Three Ways Immersion Develops Language

My classmates and I in Madrid, Spain.

On my first day of Spanish class in Madrid, my fellow students and I came prepared with pens and notebooks. When my professor arrived, the first piece of instruction she gave us was to put our materials away. She said,

“The only thing we will be using today are our eyes, ears, and mouths.”

The feeling of panic was palpable in the room. None of us were accustomed to language classes that placed an emphasis on speaking. Although I learned so much about vocabulary and grammar in my high school and college Spanish courses, they didn’t do much to improve my speaking skills.

Total Immersion Keeps You on Your Toes

She proceeded to address the students randomly, asking them questions about what they like and dislike about Spain. She often used colloquial Spanish terms, which was a refreshing yet difficult departure from my classes in the States. The majority of us struggled with formulating sentences on the spot, but were able to answer her after a moment of reflection. When she addressed my friend and I, we looked at each other and immediately froze. With the combination of her unfamiliar accent and use of vosotros, we were at a loss for words.

The Freedom to Make Mistakes

After some laughs from the class, my natural instinct was to open up my notebook and look for the correct answer. In that moment, I realized that this exact situation is what I hoped to experience when I enrolled in the study abroad program.

I wanted to be linguistically challenged. Although I was grateful for the ability to decently express myself through written Spanish, it is not nearly as useful as speaking the language. I knew I would have to speak Spanish whenever entering a store or restaurant, so what better way to practice than in a classroom setting?

Language exchanges are a great way for students to practice Spanish in a casual, real-life setting.

Consistency Creates Confidence

I embraced the moment and answered my professor’s questions to the best of my ability. Later, I completed a difficult speaking exercise with my classmates. The more we practiced speaking, the easier it became Although the 6-week course was challenging, I gained so much clarity and confidence with the language. During my program, I attended numerous intercambios, or language exchanges with Madrileños seeking to learn English.

Each day in Madrid, I made a conscious effort to use Spanish whenever possible that helped strengthen and reinforce knowledge from my classes. During my fifth week in Spain, I finally felt comfortable using the vosotros tense and began to overcome my fear of making mistakes. After this valuable experience, I have full confidence that total immersion is the best way to fully develop speaking skills in the language.

Have you ever wanted to strengthen your Spanish speaking abilities and connect with another culture?

We offer 80 hours of intensive Spanish classes to any student who participates in our study abroad program in Lima, Peru. Check out our study abroad page to learn more!

Three Life Lessons Learned Through Travel

Author Joe Meringolo, Director of Program Development, leads a group reflection in Madrid’s Parque Oeste (West Park).

Whether we’re students or teachers, our knowledge of both content and beliefs gets tested when we go abroad. As we step into the unknown and travel, we begin to understand more about other cultures, but at the same time, we start to process and gain more insight into our own individual personality and values.  

When we immerse ourselves in another culture we learn a lot about that culture. In that time abroad, we may learn even more about ourselves. 

Here are three life lessons that we have the opportunity to learn through travel:

1. Perfection Doesn’t Mean Perfect

All trip itineraries can look and seem flawless. Although there are always challenges, a few bumps in the road doesn’t ruin the entire journey. 

At some point, you’ll be tired, hungry, thirsty, or all of the above as you get over jet lag. You’re probably shattering your normal routine with increased amounts of exercise, eating new foods, and you’re spending more time with a lot of people who you may or may not know well. 

Whatever obstacle you face in the moment, you’ll look at your trip with fond memories and these small expected changes will fade away.  

2. Sometimes We Need Perspective 

In school, sometimes we think that one exam or one project is going to dictate the outcome of our lives and we get anxious and nervous about the future based on the short term. 

Along those same lines with travel, we can get nervous or frustrated thinking that a delay or unexpected change will ruin the trip. In both cases, we have to step back and look at what’s important on a larger scale.

When we have the perspective and ability to have to step back and look at any experience on a more macro level, we realize that the strength of overall mentality controls the outcome. One rainy day doesn’t ruin an entire trip the same way that one exam or project doesn’t destroy our academic careers. 

In fact, sometimes it’s when we need to improvise that we learn the most about ourselves and the people around us. 

3. Your Perspective Means More Than Right or Wrong

As all of us have gone through school, or to continue to be involved in the academic world as students or teachers, we’re constantly trying to answer questions or solve problems that may or may not have clear answers. As we continue through life, we realize that right and wrong depends on our perspective as much as it does on the answer itself. 

Our visit to Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum that explored themes, such as reality and perception.

We have to embrace activities that pull us toward love or hate, yes or no, etc and look at how and why we feel the way that we do toward these activities. Whether we do museum visits or hiking, all of us either fall into the camps of “like” or “don’t like” but it’s understanding our reasoning that helps us grow to become stronger and more empathic individuals. 

