English Immersion and Cultural Exchange Program with Academia Naval Almirante Illingworth in Ecuador 2018

The English immersion and cultural exchange program with Academia Naval Almirante Illingworth’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program in Ecuador provides these IB students with an opportunity to enhance their English language speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in an immersion environment and develop a deeper understanding of U.S. culture and society.  The students will attend customized English courses taught by native speakers, with a focus on the topics of social relationships, communications and media, and global issues.  Their immersion will include living with U.S. host families, spending a week shadowing a peer at one of the local high schools, and engaging in after school group activities at the high school and the university with peers and university student facilitators.  The Ecuadorian students will also have the opportunity to visit important U.S. cultural sites in Chico and San Francisco.  These sites may include Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park, Bidwell Park, Muir Woods National Monument, the Golden Gate Bridge, and a historic San Francisco Bay cruise and Fisherman’s Wharf upon arrival in San Francisco.

This program will allow the Ecuadorian IB students and their teacher chaperones to improve their English language capabilities, create positive and lasting relationships with U.S. peers and teachers, and develop a more nuanced understanding of the U.S.  It will also benefit the Chico area families and high schools, as well as the university students and professors at CSU, Chico by providing them with a chance to live, study, and work with these Ecuadorian students and their teacher chaperones.