Language Schools Abroad

Yes, language travels are a way of learning, not only English, but many languages. It is a system that offers another face of the language teaching. In any case, I do not believe that it tries to replace to a normal course of languages, but its impact is totally different from a few classes of languages, the normal ones.

If you want to learn English, language travel takes you to London, for example, a city where one speaks English, in order that you learn it and it is not the same as the bilingual school. And not only in order that you learn it in a course of a few hours, but in order that you have the opportunity to submerge in the language as fast as you can.

If in a few language classes, your relation with the language is of only for two daily hours, in the language travel the relation will be total because you are in a place that everybody speaks this language and with people who have learned it being babies and that therefore, they take as a natural language.

Language travels are also very educational because people have the opportunity to know different levels of the language that they learn. It happens because in a language travel you are not only to learn a language from a book and then practice it by the writing, and only your teacher knows. When you finish the hour of class, you have to face a totally unknown world in which you will have to be lived.

This need of insertion helps very much to the person that is learning the language due to the need that has for making itself and communicates with other people. Probably it is something that some could seem, violently or aggressively, but also it is true that a good way of learning something it is doing every day of every month.

And, in London, since it was the example (though for the English we find from USA to Australia, England and Ireland) you will have to test your knowledge day after day. On the other hand, it always is difficult to remember something if only you practice it once at day. But on the other hand, it is easier to learned all the past verbs in English, if you know that them at any time of the day.

Language travels are also a kind of travel where you can find yourself but if you decide to travel with friends, it will not. I believe that the most interesting of these experiences is to make it alone. Because being alone and in a different context from the normal one it starts one realizing how it is really (believe me that the routine does easily to forget this).

Being alone in a new place gives the opportunity to know the things in a different way; your look also will be free of pressures and of external influences.

This way, the learning of the English through language travels turns out to be a new, pleasant experience, restorer and very educational in the different levels of the experience of life of a person. You could mix the travel and the tourism school. It is only up to you.

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I do not know which will be the requirements to teach a language in other countries but I want to comment the experience of a friend who now is studying in a university in The United States thanks a scholarship for his master and doctorate. 

In his case, he has two options for making a job in the university. It had to be like some kind of ‘contribution’ for his scholarship. In the first year, he was the assistant of a teacher but in the second, they offered the opportunity to teach Spanish. 

Originally, my friend thought that it was not a good idea, he felt little prepared for speaking in Spanish to English-speakers. But in this case, the ‘offer’ was an ‘order’ besides the fact that he could not refuse, in fact he must be prepared for a situation like that.    

So, he started been the substitute of the teacher of Spanish of a group in the university. He had to correct exams and substitute the professor when he could not assist. With the time, he understood that teaching a language is not that complicated as he thought. Nevertheless, he also realized that teaching a language is not similar to the simple pedagogy, because it involves to teaching to adult persons a language that they have not handled before.    

Now, he think that when he finishes his doctorate, he will study something related to the education of the Spanish language, probably to extend more his professional horizons. Now, he is grateful for the opportunity that had in the university for the experience. Originally, he was feeling insecure especially because the students who had got a scholarship has to demonstrate that they are good students and deserve more than anybody, studying in the university. 

Which is why, he was not possible to fail. He told me that he felt worried about the classes that he had to substitute because he remembered when he did his first travel language and his teacher was terrible. He felt that he was teaching too badly but his students were very satisfied.  

He thought very much about those classes to treat that “his” classes were useful to his ‘pupils’.  So, he realized that the education of a language is not only a responsibility of the teacher, but more than anything than the pupils. Especially when you are inside the idiomatic and positive environment. In the travel, you have the possibility for practicing and hearing the language constantly. Whereas, in normal courses the teacher is the only one who refers to that language. 

The students of that English class were of his age and also university students, therefore he understood that they did not have a lot of time to study the language, though they always were treating to practicing in class.  

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Well, we know that if we make a travel language, we are not going to make a daily task. Another one is, talking about motivation; find what to do in our free time. Especially when you make a long travel abroad.  

I have never liked the sports but I remembered that sometimes I tried to run. London is pretty in this sense, has pretty streets where you can take a walk, but if you are lazy for walking  even for going to the bathroom, it is probably not the best idea. 

At first, this idea was suggested me by a few girls who were in my advanced English class. They were going out to run together every morning before classes and due to that they really looked good, I thought that it would not be a bad idea to run with them. 

