<p>The D of a friend is thinking that she would like to work on her fluency. Her D has taken probably 7 yrs of Spanish and uses some spanish in her work. She does not want or need academic credit.
She is employed but has some flexibility and would want something that is probably 2 to 3 weeks in length. Would this be enough time to make any difference?
Does not want Mexico.
Thank you</p>
<p>I don’t think that would really be long enough to make a difference,& the challenge would be if you went some place like Costa Rica, to get people to speak Spanish instead of using her to practice their English.
( my daughter did research in CR last summer and stayed longer about 3 weeks to do an immersion program-altogether was there a couple months)
How about a volunteer job helping ESL students?</p>
<p>My son went on a Spanish immersion trip to Cadiz, Spain this past summer for 2 weeks - it was wonderful - he had just completed his AP Spanish and was pre IB Spanish HL. He lived with a Spanish family (great family with very nice apartment on Victoria beach) and went to a Spanish school everyday and then they had cultural events in the evenings and road trips on the weekend. It was wonderful - and only cemented his need to travel in the future for his study abroad and in his career. He previously had only traveled on mission trips (which he continues to do) but this was a whole different experience. His trip was organized through Global Discoveries and Centro Mundolengua in Spain. He only wished he was able to have taken a 3 week trip as they had more excursions.</p>
<p>2 - 3 weeks would not make much differenc when person already had 7 years of Spanish. D. said that trip to poor regions of Peru where she worked in free clinics had improved her Spanish. D. had only one semester of college Spanish though. She went to Peru for 4 weeks and she was not living in any type of "turist"y environment, she had to communicate with sick people in Peru.</p>
<p>Has she studied Spanish solely in the US? If so, I would not recommend Spain for only two weeks because the Spanish there is a bit different than what they teach here and she’d spend most of the time trying to understand the accent. </p>
<p>I would recommend Costa Rica, but NOT a tourist place like Monte Verde or Manuel Antonio. I would also recommend the east coast because the central valley uses a different pronunciation than we’re used to (not to mention the fact that they don’t use the “tu” form…) </p>
<p>Peru is another good one, but very expensive. I’ve heard good things about Puerto Rico but you have to avoid touristy spots. </p>
<p>Honestly though, if she can just find a Mexicantown or something similar close to her, that would likely be a better route to take. I work at the Refugee Development Center to keep up on my Spanish.</p>
<p>It is too bad that she does not want academic credit, because some classes can improve Spanish significantly than 2 - 3 week trip. D. started speaking after her only semeter at college and she was speaking 2 years later…we could not believe when we heard her talk while she was claiming that she did not remember much…lots by me!</p>
<p>Her present job presents her with opportunities to use her Spanish. She would like to be able to better communicate with the families of her clients. She has only a few weeks since she would be using her vacation time.</p>
<p>Just enjoy vacation and forget about Spanish, 2 - 3 weeks for somebody who has 7 years of language is truly nothing.</p>
<p>MiamiDAP, did you even read the original post? Who said anything about a vacation? Your comment makes no sense.</p>
<p>With all due respect to an above poster…living in a place where ONLY Spanish is spoken would help regardless of the length of time spent there. The good thing is this person has familiarity with the language and is looking to improve functional communication in that language.</p>
<p>Are all of Middlebury’s immersion programs all summer? I know she doesn’t need or want academic credit, but these are top notch.</p>
<p>It’s surprising how little people can learn in 7 years of language study at U.S. schools. </p>
<p>If you have a strong background, you can do a lot of polishing up in two weeks. What’s important is disciplining yourself to stay immersed and to be actively engaged in what’s going on despite your embarrassment about how badly you speak the language.</p>
<p>“It’s surprising how little people can learn in 7 years of language study at U.S. schools.”
-There is nothing in this entire thread that indicates that center of discussion here has learned little in 7 years of of language study at U.S. schools. Not sure how we can conclude that. 7 years of studying is a lot, not sure how 2 - 3 weeks could make any diff. for somebody who studied language for 7 years. But if others have experiences like that, then, it must be true.<br>
From my personal experience, if you have a kid of 3 y o who do not have any experience with certain language, 2 -3 weeks of immersion would result in some understanding and kid might start speaking few words here and there. If kid is 10 y o, this process is already much slower. For an adult, it is much slower than that.
Others might have different experiences and there are variations in regard to ability. What one miraculously gains in 2 weeks might not be absorbed by another. However a notion of miracle seems to be irrelevant for somebody with 7 years of language, not sure we can expect miracles here.<br>
On the other hand, if desire is so strong, just go to any of places above and see what happens. There is no quarantee in anything, you can only try.</p>
<p>Thank you to those of you who “get” it. What I have seen in my own kids is that though they have learned vocabulary and grammar they can read and write in a foreign language but speaking in conversation is a whole different thing.
I think Thumper hit on it when she wrote of improving functional communication. Her D wants to be able to have conversations. My friend knows I spend time on this site and asked if I had heard of specific locations and companies. Her D is also considering a trip to mission trip as another alternative.</p>