Read about the program, selection process, and rewards
overview | requirements for
schools | requirements for students | selection process
| program costs | financial aid | student pledge
| many rewards
Overview of program
About thirty students are selected for each of the seven-week programs: in France, St.
Brieuc and Brest; in Germany, Krefeld; in Mexico, San Luis Potosi, and in Spain,
Valencia, Leon, and Ciudad Real.
Each student is placed with a local family selected by the coordinators abroad. The
families, chosen on the basis of their willingness to help the American students learn the
culture and language of the foreign country and to welcome them as their own children,
receive a compensation for their generous hospitality. Most of the students maintain a
warm friendship with their host families for many years.
Intensive study conducted in the foreign language is the focal point of the program.
Students are taught by qualified teachers in classes established exclusively for
the Honors Program participants. The emphasis is on improving speaking, listening, reading, and
writing skills, to which end a no-English rule prevails while the students are abroad.
Formal learning involves daily morning classes and activities. Each class has about ten students, which allows active participation in grammar, culture, conversation. literature and phonetics.The students write a diary in the foreign language and
have homework assignments. Informal learning comes about through singing, acting, dancing,
sports, artistic performances, and field trips into the surrounding regions.
What qualifies a school?
To be eligible a high school must offer, or plan to offer, four or
more years of instruction in French, German, or Spanish. An important requirement of the
Honors Program is that the students who participate return to their school after the
summer abroad and actively participate in the study of the language for the
following year. The Program is open to all secondary schools in Indiana, public, private,
or parochial. Schools may apply in one or more languages.
Participating high schools are asked to cooperate in the various steps of the selection
process. They are asked to offer advanced foreign language instruction to returning Honors
students, and are welcome to encourage school or community clubs and organizations to
contribute to the financial aid and matching funds of the Program.
What Qualifies an Applicant?
Prospective applicants must be in at least their third year of study of French,
German, or Spanish, and must be in their junior year of high school. Participants are
required to continue the study of the language through the senior year.
The personal qualities that distinguish successful participants include a deep desire
to learn, intellectual and social maturity, sincere commitment to abide by the rules of
the Honors Program, the most important of which is to forgo the use of English for seven
weeks, and willingness to adjust to new customs and habits.
The Selection Process
The selection process is based on personal and academic merit. The program attracts a large number of candidates and is very
competitive.
1. Testing: Eligible students interested in applying for the program obtain through
their school an "Intent to Apply," which they complete and submit with a
non-refundable nominal fee. Students are tested in grammar, reading and listening skills at regional
centers on the last Saturday in October.
2. Application: Students who have achieved a high enough score on the test are invited
to apply. In addition to a personal application, school transcripts, health records, and confidential appraisals by parents,
teachers, and others are evaluated by a selection committee.
3. Interviews: Semi-finalists are personally interviewed and tested in their speaking
ability in February. Finalists are chosen after a review of all qualifications and
evaluations. The selection is made without regard to a student's ability to pay the
program fees.
Program Costs
The fee includes transportation from the point of departure to the
study town and back, health insurance, instruction, room and board, all field trips, and
all program-related activities. It does not include the cost of the passport,
photographs, physical examination, personal expenses abroad, souvenirs, and so on.
It is important to note that the cost of the program more than pays itself back
since most students test into at least third-year language courses at the university, and earn an
average of about 15 credit hours!
Financial Aid
All students may apply for financial aid. The need for a grant is determined through a
confidential financial statement form filled out by the parents of semi-finalists and
assessed according to the guidelines of the IU Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.
Again, need for financial aid in no way affects the choice of finalists. Financial aid is
based entirely on individual family need, and is given in varying amounts up to the
maximum grant of 25% of the total fee.
Students may also solicit donations from public or private sources; whenever possible, the
Honors Program sets aside a special fund to match some donations within certain limits.
The parents must pay the balance remaining after financial aid, donations, and matching
funds have been deducted. While not every student whose parents apply for financial aid
will receive a grant, more than half of the finalists usually do. In addition to grants
and matching funds, the Margot Dowling Scholarship Fund, established in June 1994 by
Patrick O'Meara, IU Dean of International Programs, will provide additional help to deserving
minority students.
The Student's Pledge
The selected students pledge to work to their best ability in order to become
proficient in the use of the foreign language; to be responsible, mature, and courteous
guests in the foreign country, and to follow the rules and regulations set by the program
directors and the host family. The students also pledge to continue the study of the
foreign language
after completing the Program, and to encourage and help other classmates
to study foreign languages through their active participation in class and their
willingness to act as teacher's aides under the teacher's guidance. The students who are faithful to their pledge receive an "Award of Excellence" from the director of the Honors Program.
The Rewards are Many!
Total immersion in a foreign culture and giving up one's native language for another
are challenging but extremely rewarding experiences.
The summer abroad helps students make tremendous progress in their foreign language,
and enlarge and deepen their knowledge of the world, thus creating bridges of human
understanding between the United States and other countries.
The returning students share their enthusiasm and knowledge of the foreign culture with
their classmates, and there can be no doubt that their experience has a positive impact on
the foreign language programs of their school.
As previously mentioned, students also normally test out of university entrance exams for foreign
languages. Many
students test into the 300 level foreign language courses, and save the equivilant of one semester of college costs.
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