French and Italian Explorer's Club at Lago del Bosco!
Published: December 11, 2019
New this summer, Concordia Language Villages will offer a two-week Tour du Monde / Giro del Mondo (tour of the world) program. This Explorer's Club program takes place at Lago del Bosco, the Italian Language Village in Hackensack, Minnesota, and is an opportunity to use your French or Italian learning in a new way!
This bilingual program is inspired by the French and Italian explorers who came to Minnesota and is a great fit for villagers who are already able to communicate basic daily needs in either French or Italian.
Discover historic figures such as Robert de LaSalle, who claimed the entire Mississippi River basin for France and Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut for whom the city of Duluth is named. Also learn about Giacomo Beltrami from Bergamo, Italy who searched for the source of the Mississippi by canoe, or the French-Canadian voyageurs, who traveled the lakes and streams of Minnesota during the fur trade era. Delving into this history helps global citizens understand the cultural and environmental landscape of North America.
The program culminates in a Tour du Monde / Giro del Mondo just like Marco Polo, Amerigo Vespucci, or Marquette and Joliet. During this excursion to our Turtle River site, we will camp and canoe while visiting other Language Villages such as Waldsee (German), Lac du Bois (French), Sjölunden (Swedish), Al-Wāḥa (Arabic), El Lago del Bosque (Spanish) and fellow explorers at Les Voyageurs (French).
This program takes place at our Hackensack site, which is known for its stunning beauty and classic camp charm. Situated between two lakes, villagers are immersed in a serene and pristine natural setting. Explorers Club takes place during Lago del Bosco sessions, so the main language context is Italian, with participants having certain times of day for bilingual language development.
Explorers Club villagers chose to focus on Italian or French for one daily language group time slot. Students choosing a French focus will also participate in a French only table for breakfast, and the option of a free-time choice activity in French, as well as participating daily in the bilingual Explorers Club.
During Explorers Club meeting times, cultural, historic and wilderness lessons will be taught in Italian and French, resulting in about 50/50 French/Italian. During our overnight excursion to the Turtle River site, the Explorers Club experiences a variety of language immersions - we are exploring and using comprehension skills at all of our host sites, attempting communication in the host language, as well as having an extended opportunity for French/Italian bilingual immersion with Explorers Club counselors.
-Sign up for session LH72, and be sure to fill out the villager survey after registering. This is where you’ll enroll in this program within a program and let us know if your main focus will be French or Italian. Interested? Click here for more information.