. It is a summer program held at a Spanish boarding school. The majority of the campers are there to learn English, but they also have a Spanish language program. I found this through St Louis University.</p>
<p>My S went to this program in Costa Rica for two weeks: CPI, [Learn</a> Spanish in Costa Rica–Study at the CPI Spanish Language School](<a href=“http://www.cpi-edu.com/]Learn”>http://www.cpi-edu.com/). He went to the Heredia campus. You can sign up in 1-week increments to get as long a stay as you want. We chose this program after a friend went a couple of times and had a wonderful experience.</p>
<p>A home stay is an important part of the experience, though. Students can request what kind of living situation they would like - a family with kids, or just adults. My S asked for kids, and he got a single mom, but that was misleading - her house was part of a kind of family compound where people shared patio spaces and had family dinners together. His host (his “Mama Tica”) was very nice and spoke no English, so all his communication at home had to be in Spanish. This was really helpful to him, and if he had had other English speakers around (like other students), he probably would not have learned nearly as much Spanish.</p>
<p>My DD went to a 4.5 weeks summer program in 2007 to Granada in Spain with AYUSA.org. She spent 4 weeks taking 4hr classes/day and 1to 2hr of cultural activities in the afternoon. On weekends they had excursions to the beach, mountains and of course the beautiful Alhambra. The last 3 days they traveled to Toledo and Madrid. She lived with a Senhora in a 2 floor apartment, there were 8 bedrooms and about 8 to 13 students (most Americans).</p>
<p>My DS went to a 4 weeks summer program in 2008 to Salamanca in Spain with Enforex.com. He also had 4hr classes everyday and lived with a Senhora and 5 other students (all Americans), he also had excursions on weekend.</p>
<p>The main difference between both programs besides the price (AYUSA more expensive). AYUSA includes the air ticket on its price and a group of students traveled together from Washington DC. Enforex, we bought his tickets and chose which week we wanted him to start and end the program (usually 1 to 5 weeks), he traveled alone to Madrid where they picked him up at the airport.</p>
<p>Both programs did what they promised and fortunately we had no sickness or misfortune. Both programs provided a more relaxed type of supervision; the students are allowed to rambled through the city until 1am. However both cities are known to be very safe. Granada is a more lively city than Salamanca but both are full of students during the summer months.</p>
<p>DS and DD felt that they improved their Spanish speaking skills, and both said they would do it again.</p>
<p>My daughter really enjoyed the Nicaragua Summer Exchange, a strong part of the program is attending the local high school on a daily basis. Granada is a great community for high school students as there are four high schools close to the central plaza. Its not for everybody though, she really did have to use Spanish!</p>
<p>I gather that some parts of Guatemala are much safer than others. There’s apparently a lot of crime in Antigua. The town in which Casa Xelaju is located, Quetzaltenango (also called Xela) is in the mountainous area. The crime rate there, when I checked the program out in 2009 before enrolling my daughter, was no higher than in our small US city. </p>
<p>It IS a developing-county environment; you can’t drink water from the faucet, and the host family’s bathing facilities were fairly primitive. We’d travelled previously with our kids in Mexico, staying in hostels, and my D thought this experience helped her adapt easily to her homestay situation. Some of her friends had never been outside their upper-middle-class American bubble before, and found this stuff harder to deal with.</p>
<p>My D studied 4 weeks in Heredia, Costa Rica this past summer. She went with The trip was organized by LPI out of Texas. They were wonderful to work with. We didn’t know anything about them, just found them on the web. She took classes at the University and then did community service for 2 weeks. It was a wonderful experience for her. They have programs for HS and college groups. Home-stay with roommates. Home-stay mom has been doing it for years. I would highly recommend this company for abroad trips!</p>