Spend 5 Weeks in Spain
June 21* -- July 26, 2013
(*must depart the U.S. on the 20th to be abroad on the 21st)
SYA Summer in Spain 2013 is now Wait List only.
Stroll along the Ebro with your host family. Order your first paella en español. Admire the Moorish architecture of La Aljafería. Follow your dreams to the land of Don Quijote and become part of the warm, rich Spanish culture.
Program Overview
Students who have successfully completed at least two years of high school Spanish are invited to join us in Zaragoza for a five-week intensive language and cultural immersion program. The curriculum and activities are designed for those students dedicated to rapidly improving their proficiency in the language and expanding their knowledge of the culture of Spain.
Zaragoza is a medium-sized, modern city (population 680,000) midway between Madrid and Barcelona that provides numerous options for cultural engagement, without being overly international or touristy. SYA has been sending students to Spain since 1964 and to Zaragoza specifically since 1998. SYA Summer in Spain consists of four weeks in Zaragoza and one week traveling within Spain.
Each student will be individually assigned to a carefully-selected host family with whom they will live for the first month. Students will be tested and placed in the appropriate level class, attending morning classes five days a week at our centrally-located school right on Paseo Pamplona. The three courses required of all students are two hours of Spanish language as well as Spanish Society and Culture, all taught in Spanish by native instructors.
While mornings are spent in the classroom, the language learning doesn’t end there. The afternoons open up a variety of opportunities for the students to practice and get “real exposure” to Spanish language and culture. Types of activities available to the students are cooking, art and dance classes, as well as research and discovery projects throughout the city which require students to use their Spanish language skills. And, of course, the students will go home each night to a caring host family who will have a tremendous impact on both the students’ experience, as well as their fluency in the language.
Travel is another important component of SYA’s immersion program. In addition to organized visits around the city, each week there also will be school-sponsored outings to visit such historic monasteries and castles as Monasterio de Piedra or Castillo Loarre and to hike and raft in the foothills of the Pyrenees. In addition, there will be a brief visit to Madrid.The final week of the program will be dedicated to a guided trip in northern Spain along the Costa Brava and over to Barcelona.