12/12/2007 - AFS-THA Special Orientation organized for YP Participants to Spanish speaking countries.

AFS-THA organized a special orientation for AFS students at Spanish Institute (Instituto Español) on December 8th – 9th, 2007.
Mrs. Michelle Baldassari, Director of Instituto Español, was very pleased and the students had a great time; they were even surprised when the classes finished by saying, “It’s finished already?”

Mrs. Michelle Baldassari had added, “…They were real troopers, as we covered a large amount of material in two days. We were also pleasantly impressed at the good manners that they all have, as they “wai” us and thanked each one of the 5 teachers.

We ended the second day with a question & answer session, conducted by a former AFS student who went to Chile two years ago. Then we did a “Do & Don’t” session, of things to expect, to do and to avoid in South America. I also gave them ideas of presents that they can give to their host families…”

Some students had requested to learn more Spanish and the institute decided to conduct a continuation class of 20 hours scheduled in January.

Mrs. Baldassari added, “We think that this was a great opportunity for the students, most especially for the first weeks after their arrival. These classes will hopefully arm the students with a basic Spanish that will help them quickly to adapt, as well as cut the intensity of “disorientation” and “home-sickness”. We also gave them our email address so that they can contact us to let us know how they are doing and/or in case they are feeling lonely or have any frustrations/problems. We are very enthusiastic and hope we can continue these classes for AFS students going to Spanish-speaking countries. Thank you again for the opportunity of setting up this program.”

This was the first Spanish course that AFS-THA organized for participants. It was successful and the Instituto Español expressed the request to organize this Special Orientation Course again for the upcoming year.

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