School Year Abroad

School Year Abroad is an academic program which places American high school juniors, seniors, and post-graduates in 5 countries including China, Italy, France, Spain or Vietnam for a year. Students intensively learn the respective language of their country and live with a host family. The program includes extensive cultural learning but cannot be considered full immersion as students take requisite subjects for American high school graduation (Mathematics and English) in English. The program provides academic advisors, college counseling services, and administers the AP, SAT, SAT II, and PSAT tests at each school.

The charter schools for the program are Phillips Academy (Andover, MA), Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter, NH), and St. Paul's School (Concord, NH), although it operates independently of these and its 45 member schools. Its main office is located in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Spain

The program in Spain is SYA's oldest. The original incarnation was "Schoolboys Abroad" and consisted of twelve students accompanied by three teachers, who, in 1964, traveled by ship to study in Spain.

Though originally based in Barcelona, the program was moved to Zaragoza in 1999. The move took place in order to facilitate the ease with which students learned and heard Castilian Spanish spoke around them. As the program grew in Barcelona, it became clear that the proliferation of Catalan, as well as the number of tourists, detracted from the immersion of the students. The move to Zaragoza, the fifth largest city in Spain, provided students with a city environment with less tourist attraction, making it necessary for Castilian Spanish to be spoken throughout the city.

Spain is the archetype for all of SYA's programs. Students are required to have studied a minimum of two years of high school Spanish, as well as attend an interview and apply for admission. Students are placed in host families throughout the city and study language, Spanish history, Spanish civilization, Spanish literature, Spanish Cinematography, and European Art History in Spanish. They also study English and Mathematics (levels up to AP BC Calculus) under American instructors, generally drawn from the Founders League of New England boarding schools, in English. The school leads various trips to different regions in Spain, including the Basque region, and the Moorish Southern Region, to parallel both the History and the Art History the students have been studying.

France

SYA France is located in Rennes, the capital of Brittany. It is SYA's second oldest program, founded in 1967, just three years after the founding of SYA itself. Students study French language, history, civilization, literature, and art history in French. English and mathematics courses are taught by American instructors in English. Because most of the program's classes are taught in French, students applying to the program must have studied French for a minimum of two years at the time of application.

China

In 1994, the Chinese government allowed School Year Abroad to begin a program in Beijing. It was the first of its kind at either a high school or college level, with students being placed in host families for the full school year. The program operates out of the Second High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. Students attend English, Mathematics, Chinese history, Chinese language, and Chinese culture classes. At two points during the school year, students engage in "immersion" activities, and attend class with their Chinese counterparts, first in December for two days, and then in May for five days. The program also arranges for students to travel outside of Beijing, bringing them to many important cultural sites and locations that are often inaccessible to the average tourist in China, Like the SYA Italy program, students are required to attend the program for the full school year.

Italy

Since it opened its doors in 2001, SYA's Italian program has been housed in a sixteenth century palazzo in the city of Viterbo in Lazio. The Italy program is designed primarily for students interested in learning classics, offering courses in ancient Greek, Latin (language and literature), Ancient art history, and Ancient history relating to Italy. Students are also required to take mathematics, English, and Italian language classes. Like the China program, but unlike SYA's France and Spain programs, there is no language requirement to attend SYA Italy.

Vietnam

A two-semester program based in Hanoi with a focus on service learning, economics and environmental science, opened in Fall 2009. The academic program features a sustainable development and service learning curriculum, offering full high school graduation credit. Courses offered include AP Economics and AP Environmental Science, math at the appropriate level, English, Vietnamese language, modern Vietnamese history, Spanish and French. Students live with local families and learn not only about Vietnam's rapid economic growth in the major cities, but also about its ethnic diversity and the challenges of poverty in the countryside. The service learning component of the program introduces students to a variety of compelling projects. These may include teaching in orphanages and elementary schools, village water supply or clean-up efforts, micro-finance, or work to mitigate the lingering effects of "agent orange."

External links

• School Year Abroad