Language Immersion Program for Grades 6-9
Amherst, Massachusetts
Hampshire College

Student Life

Imagine awaking early and the Spanish song from last night’s mariachi festival is still fresh in your memory. Words and phrases from the songs are still running through your mind. Your counselor is rounding up the Spanish jogging group and you join in. Soon your breakfast table is alive with discussion of today’s asado as other students practice the words they need to read a recipe for making flan. Before your adventure in Latin American cuisine, however, your group runs to a morning class, and then begins a research project on migration.

Meanwhile, you see the Chinese students divided in groups, having chosen either water brush calligraphy painting on the slate walk or, practicing tai chi on the field - just like the early mornings at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

Then, French students pour out of their dormitory in bright blue t-shirts and you remember that Les Bleus, the French soccer team is practicing for the afternoon game. They are joined by the Arabic students, also getting ready for the afternoon match, enthusiastically practicing free kicks and headers.

Each day will involve a different mix of activities that will reinforce language learning. Over four weeks, you learn a lot, live in the language to maximize your ability the target language, and make, great friends.

A Typical Day

Housing and Campus Facilities
Students live in Hampshire College residence halls. Most participants live in a single room. Hall mates are chosen by age, gender, and language. Students on the same hall share a bathroom. The residence halls at Hampshire College are not air conditioned.

Housing is separated by gender, age and language, sometimes using separate floors, sometimes separate buildings. There is at least one RA for every 12 students. RAs are fluent in the target language of the students they supervise.

Students will also have access to other campus facilities including the library, computer labs, and athletic facilities.

Cultural Events and Field Trips
Culture and language are inseparable, so each day is filled with cultural events, including culinary excursions, theatrical performances, and movies, as well as skits and dramatic productions created by the students. Occasional off-campus field trips enhance the program experience. Over the course of four weeks, students may use Arabic with native speakers over a Moroccan meal; visit a museum featuring Chinese art; and participate in a Mexican celebration to sing, dance and eat in Spanish. A blend of continuity and variety provides both comfort and challenge each week. Each experience adds excitement to a program full of the language and culture.

Virtual Communities
The Internet, when carefully used, has enormous potential to support language learning. At the Language Immersion Program the staff and students communicate through a "virtual" language community in a closed on-line network.

Participants use virtual communities to engage in written discussion on varied topics: some mundane, some silly, and some important—but all in the target language. With students and teachers communicating on-line, students learn quickly and teachers see areas where individual or student groups need reinforcement.

Family Weekend
The middle weekend of the program, July 12-13, is designated as a time for parents and families to visit if they would like. The Language Pledge will be relaxed for designated portions of this time and visitors will have an opportunity to see program activities first-hand.

Safety and Risk Management
At all times, the safety of CTY Language Immersion participants is paramount. We take every reasonable step to ensure the safety of our students on campus and during field trips, including:

Hiring skilled staff members. Our staff is a talented group of individuals brought together by their commitment to teaching languages to highly able young people in an immersion setting. Our recruiting process attracts outstanding instructors from public and private schools and universities, graduate students and other education and youth development professionals. Fluency in one of the four languages at the site is required for all instructional and residential staff. Staff members are selected through a competitive process that weighs additional factors such as past teaching or residential life experience. Before employment, all faculty and staff undergo background checks conducted by a third-party organization that specializes in staffing for youth programs.

Making certain that participants are appropriately supervised. While students are ultimately responsible for their own conduct, administrative, instructional, and residential staff all work together to provide clear guidelines and careful supervision. When not with their instructors, students are supervised by RAs, who are typically college students selected on the basis of fluency in the target language, academic record, related work or volunteer experience, recommendations, and performance in an interview. RAs live with students in the residence halls, speaking the target language of the students they supervise, providing support and encouragement, enforcing rules, and planning and conducting the co-curricular activities. The RAs, as well as instructors, teaching assistants, and administrators, are prepared to help students adjust to the academic demands of CTY and to the experience of being away from home.

Expectations for Student Conduct
We expect our students to meet the highest standards of behavior, both in personal deportment and in dedication to academic pursuits. To this end, students must adhere to the Center for Talented Youth Honor Code, which requires them to uphold personal and academic integrity, respect the ideas and property of others, and ensure that those around them do the same. In addition, students are expected to:

• strive to do the best work possible in their courses
• respect individuals of different races, cultures, religions, genders, sexual orientations, ages, disabilities, and national origins
• behave in a friendly, cooperative, and responsible manner toward all persons in the CTY community and in the larger college and local communities
• attend all class sessions, meals, activities, and meetings
• observe all rules for student conduct.

