Bethanne is a recipient of the Bob & Edie Green Writing Scholarship. Read Bethanne's essay.

At Xperitas, we strive to make our transformative language immersion programs available to students who might not otherwise have the means to participate. Now, we are excited to announce a new merit-based scholarship opportunity for our participants: The Bob & Edie Green Writing Scholarship!

That’s a wrap, folks! In 2019 French, German, Spanish and Mandarin Chinese language students traveled abroad with Xperitas to nine different countries to enjoy an intercultural immersion experience!

We recently talked to Beth Lillskau, a German teacher at Prairie Schools in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, about the wonderful exchange program she has with Gymnasium Ebingen, a high school located in Albstadt, Germany.

Xperitas announces a new merit-based scholarship opportunity for our participants: The Bob & Edie Green Writing Scholarship! These scholarships are in addition to need-based financial aid grants awarded to qualifying students every year. 

If your school’s German program has a GAPP exchange partner school, or if you are looking to establish one and start sending students aboard, partnering with Xperitas may be a great way to help you reach your program’s educational goals. 

The focus of the conference is on program planning and preparation. Teachers and Leaders meet individually with their Program Manager and international partners to review program details and finalize plans. Both teachers and Xperitas staff benefitted from having one-on-one face time, and the opportunity to discuss their itineraries and activities in detail.

One of the highlights of our annual Global Leaders Conference is announcing the recipient of our Xperitas Alumni Scholarship. This January, we were pleased to announce that we have selected Daniel Brand, of University Lake School in Hartland, Wisconsin, as the winner of the 2019 Xperitas Alumni Scholarship.

Xperitas is dedicated to providing cultural and language immersion experiences that advance our mission, and for that reason we believe it is vital to show support for language programs and language teachers while advocating for study abroad programs. On February 19 and 20, Xperitas Executive Director Leslie Gale and Director of Language programs Jenny Behrens traveled to Washington, D.C., to join the Minnesota delegation at Language Advocacy Day, sponsored by the Joint National Committee for Language.

Leo was a seventh-grader at Minnetonka Middle School East when he attended an informational meeting about his school’s upcoming Xperitas language immersion program to Spain. Leo away walked from the meeting inspired and determined to participate the following year. Read his story and how he successfully raised funds for his program abroad.

Each year, Xperitas holds a photo contest, which provides an opportunity for all of that year’s immersion program participants to share their experience with the larger Xperitas community (and the opportunity to win prizes!). This year we were blown away by the volume and quality of entries we received. 

Xperitas was honored with the Pro Lingua Award, “in recognition of outstanding service to and support of education in world languages and cultures. It is bestowed “in recognition of outstanding service to and support of education in world languages and cultures." 

Virginie Donzo, French Program Manager, reflects on her summer language immersion travel program to France with an Xperitas group composed of three schools from Minnesota and Illinois. 

Katharina McCawley, German Programs Manager, reflects on her German immersion program travels with group of three schools from Washington and Illinois.

Emma Rojas, Spanish Program Manager, reflects on her immersion travel programs to Mexico and Peru with student groups from the United States.

After reviewing all the feedback and input from our post-travel surveys, we’d like to take this opportunity to share some of the results with the Xperitas community.

This June, The Blake School, an independent high school in Minneapolis, departed for a Mandarin Chinese immersion program with Xperitas. The educational journey was a result of a year of preparation planning between the school’s language department, Xperitas and our partners in Asia to develop a six-week-long program.

Xperitas team members bumped into Jill Gabel, of Fargo, North Dakota, at a recent parent meeting we attended at an area high school. Jill was a high school student participant in a French immersion program thirty years ago with ISE (now Xperitas), and now has two sons in our programs.

During the Spring 2018 travel season (March - May), Xperitas groups traveled to seven different countries for French, German and Spanish language immersion experiences. Overall, it sure sounds like it was a great spring for our language immersion programs!

While many parents speak directly to the positive impacts of their child's cultural and language immersion experience, from things like improved self-confidence to sharpened language and cultural competency skills, many parents also mention that the Xperitas program was a learning experience for their entire family.

Barbara Koester's first travel group started small, with only two students from her school. Now, 31 years later, her travel group has grown to 28 students. We asked her advice for high school language teachers looking to get an immersion program approved, and how to turn that program into a consistent success.

All Spring 2018 language immersion program participants have returned home safely from their trips abroad. As we look forward to the summer travel season, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past year, which was one of our best ever!

On this Teacher’s Day, 2018, Xperitas salutes ALL teachers for the crucial role they are playing in developing the young people who will be the decision-makers in our communities for decades to come.  But we especially applaud those teachers that have had the courage and commitment to travel with their students to foreign countries and cultures, each doing their small but vitally important part in creating a generation of young global citizens.

I have been collaborating with Xperitas since 2008 to take my Spanish students overseas, and I cannot imagine working with a more dedicated group of professionals.