We ran for three days, and when the day finished I was totally over and immediately I preferred stopped running. I was exhausted, I could not move my legs, even I had to be absent to the school and a friend did to me the favor of buying me an ointment for my muscles. In addition, I would have not gone to a doctor, because doctors in that country are very expensive. After so, I rejected sports as a way for taking advantage of my free time. And I decided to spend it in hiking; the hike is a worthy sport that even the Pope practiced.  

As you know, it is not necessary to spent all day long for walking, even if you do not know the city, it is normal that the same people who live there do not know every street. 

After my terrible sport experience, I have two new friends:  a map and the reports about the reduced days in the museums. This way I could go easily to different and interesting places. Also, in that time, I started to like the fried fish with French fries, which says pretty much about my health care. 

However, there were other people really concerned with sports. Someone told me that in the house where he was living, the owners offered him a bicycle for using as a transport and he accepted it, so that he went from his house to the school every day. Even it was only twenty blocks; I believe that I died for only putting a foot in the pedal. 

Not every day, you are going to know what to do in this kind of travels, so that it is not a bad idea taking notes about things happened to you. For example, once it happened to me going to the games to play in the balance beams, a very drippy activity but I spent a very happy time. The principal idea is that you have many interesting things to do in an unknown city and not they all imply paying for coming in.  

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With pain, I must accept that sometimes the cheapest thing for eating in The United States or
England, it is the fast food. And when you want to take care your pockets for better expenses, you do not have any more than press the belt, or rather, slacken, because with the “delicious” that you have in the fast foods (even the name is easy to say), you must gain a few pounds, kilos, or whatever you call it in your system of measures. 

In London, I used to eat at McDonald’s when I did not buy the classic French fries fish. Fruits, I felt hurt thinking about them because in London every fruit is genetically adulterated. However, I think that English language is not spoken as fast as Americans so that I am speaking about the food now.  

The other day, I was reading the news about the McCollege, proposed in England, and I found a friend who had arrived from a language travel in New York. Since that I could not avoid to think about this fast foods. 

On the other hand, my good friend Christian seems to have returned with a better notion about what to learn a language is. At least, he could not escape of the classes in New York (like we could here) because when he did it once, he got lost and ended around Queens, so in some way, he learned the lesson.    

Nevertheless, he won wisdom but also gained weight. The reason is, as me, we are very stingy about the healthy food: we prefer abundant and cheap food; in his case, he ate four times by day at McDonald’s. Of course, I remembered that the service was not a good thing. 

What can I say of similar news? On the other hand, I know that it is a good think for someone who wants to get a job abroad without resting and after return to his country to invest all the money. But I thought that the time he invested will never return because sometimes this young people lose their university studies.  

In this sense, it could be positive that companies that take young people allow me “academics” permission. However, I know that this McCollege is probably an exaggeration; nobody says that if you sell a hamburger you are going to obtain a Phd, but it will be a certificate that is equivalent to college to get best studies in your country. 

I suppose that in this case it is ok, if a worker of McDonald’s has the possibility of acceding to best studies, probably it is a decent step of this type of multinational company.  

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I think that the major part of people that travel for a travel language do not have as much money as Paris Hilton or another rich child. It is supposed that we try to learn a language for improving our profile as student or worker and projecting to a better quality of life, we do not travel to give us the great life. 

When we are in places like USA or England or even
Paris, we do not just have a cultural and idiomatic shock but also we got shocked with our pocket. One thing is the daily life at home, when we work and pay the bills once a month. And other one is to stay one month or more in an unknown place, living of the savings. 

When I decided to bet for this kind of travel, I made it thinking that I was not trying to give me the great life: I had to travel for studying a language and the money that I had was for buying things that I could not acquire in my city.  

It is important to avoid some spends in these kinds of travels, while we stay more time, there will be more expenses. If you pay at first for the residence and the studies (the transport is also simple to cover with the passes that last for several days or months), the principal thing is food and one advice: it is not a good idea to get ill.   

At the beginning, It can seem as an easy thing, but not always it is like that. Maybe you do not like McDonald’s or Starbucks food and the budget that you have could be diluted for a bad choice or with small snacks in the middle of the morning. It happened to me; I counted the bars of chocolate that I ate and I did not remain very satisfied.  

