Learning a language is a rewarding experience; it gives the student the opportunity to communicate, interact and even to work within new cultures. A Lingoo language exchange or homestay language vacation enables students to become completely immersed in a language, and in the culture in which that language is spoken. By spending time with their exchange or host family, they will experience the language outside of the classroom, in real world situations, both formal and social. Language immersion can aid the student’s language development in a number of different ways; it can help in building confidence in the child’s ability to use the language in a practical way, thereby reinforcing classroom learning and exposing the student to localised and idiomatic cultural aspects of the language, such as slang and more informal phrasing which is used when interacting in social situations. The purpose of language immersion holidays or exchanges is to give the student abilities that can enhance their language skills and learning beyond the end of the stay. Here is a brief look at some of the positive effects that a language immersion holiday could have for your child:
Building Language Confidence
Learning to speak and communicate in a language can be daunting, especially when interacting with native speakers. Immersion holidays encourage students to take the initiative and start talking, and this bypasses the main problem that comes from learning languages in the classroom, which is that it does not prepare the student for real-world use. With the constant practice that language immersion provides, students quickly build confidence in their skills and knowledge. This confidence and self-belief will allow the student to take risks and be experimental in their language use, thereby allowing them to expand their experiences and broaden their vocabulary. This confidence will also be brought back to the classroom, increasing enthusiasm and potentially accelerating future learning, because the returning student knows they can achieve if they try.
The Classroom and The Real World
Language immersion allows the student to bridge the gap between classroom learning and the real world. Whilst it is not possible to look at every possible scenario in the classroom, immersion will expose the student to new scenarios that builds upon the knowledge gained in the classroom. Language is, after all, for communication, and communicating with native speakers is the real test of any language learning. The continuous use of a new language will help with language memory and provide a contextual environment that will benefit the student’s when learning new areas in the classroom.
Slang and Language Oddities
Another advantage of immersion in real world language situations is the exposure to slang terms and other language oddities, or variations from the text book. Language, particularly colloquial and everyday language, is constantly evolving, and books cannot change quickly enough to reflect this. Usage may also vary depending on age, background and location of those that the student spends time, and immersion in a particular place can therefor enrich the language in many ways