Imagine a world where something as basic as ordering a coffee is difficult because of a language barrier. This is just one of the many challenges that senior Abri Berg signed up for when she chose to study abroad in Zaragoza, Spain, for her junior year.

While most of her friends were stressing over physics tests and history readings, Berg was over four thousand miles away learning about topics that she elected to study such as Spanish Cinema, and Spanish Theatre. Berg was in the classroom wherever she went––whether it be the hallways of the school, a coffee shop, or even the house where she stayed with her host family.

The organization that brought Berg to Spain is called School Year Abroad (SYA). SYA is a program that aims to expose kids to new cultures and to help them strengthen their language skills by completely immersing them in a foreign country. The organization offers year abroad programs to China, Italy, France, and Spain. Wherever students choose to travel, they become fully immersed in the culture of the country, and they live with a host family for the entire time. 

The students filled out surveys, which SYA used to pair them up with host families that they thought would make a good match. “I had a host mom, dad, and sister who was 21,” Berg said. “They were super great hosts and I’m glad that I got the opportunity to meet and bond with them.”

Host families were urged not to speak to the kids in English because they wanted their Spanish to improve. Berg believes that one of the reasons her Spanish improved so much was the fact that she was always using it. 

“I’d say that now I’m very proficient,” Berg said. “I don’t think I’m 100% fluent, because there are always ways to improve yourself, but I am very happy with the level of proficiency that I have developed.” 

While sitting in a classroom with a teacher speaking a language that is not native to her is very difficult, Berg believes that the little unexpected things are what really forced her to develop her Spanish even further. “The full immersion is what pushed me,” Berg said. “The small things like ordering coffee or asking directions are what get you. You are always practicing your Spanish.”

In order to maintain the use of only Spanish, the program offers pledges that are signed by the students for a designated amount of time – usually one or two weeks. “You could take the pledge for as long as you wanted to,” Berg’s fellow SYA student Hannah D’Arche said. 

The no-English policy was strictly enforced by the school’s teachers. “If our Spanish teacher heard us speaking in English, she would scold us,” D’Arche said. “On some occasions, they even threatened us with consequences if we did not clean up our act.”

At SYA there is also a wonderful support system of staff that truly wants to see their students succeed in the program, and become better Spanish speakers. “We had really great support all along the way,” D’Arche said. “The community was all there for one another.”

One integral part of the support system is the host families. “The host family is essential to the program because that’s where I learned a lot of colloquial words and phrases,” D’Arche said. “It is a place where you can make mistakes with less pressure and develop relationships.”

The experience of living in a country for an entire year is something that interests lots of people. Junior Ellie Buono will be taking a year abroad to Zaragoza with SYA as well. 

“I’m very excited to become fluent in another language,” Buono said. “I chose Spain specifically so that I could learn Spanish faster than I could back home in high school.”

Taking a year abroad is a unique opportunity that not many high school students get to experience. “I definitely would recommend it to anyone who either wants to improve their Spanish or just experience a new culture,” Berg said. “I think the best way to learn a language is to throw yourself into a country that only speaks that language.