Other extras expenses it can imply visits to museums or theatres. I do not say that you do not do it; it is good to take advantage of the cultural life of other cities. I used to be very interested in check the free days for visiting museums (I did it because I wanted to avoid the crowds). And for cinemas or theatres, we can take advantage for the discount days and plays that are not in premier.    

The majority of people that made a travel language do not do this because a commitment for learning a language, also they want the opportunity to acquire things that they cannot find in their countries. It is important to have an extra budget for this type of buys. I knew this from the beginning; I did not want to mix the money of the daily expenses with this one, so I kept it in an account.  

A girl of the school ended without anything to the end of the course for buying baubles (the worst thing is that many of them; she could obtain in her city). So that she tried to borrow some money and who would encourage for giving money to someone that you will never return to see?: Precaution and prevention are two things that we should have in relation to the money in these travels. 

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I we started with the economic topic, maybe we could think that age does not matter but economic position. A fifteen years old boy with parents who have money has more possibilities for traveling than a thirty years old man who works 25 hours per day. 

Except for the money and due to these kind of travels offer several facilities, we can talk about other aspects. 

Travel for learning languages is a way to stimulate the learning of a person because this one is going to be completely immersed in the language that he or she wants to learn. Definitively, nobody would send a seven-year-old child to
England when probably his parents still do not leave him to go alone to the college; or a forty years old person with family and other responsibilities who could not spend so much time without doing anything in a trip as this one.   

These kind of travel schools are not simple language classes. You should know this. On one hand, it means that you should live in a different context with different people and costumes that speak a different language. Maybe a ten years old child does not want to be very interested in try to know how different the world looks, because he must be too young for assume these kinds of responsibilities for leaving alone, for example.  

Personally, I believe that a good age for a language travel would be since fifteen years.  I think that this is the time when young people are rebels and the last thing they want to know is about the family. Well, if they want independence, it is not a bad idea give them the chance to prove themselves what the ‘freedom’ with responsibilities is.
 

In a travel language, if you are alone and free of family supervision you are not going to just have fun. But, this independence also entails responsibilities.  

You must learn to behave with others, get along with others, be responsible with the money and also learn one language to be able to walk by your own in an unknown place. �
 

Although it seems that if you let a young person to travel is a danger, many times it can be an important experience. And with time, if he or she took some advantage of the trip, you will notice when he or she will has any language problem. 

 On the other hand, I think that there is not any limit of age for making these trips, in fact many retired people find more interesting travel and learn a language and a different culture doing a simple travel as tourists. In addition, it is a good way for an adult who realize that one can never stop learning and there is always something new to learn: an adult education. 

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I was talking with a girl friend about the classic topic “girls vs. boys”. We started to talk about our different experiences about languages travels. She has been living about seven months in
Ireland and had a study group of ten students. Her group was not very talkative but girls were more able to start a conversation than boys.  

In some way, I think that this is true, if we do not talk about the typical shame people (boys or girls) girls are more sociable no matter the language. 

I know since my own experience that boys are divided in: “shy guys”, “sociable with women” and “normal boys” and these ones are something between shy guys ands sociable with girls. 

Despite of this, when you grow up (let say, twenties) you think that that kind of stereotypes will not exist. But they will.  

The strange thing was that in my experience of trip, I made more friends with boys of other English levels that with the same boys of my course, except with one boy that I spoke time after we end the course. 

Another thing is that boys are more interested in have more contact with girls who talk the same language (I could notice that). Boys had more contact with Japanese people or Latin people. 

On the other hand, girls only had a feminine group but pretty much different, after all, girls only speak in the mysterious feminine language (though they were making us believe to the boys that they were speaking English). 

My girl friend said me that there were many examples in the college student of
Dublin about guys who have a group or the “joker” ones. On the other hand, girls tended to relate between them more normal and, it was easier to speak with an alone boy that with several of them. 

I do not know why I am talking about this, sometimes I just remember how mature I feel and sooner I am planning with my boy friends fill the old sofa of my neighbors with dynamite.  

In any case, I believe that in the linguistic travels you always are going to have to learn by your own, to be independent and to learn to know different people. Beside, trying to do let behind the instinct of group that sometimes can cause safety in an unknown context.Probably it is hurried to say it but in these cases I believe that girls tend to do fewer problematic when they are in a different context than boys. At least, I felt strange when I walked alone.   

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