MeganW Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Satori commented about how she did summer language camp as a child. I would love to learn more about this. - best age? (obviously I am not thinking for this summer - I am just thinking ahead!) - required level of language proficiency to attend? - are they normal camps doing fun camp stuff like arts and crafts just in a different language? or is it mini-school? - best programs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted April 15, 2011 Share Posted April 15, 2011 Someone PM'd me about the language camps, so I thought I'd just post here and then refer her to this thread. :) I am only familiar with the Concordia Language Villages speckled over northern Minnesota. The summer camps are for ages 7-18, but they do have PreK and Day camps from ages 2-6. I attended Japanese and Spanish in my high school years. I recently discovered they do one-week family weeks, which I plan to take advantage of, as I'd love to go back! :) Even if you don't attend a family camp, they have a huge multi-cultural festival in the German village in which family is invited. At least they did when I went. This is an immersion camp experience, so any English books/music will get "confiscated" during customs. You exchange your American dollars for pesos or yen (or other monetary units). You'll be only hearing, talking and eating in that culture during your stay. They won't pass you your gohan unless you can say it, so you learn your foods really quickly, hehe. Here's a typical day's schedule at the Japanese Camp (which was my favorite). I remember classes on karate, judo, tea ceremony, calligraphy and sumi-e (ink painting), kimono (putting one on), dancing, and of course language. Here's a typical day for the Spanish camp. I just went for a few weeks, but they do have high school credit courses where you'd learn more. I didn't come away fluent in Japanese, but I loved the experience! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeganW Posted April 16, 2011 Author Share Posted April 16, 2011 Thanks!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristenR Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 How neat!! Thanks for the link. Definitely something to keep in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristinannie Posted April 16, 2011 Share Posted April 16, 2011 That sounds really neat! TFS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariston Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I looked into those camps a while back but was turned off when I looked at their requirements for who they hire. It looks like they just hire American college students who are studying that language. I don't feel like that's a huge improvement over my kids just being at home with me (a second gen. speaker). I would love it if they only hired native speakers. What was your impression of the proficiency of the counselors? TIA! ELena Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HistoryMom Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 I went the the Norwegian and German camps as a kid, from age 11 to 14. Loved it! Got high school credit and had a great time. The counselors we had were all natives and fluent American foreign language teachers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 The counselors I had at Concordia Language Villages for both Japanese and Spanish camps were not inexperienced college kids. They were mostly native speakers or quite experienced and passionate teachers. It could be different now - I attended more than 20 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariston Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 That is great to know, thank you! (Or maybe it is not great to know, as now I am tempted to spend mucho dinero to send the kids there...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosie_0801 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 That is great to know, thank you! (Or maybe it is not great to know, as now I am tempted to spend mucho dinero to send the kids there...) Think of those poor language starved children in Australia and eat your vegetables. Uh, I mean go to your language camp. :tongue_smilie: Rosie (WISHING we had such things here, but I can't find evidence of any.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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