We cannot accommodate students who are unwilling or unable to live up to these expectations.

At the Language Immersion Program, participants also sign the Language Pledge that requires them to use their target language at all times except in the case of emergencies.  Failure to abide by this pledge may also be grounds for dismissal from the program.

At each site, students learn about our standards for behavior, including site rules, on the first day. While specific rules vary somewhat from site to site, community standards throughout our summer programs are basic and consistent. They include a commitment to academic integrity, respect for all members of the community, regard for the basic rules of physical safety, and cooperation with adult supervision.

Students may be dismissed from the program for any of the following reasons:

• not attending to their academic work in a satisfactory manner
• cheating, plagiarizing, or committing other acts of academic dishonesty
• being in restricted areas of campus, or leaving campus, unaccompanied by a staff member
• being on an opposite-sex hall
• leaving their halls after lights-out
• stealing or vandalizing property
• keeping prescription or over-the-counter medication in their possession (exceptions are made for urgent care medications such as EpiPens, asthma inhalers, and insulin)
• possessing or using tobacco, alcohol, or drugs
• bullying or hazing
• undermining the safety or well-being of self or others (including threats).

No tuition refunds will be made to students dismissed from the program. If a student damages property, the cost of repair or replacement is added to the student account balance.

Language Pledge Policy
What is the Language Pledge? All Language Immersion Program students agree to abide by the Language Pledge^®, a commitment to speak, listen, read, and write the language of study as the only means of communication for the site. It is the foundation of the intensive immersion program. The Language Pledge originated at the Middlebury Language Schools and the term is a registered trademark of Middlebury College.

What does the Language Pledge say? The Language Pledge says: ^"In signing this Language Pledge, I agree to use __________ as my only language of communication while attending the Language Immersion Program.^”

Why are students required to take the Pledge? The Pledge helps students focus their energies on the acquisition of language skills and internalize the patterns of communication and cultural perspective associated with the target language. The Language Pledge plays a major role in the success of the program, both as a symbol of commitment and as an essential part of the language learning process. It ensures that the vocabulary and structures gained in group sessions are "put in motion^" right away so they are acquired, used, and not forgotten.

Are students who have never studied the language required to take the Language Pledge? Participants who are beginning their study of a language take a modified and progressively more rigorous Pledge. The program has built-in structures to enable beginners to succeed during this first period. Nearly all staff members at the program are bilingual and can speak to students in both the target language and English.

When is the Language Pledge waived? Students are not expected to speak in their language of study when they are faced with an emergency, when conversing with a member of the admin­istrative staff, when speaking with a health care professional, and on those occasions when it is absolutely necessary to use English or another language. In addition, students are not required to speak in their language of study during designated “relaxed” times. Most important is adherence to the spirit of the Pledge and each student’s sincere effort to use the target language as exclusively as possible during the session.

May I call my parents, family, and friends? Also, my parents want to visit me while I am here; may I go to dinner with them and speak English? We know that it is important for participants to maintain contact with their families and friends. We can't say how much is necessary for each person, so we ask that you keep contacts which are not in your target language to the absolute minimum that you feel you need.

When does the Pledge begin? Is it different for beginners? The Pledge begins when you sign the Language Pledge at the site. If you are not a beginning student of your target language, this happens after you take the placement evaluation. If you are a beginning student, you start off with a modified Pledge. The important thing is that once you have signed it, the Pledge is in effect.

I have a friend studying another language, and once in a while we have a conversation in that language, which I also speak. Is that allowed? After all, I am not speaking English. If you are able to visit with other-language students and speak in their language that helps them stick with their Pledge - but interferes with your own Pledge. Remember that the Pledge is not simply a rule AGAINST using English; it’s a commitment FOR using your target language.

May I read the newspaper or weekly magazines in other than the target languages? May I listen to music in other languages? Use of a language includes listening, reading, writing, as well as speaking - so CTY is going to provide you with lots and lots of interesting things to read, listen to, and watch in your target language.

Prohibited Items
The following items must not be brought to the site:

• weapons of any kind (including pocket knives and martial arts devices)
• any flame-producing device (including matches, lighters, and firecrackers)
• role-playing game books or other items associated with role-playing games
• trading cards
• pets of any kind
• products that damage surface finishes
• televisions, computer/video games, or DVDs
• bicycles, skateboards, roller blades, skates, scooters, or shoes with wheels 
• water guns
• halogen lamps, refrigerators, or cooking devices
• laser pointers.

In addition to the above list, we reserve the right to confiscate for the length of the program any items that, in our judgment, demonstrate the potential for distracting students from the goals of the program, pose undue risk to property or to the safety and wellbeing of people.