SYA’s curriculum is our mission in action, and experiential fieldwork is at the heart of it all. When students are intentionally sent out of the classroom (and their comfort zone) and into the local community, they develop key skills and take increased ownership of their education. In addition to engaging with their host families, taking educational excursions and participating in extracurricular activities, fieldwork challenges students to push themselves further.

At each campus, our faculty develop and implement fieldwork activities which happen on a weekly basis throughout the year, starting locally and with minimal teacher support. As the year progresses, students have more independence and geographic range to complete their tasks. The goal is for students to feel confident and at home within their communities abroad.

As the culmination of the SYA experience, all students complete a final project. While engaging in this hands-on fieldwork, students master the language of their host country and apply SYA’s interdisciplinary and student-driven approach to their six courses: English and math (taught in English), the target language, the experiential fieldwork course and two electives.

Though similar in scope, experiential fieldwork at each SYA campus has a flavor all its own. We asked each designated fieldwork advisor about what makes their program so valuable.

SYA France

Marie-Léa Pouliquen 
Environmental Science and Experiential French teacher

How has the intentional incorporation of fieldwork into the curriculum improved the student experience?
Fieldwork gives students a chance to see what they have been studying with their own eyes and to make it more real. During fieldwork, they hear information only in French, typically from native French speakers, and they have to comprehend that information quickly, which is a good way to practice their language abilities. We prepare them ahead of time and discuss the experience in course that follows. The educational outcomes depend on the level of involvement in the field, but overall the intention behind these activities is to enhance their experience, by discovering cultural places and place-based events where they would not necessarily go by themselves.

Fieldwork Favorite:
This year, one of the most popular activities was our field trip to Le Mont- Saint-Michel. Students really enjoyed crossing the bay and discovering the salt marshes as well as the medieval abbey. Another popular event was the day in La Gacilly, a small village where a photographic festival, environmentally and socially engaged, is organized each year. Students really appreciated discovering the small town and produced excellent reflections on the environmental and social issues addressed by the artists.

Perspective from Olivia D. FR'23 (The Peddie School):
“Throughout the first semester of SYA, fieldwork Thursdays were always a day I looked forward to. We have had so many incredible experiences, like spending Thanksgiving at a French culinary school, attending a short film festival and visiting a small town dedicated to photography. The fieldwork that has stuck with me the most is no doubt our very first one: crossing six entire kilometers of sludge and mud to reach the Mont-Saint-Michel Bay.”

SYA Italy

Erika Nuccio
Experiential Italian Language teacher

How has the intentional building of fieldwork into curriculum enhanced the student experience?
To have a class dedicated specifically to the experiential aspect allows our students to develop their competencies quickly and more efficiently. By focusing on language skills, there are infinite opportunities for them to engage outside of school. When our students arrive in Italy, they usually don’t know the language, so the experiential class gives us the opportunity to study culture together with language, and how the two inform one another.

What value do these assignments provide to the students?
The value of the entire course comes in providing authentic and real-world opportunities to practice and develop language skills, especially speaking and listening. They also learn “the language of language” as well as beginning to understand precisely HOW they are learning. They learn to know what they don’t know, and in that way the course is tailored to each individual student and what he or she needs to improve. As such, we honor mistakes, which takes some students a while to get used to. Mistakes provide the pathway to mastery.

Fieldwork Favorite:
All the early units that deal with navigation provide opportunities for growth that students see emerge before their very eyes. Students understand immediately that the learning from class has true meaning and value outside our doors. Something as seemingly simple as understanding directions or boarding the right train provides opportunities for immediate success and immense satisfaction. From the very beginning, we give students the tools and then the challenges to apply those tools, often without teacher direction and almost always with incomplete information. Last semester, our students experienced Escursione a Sorpresa. The morning of the surprise excursion, they were given the details and off they went!

Perspective from Maya D. IT'23 (Greenhill School):
“I like experiential learning because it allows us to practice Italian throughout the entire day. Even when we’re home, we’re practicing and learning by talking to our host families.”

SYA Spain

Álvaro Ávila
History, Art and Political Science teacher

​​How has the intentional incorporation of fieldwork into the curriculum improved the student experience?
The intentional incorporation of fieldwork into our curriculum meant a radical change. The experiences proposed during the fieldwork mean moving the classroom outside and making direct and intentional use of the resources offered by the city. In addition, fieldwork offers opportunities to interact with native speakers in different environments. The fact that our students have a high level of command of the Spanish language also allows the experiences to be rich in content and highly productive.

What value do these assignments provide to students?
In the creation of fieldwork, the four pillars of SYA’s mission are taken into consideration: Critical and Creative Thinking, Intercultural Competence, Language Proficiency and Independence and Interdependence. Apart from these core elements, teachers also pay attention to other competencies, such as achieving flexibility to face and solve challenging situations, being able to discriminate among reliable and unreliable sources and taking on challenges and embracing a willingness to take risks outside of a student's comfort zone.

Fieldwork Favorite:
One of the most valuable aspects of fieldwork is the exploration of neighborhoods. Students are assigned to different areas of the city that they have to visit independently. They must know how to get there and carry out a series of activities, which include focused observation, chats with locals and visiting institutions, such as civic centers or district headquarters, to interview the people in charge. This fieldwork also requires an essay in Spanish in order to develop both linguistic and reflection and analytic skills.

One highlight this year was our visit to the town of Oliete to meet the NGO Apadrina un Olivo (Adopt an Olive Tree). In addition to learning about the production of olive oil, students collaborated in the planting of olive trees and analyzed the importance of olive oil in Spanish culture, history and society. Likewise, students reflected on the depopulation and population aging of the interior of Spain while analyzing different solutions to these challenges.

Perspective from Madeline S. ES'23 (St. Paul's School):
“Meeting new people, exploring new places, and learning new things are all vital to the experience of immersion. We have had trips to vineyards and olive groves, Madrid and Monasterio de Piedra. At each new place, I’ve come away feeling more knowledgeable about the culture of Spain. Even smaller assignments, such as exploring the neighborhoods of Zaragoza, are engaging. Without fieldwork I may have never explored the area behind the Roman theater or discovered the life teeming outside of my narrow commute from school to home. Street interviews are a common part of fieldwork, and arguably the most difficult part. Nothing has improved my Spanish and confidence more.”