At EdOdyssey, we consider ourselves both teachers and students. We want to help you gain your own life lessons.  What does travel mean for you now and how do you think it’ll continue to adapt and change as you continue to grow as a person? 

We enjoy asking these questions and learning about teachers want their students to gain from an experience abroad. If you want to learn more about how you can have a life-changing experience with your students, we encourage you to start planning your trip today with us!

Four Keys For Having The Best Homestay Experience

During study abroad, one of the places where you will spend a considerable amount of time is at your homestay. In order for your experience to be as amazing as possible, it is also important that your homestay experience is an amazing one too.  

Living abroad can be difficult at first, but making a positive connection to your homestay can impact your experience for the better.

From my personal experience in Lima, after having done a homestay through EdOdyssey, here are four keys for you make the most of your homestay:

1. Embracing Common Spaces

In your homestay, you should not feel like a stranger!  You should spend as much time as possible in common spaces with your host family.  Avoid locking yourself in your room all the time!

In a homestay, you are essentially becoming a member of your homestay family.  Therefore, you should want to spend time in common areas, ask your host parent or parents questions, and make conversation.

2. Creating Connections

Creating a social and natural environment in the homestay is what lended to myself enjoying every second of my homestay experience.  I would have long conversations (all in Spanish!) over meals about Peru’s history, my hosts’ lives, and life in general. It was very comforting to me that I could come back after a day of classes to a place that felt so much like home.

Your host family is always there to talk to you!  Let your host family know what is going on in your life.  This could include your plans, travel plans, or anything as personal as you so choose.  It is understandable if you want your own space sometimes, but interaction is encouraged for everyone to have a mutual understanding and respect of one another.

3. Fostering Mutual Respect

Remember that you are staying in another person’s home and you’ll have the best experience if you treat their house that way from the start.  If you had a student from another country staying at your house in the United States, how would you want them to treat your home?

It is completely fine to make yourself comfortable, but not too comfortable.  You should always ask permission if you want to have friends over the house.  It is unreasonable to expect the luxuries and services of somewhere like a hotel. Keep your spaces clean and always be respectful of the home you are living in.  

4. Finding Balance During Your Homestay

During your time abroad, you’ll enjoy your time if you strike a balance between alone time, time with your homestay, and activities outside of the home.  If you constantly are spending time by yourself or locked in your room, you’ll probably develop cabin fever and feel less connected to your new home.

At the same time, you shouldn’t spend all of your time at your homestay, as it is important to go outside and experience the city, but the time that you do spend there should be valuable.

Your homestay family is there for you with whatever you may need and EdOdyssey is there to help you if you have any questions as you get settled in your home away from home.  As you build a good and respectful relationship with your host parents, you’ll find that you’ll always have family in a new part of the world.

Seven Reasons You Can't Miss Cusco

The history of Cusco has transcended time and still lives and breathes through its people, places and animals. Centuries ago, The Incan Empire was spread throughout South America as one of the world's largest tribes and Cusco held the status as the capital of the Incas. Before the Spanish came in the 16th century, the empire covered Peru, a large part of Chile, and smaller parts of Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina.

Although Cusco is a major Peruvian city with roughly half a million people, it has held onto its identify and the Cusqueños (or people from Cusco) have held onto their past to create a present-day culture that embraces their community-first mentality.

We encourage schools to include Cusco on their itineraries because it gives a wider idea about Peruvian culture. Here are seven reasons you can’t miss out on Cusco:

Photo courtesy of Kyle Janko (Matignon HS)

1. History of Spanish Influence  

The Spanish conquest of the Incan empire in the middle of the 16th century changed the face of culture in Peru, and especially in the Incan capital. When the Spanish came to Cusco, they converted the people to Catholicism and they changed their former places of Incan worship into churches and cathedrals.

In Cusco’s main Cathedral, it has paintings that were made with European-style canvases and paints that depicted Jesus Christ. In those same pictures, they have typical aspects of Peruvian culture. For example, Jesus and his disciples have the Last Supper, but in the middle of the table, there is a guinea pig - a typical and traditional food still eaten in Cusco today.

Photo courtesy of Kyle Janko (Matignon HS)

2. Iconic Animals

When we think of animals in major cities, we normally don't consider anything other than cats and dogs but it's a different story in Cusco. The Peruvian people in the former Incan capital still allow alpacas, llamas and vicuñas in and around their most popular areas.

From ancient Incan ruins to sometimes even the city center, you can find them in the most unexpected places, including Machu Picchu. You can see people walking with these animals in Cusco and surrounding areas as a part of the community.

