Summer Camp for Language Teachers

Enjoy the great outdoors as you learn foreign language methodologies. Experience Concordia College's graduate level course for language educators.

Several summers ago, I packed up my shorts, sunscreen, and mosquito repellent and headed to Minnesota for the Teacher Seminar program at Concordia Language Villages. The 10-day experience forever changed the way I teach.

Foreign language and ESL teachers from across the country come together at Concordia College for instruction in immersion techniques and methodologies. This course was unlike any I had ever had: teachers outside on the lawn playing games, throwing balls, dancing, and laughing. Boy, was it fun!

The highlights of the Teacher Seminars are visits to the surrounding summer camps, called Villages. There are Villages for 15 different languages scattered throughout Minnesota, Georgia, New Jersey, as well as overseas. When you step into a Language Village, you truly enter another culture. Villagers go through customs, exchange money, and dive into an immersion environment. Even the buildings and food are authentic.

Visiting Lac du Bois, the French Village, I learned a wealth of songs and activities to take to my classroom back home. I saw kids and teens speaking much more French than my students did in class. And they were having fun. From that point on, I put my textbook aside and attempted to give my students a fun, interactive, relevant experience. I also created my very own French day camp.

Even more powerful was the day I spent in the Finnish Village. No, I don't speak Finnish--or at least I didn't until I wanted to eat lunch. Every language teacher needs to relive the experience of learning a language as a true novice. It is an important reminder of what it's like in our students' shoes.

Out of 4 stars, I rate Concordia Language Villages Teacher Seminars a 5!