Spanish exchange for ds aged 16

[mountaingirl]

Hello. Does anyone know of a Spanish exchange trip that Ds 16 might be able to do? Would love him to improve his Spanish. Thanks.

[alice15]

Yes, I can thoroughly recommend an excellent website, which works like a dating agency but for teenage language exchanges. The address is

www.lingoo.eu

You pay 50 euros to join and then can post a profile to receive offers from other potential partners. There is a system for checking references etc if need be. We have been members for 2 years now. My daughter is 16 and studying French and Spanish. Because more people from mainland Europe seem to want to learn English than the other way round, we have had a huge choice of exchange partners from both France and Spain. As you can email the other families before making a committment, and see their profiles, etc, there is a much better chance of finding an exchange partner with similar interests than there would be if you were randomly allocated someone. Last year, my daughter did an exchange with a French girl via Lingoo (2 weeks each way), and they got on so well that they are doing the same thing again this year. She has also partnered with a Spanish girl for this year, who is coming over to us next week, and my daughter will go there in the summer. In both cases we have got to know the other family beforehand via Facebook, and it has been a really excellent experience. My daughter is going to do both languages for A level now, she enjoyed it so much. Feel free to send me a message privately if you would like more information.

[alice15]

PS - you can browse other people's profiles before joining, so you don't have to pay your 50 euros until you see if you like the look of it or not!

[roisin]

Wow! What a brilliant site alice! Thank you so much for the link.

Why have we not heard of this before on Mumsnet? It's a frequently asked question.

[alice15]

Because I've only just started posting?!! - but I only found it via google on the first place, so I don't think it's a closely guarded secret or anything!

[Renniehorta]

Well done Alice15 for such a positive post. It is excellent that your dd wanted to do this and you encouraged her.

There is no substitute in language learning to going and living in the country and being emersed in he language Young people usually come back enthralled and very keen to carry their studies to the next level

Roisin well done to you for encouraging your ds. i am sure that it will be equally positve.

[mountaingirl]

Alice15 thank you for that I will look at the site it sounds very interesting. Do kids not do exchange trips nowadays? It seems very difficult to find any info on it. Thanks again.