3. Architecture & Landscape

The awe-inspiring structures, both natural and man made, will have you wonder about these places came into existence. In past programs, we’ve enjoyed taking a short ride just outside of Cusco to Saqsaywaman to understand the ancient Incan history.

In this fortress - a name given by the Spaniards who conquered Cusco - we learn about how the Incan people created this area of worship with boulders and stones weighing tons. They took tree trunks to roll the stones into place in order to avoid erosion and to create a stable area for farming. The best way to really comprehend it is to see it!

4. Amazing Coffee

Peruvian coffee is some of the best in the world, and there's no better place to try it than Cusco. At an altitude of over 10,000 feet, the coffee beans don't break down as easy and they don't oxidize as fast so the coffee beans stay fresher for longer.

When coffee tastes bitter, it's flavor comes from an acidic coating that develops around the bean which shrinks the bean and changes the natural flavor. However, in Cusco, the coffee stays fresher for longer and you can taste the difference!

5. Artistic Influence

In Cusco, you'll find ceramics and hand made goods from local experts and professionals who have learned these ancient traditions from family members. In our programs, we like to include a visit to a ceramics workshop where we learn how to make pottery and decorate ceramics from professionals. These professionals show special techniques that have helped our students create their piece!

6. The Location

The city is located high in the mountains in the region of the Andes Mountains, one of the longest mountain ranges in the world. The location of Cusco gives great access to Machu Picchu, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The trip to Machu Picchu gives a real look at the transition from the city of Cusco, Andres mountains and finally to the surrounding jungle-like area around these famous ancient ruins. The area of Machu Picchu was actually discovered just over a hundred years ago after centuries of being hidden and closed off from the world which gives us a glimpse into the knowledge and power of the ancient architecture surrounding the ruins!

7. The Local Vibe

One of the Cusco area’s best kept secrets is hidden in the Amaru community. This tribe is located about an hour outside of Cusco city where we learn how they make traditional clothes and how they cook typical foods, such as their famous huatia potatoes.

Additionally, we learn traditional dances and get a real look into life in one of the largest tribes in Peru with over three million people!

If you’re interested in hearing more about Peru, check out our blog Understanding The Keys of Peruvian Culture to get an even more in depth look at what makes the country one of the most beautiful places in the world!

Three Benefits of Hosting Foreign Exchange Students

Has your high school hosted exchanges with other schools, or would your high school would be interested in hosting students from another country for the first time? EdOdyssey works with schools from around the world. For schools wanting to travel, we facilitate short-term immersion programs tending to last 7-10 days. For schools that want to host students from abroad, we've had students stay short term for 2-5 days and we can also arrange longer stays.

Over the last five years and counting, we’ve built strong connections/relationships between schools in the US, China, Peru, Spain and more. Our program wants to empower young people taking classroom knowledge and applying it to real world settings abroad.

At EdOdyssey, we value opening doors to new cultures through home stays with local families in conjunction with a host school to build and develop a deeper ties between local schools, their communities and visiting schools.

Why do we believe so strongly in the importance and value of immersion program exchanges between schools from different countries?

Here are three major benefits to hosting foreign students for a short-term immersion program:

1. Show The Best of Your Local Culture

The best part about people visiting is that you get to show them the highlights of your city and the surrounding area! In our daily lives, we get too busy or tied up with our day-to-day activities that we sometimes don’t enjoy the beauty of our local places and spaces.

When was the last time you saw a local show or went to a nearby museum? Wouldn’t it be fun to meet a new friend from another part of the world and give him or her a look into your daily life at home, at school, and in your community?

When we collaborate with schools from around the world, we look to build an educational program that’s mutually beneficial for both host and visiting schools. For our visiting schools, we build our home stays around 3-5 days in the host city so the visiting students can visit the school, get a sense of the school day, and participate in classes to see what a day in the life of a local student looks like in another country. For both host and visiting schools, we find activities that are both educational and fun with local musicians, artists, athletes and notable local personalities. 

We take the time for our host brothers and sisters, and their visitors, to visit a local famous place of interest. You have an opportunity to reflect on the beauty of your own home and culture, and you get the chance to show a new friend how great your hometown is as well. 

2. Make Life-Long Connections

We see the importance in bridging culture gaps through hand matching our host students with their visiting brother or sister based on their mutual interests. Despite each homestay lasting for only a few days, their connections and the lessons learned during this period can last a lifetime!

From the start, we ask both host students and visiting students to complete a survey. After they submit questionnaires with their likes and interests to EdOdyssey, they are matched and put in contact through us so they can connect through email with the option to share their social media and phone number!

These short and intense experiences allow both schools to see the beauty in differences and the importance of mutual respect!

In the past, we’ve worked at a local food bank organizing food donations!

3. Share School Communities & Missions

In both visiting and host schools, we like to organize different events in the community. In our past programs, we’ve focused on developing four aspects of the exchange involving (1) a service opportunity (2) a local visit, (3) a local event (4) a big dinner with host families and their visiting brother or sister.

For service, we’ve organized an event with a local non-profit, charity or organization, such as a food bank in Spain, providing value to the local community. We set up these events out of solidarity - ultimately both locals and visitors gain a better appreciation for programs that provide assistance to an underserved part of the community.

In our past local visits, we’ve found a museum, or a local event, that meets and matches the respective missions and objectives of both of our schools.  When we continue speak and collaborate with both host schools and visiting schools, we want to align their missions and objectives.  When we’ve created events, such as flamenco shows in Spain or volunteer events in Peru, we coordinate with both schools to create a cohesive and coherent plan for all of us to learn from each other. If the visiting school wants to focus on a specific classroom subject, or a specific topic (like history or art) we work with host schools to coordinate events that mutually benefit both schools and communities.

In the past, our local event has brought in local artists and musicians that highlight an aspect of local culture and community. We’ve hosted local musicians and artists to come and put on a show at the local school.

During our previous immersion programs, we’ve worked to create a cultural event in conjunction with the host school to provide a big finale for host families and the visiting students and teachers.

Ready to see if your school is the right fit for our homestay program? We’re open to your ideas and we want to hear them! If your school has volunteer centers, local museums, or businesses, we want to facilitate sharing your community with a visiting school from abroad!

Please send us an email at info@edodyssey.com for more information and we’ll be in touch with next steps on planning your unique journey.

3 Beautiful Realizations From Unexpected Travel Changes

You know that unsettling feeling when you look around and you feel your stomach drop as you realize something doesn’t feel right. You start to look around and you feel out of place and you get frustrated. Your mind races and you get overwhelmed because you come to a realization that your trip isn’t going 100% according to plan.

Now what do you do about it in that moment? At EdOdyssey, we want that you embrace that uncomfortable moment and explore it with us.

As both travelers and educators, we plan out the details of our trips abroad as best as possible, but unexpected changes happen along the way. The weather changes or there’s an expected delay. There’s nothing that anyone can do in those moments except be patient. No one can foresee these moments, but all of us can adjust our mindset to take in these beautiful and teachable instances if we have the right mindset going into our trips.

When the train makes us wait, or the weather slows us down, all we can do is manage our reaction. No traveler wants to leave a country with bad memories and we don’t want anyone on our trips to not leave satisfied either so we need to see the splendor in everything!

Therefore, we want to share three of our beautiful realizations that come from changes.

The Beauty of Cultural Differences

In general, we can have lofty expectations and standards from back home that we unjustly communicate onto other cultures. When we travel, we have an idea that buildings and places will look different but at some point all of us struggle with how aspects of other cultures feel different. For example, at restaurants in Europe, the service tends to be slower and less individualized than in the United States.

All of us feel this slower pace, and we can either feel frustrated or take a moment of introspection to see the bigger picture. We’re all getting more time to spend with friends in an amazing place about to eat some delicious food. The drinks might take a couple more minutes, but take a step back, and ask yourself if you’ll remember that as being the moment that ruined your trip.

In those moments, we have to take a second to understand that our frustration comes from feeling something different and we have to ask why it feels different. At EdOdyssey, we understand these frustrations and these differences and we want you to understand these feelings because ultimately it helps us understand...  

The Beauty of Reflection

When you’re at home, you have your own individual routines and your own structure that gives you a sense of comfort that disappears quickly when traveling. When you travel abroad with us, we do our best to customize the best trip for you and prepare for everything, but even still there might be unexpected changes.

Ultimately, we can’t control long lines and unexpected waits, but we can manage our attitudes and how we roll these changes as individuals and as a group.

In those unexpected moments, we ask that you take a second to reflect on the beauty of the moment. You’re with your friends, you’re trying new foods and seeing unbelievable things. In a few weeks and moments from now, do you think that you’ll remember a little rain?

If I learned anything during my time abroad, I understood how to let go of my expectations and embrace mistakes and confusion.

During your time with us, we plan our trips as air tight as possible but sometimes life happens and reality gets in the way. There’s an unexpected delay or a last second modification. Take a second, look around, and embrace the moment.

Talk with your classmates and friends about what you’ve done or what you’re about to do!

The Beauty of Help

We’ve all had these incredible moments in our lives when we find ourselves lost and we don’t know what to do. We’re with a group one second, we look away or get distracted, and then we can’t find them.

As little kids, teenagers or grown adults, we’ve all lost track of our friends and family at some point. As humans, we share this truth and we have to stay optimistic and understand that people will be there to help you.

We are there to help and we hope that you’ll come along and join the ride with us so we can share the beautiful experience of traveling abroad together!