Concordia Language Villages hires both year-round and seasonal staff. Year-round roles include administration, culinary arts, maintenance and more. Seasonal roles work directly with our villagers throughout the year, in both virtual and overnight programs in northern Minnesota. Summer staff applications open in December.
Learn more and find current job openings here.
Designed specifically for military members, Concordia College is one of the Language Training Centers (LTC) across the country funded by the Defense Language and National Security Education Office and administered by the Institute of International Education. These immersion training courses are only available to individuals associated with units of the U.S. Department of Defense.
Learn more here.
Not at all! Parents/guardians do not need to have any previous experience with language learning and are not expected to provide language support at home. They do, however, need to provide encouragement and a good environment for learning, ensure regular attendance and purchase any necessary supplies prior to the first meeting day. A supply list will be provided in advance. Additionally, parents/guardians will need to sign a consent form for participation in the program and agree together to an appropriate code of conduct that we will have in place.
We can accommodate most medically-verifiable food allergies, vegetarian and vegan diets, dairy-free alternatives, celiac disease, allergy announcements at all mealtimes and a basic menu overview for diabetic planning.
We cannot accommodate allergy to aerosolized allergens, sensory-related or selective eating habits, kosher/halal/gluten-free kitchens, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders, special or individualized diets (FODMAP, Keto, etc.), provision of specific carbohydrate counts and multiple allergies in Villages where those ingredients are a predominant part of the cuisine and/or no realistic alternatives can be found.
Most of our villagers attend for the entire four-week credit session with the rare occasion of an early departure. If this is something that occurs, we work with you and the school to determine appropriate amount of credit earned at time of departure.
Scholarships are available for summer overnight programs. See our Scholarship page for more information.
Your high school credit teachers will be a mix of classroom teachers, native speakers and recent graduates with significant experience abroad. Many counselors are also former villagers. Each village has a core team of credit teachers and a credit facilitator. They work alongside the entire staff to create an exciting and enriching program that interacts with the two-week and other language program participants while they are in session. Your credit villager will interact with many of the staff, some who focus on other parts of the Language Village immersive experience such as at the bank, store, waterfront, arts and crafts area and sports. Your credit villager can be expected to be engaged in the language by staff trained to respond to learners in order to guide them in the learning process.
Please check in with your school administration to see if you school accepts high school credit from outside sources, like Concordia Language Villages. The Language Villages are accredited by Cognia and you can have your school review an example of the course catalog, curriculum framework and course syllabus.
Prior to the beginning of the session, you will be given a language background self-assessment to help teachers evaluate the appropriate placement level for your language experience. You will be grouped with other villagers of comparable ability, and teachers will check in with you regularly to ensure that you are feeling comfortable yet challenged to grow.
If you miss your synchronous sessions, it becomes very difficult to complete the 180 hours needed for the full year credit to be recommended. If you miss up to 18 hours of the program (any combination of synchronous and asynchronous) for valid reasons (health issues, etc.), your instructor may allow you to make them up. If you miss more than that or do not complete your asynchronous assignments during the session, you will not be recommended to receive the credit.
Approximately half of your time will be synchronous—virtually meeting with your teachers and fellow villagers. During this time, you will receive language instruction, interact with other credit villagers, play games, participate in cultural activities and form teams to compete and cooperate with other teams in digital challenges! For 24-week, academic-year credit program sessions, virtual activities occur in the late afternoon or early evening, Central Time. Please check the specific dates and times for the session in which you are interested—available on that Village's webpage. Your credit teachers will provide you with a detailed schedule of meeting times at the beginning of the session, but please make sure that you are available for synchronous programming between these hours.
Approximately half of your time will be asynchronous—offline at your own pace. During this time, you will complete homework challenges, do self-directed research on interesting topics assigned by your teacher and engage in cultural portfolio projects. Depending on goals defined by you and your credit teachers, you may also be asked to create a work of art and show it, learn to sing a song and then perform it or cook a cultural recipe for your family and take a picture of them eating it.
Fall-Spring, high school credit program sessions meet synchronously for two to three hours twice a week, with approximately two and a half hours of asynchronous work per week, in between class meetings. A typical day might contain two separate group sessions, supported independent work, interactive games, cultural immersion projects, a long-term portfolio project, research assignment and homework. You can earn one year's worth of high school credit, 180 hours, in this 24-week intensive course which is accredited by Cognia. This is the same “hour” requirement as our overnight programs at the Language Villages in northern Minnesota.
Our virtual high school credit program is built around real-time interaction with highly qualified instructors. Every day of instruction you will engage with your teachers and fellow students in small learning cohorts. You will have the opportunity to explore a wide variety of cultural activities and play games in the languages. In short, you will not just earn a full year of credit, but will also be fully immersed to expand your communicative and cultural competence. Other less expensive online options offer very little live contact, so no options for conversational development. Most other programs are online textbooks or lessons that teach grammar and vocabulary in a one-dimensional sense; Concordia Language Villages programs are interactive, with instructors and other participants, bringing the language and culture alive.
Transportation services incur additional charges. We do not provide notebooks, pens or paper; you are advised to bring your own study materials. Bedding and towels are not included.
Our sessions include housing (bedding is not included), meals, activities, instruction and instruction materials. Limited dictionaries and basic textbooks are available.
We cannot accommodate allergy to aerosolized allergens, sensory-related or selective eating habits, kosher/halal/gluten-free kitchens, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders, special or individualized diets (FODMAP, Keto, etc.), provision of specific carbohydrate counts and multiple allergies in Villages where those ingredients are a predominant part of the cuisine and/or no realistic alternatives can be found.
We can accommodate most medically-verifiable food allergies, vegetarian and vegan diets, dairy-free alternatives, celiac disease, allergy announcements at all mealtimes and a basic menu overview for diabetic planning.
Our culinary staff are experts in kid-friendly culturally appropriate foods – from breakfast to four-course dinners. Your child will have the opportunity to try some foods they’ve never had before. Every Village has the basics, too. We are able to accommodate special dietary needs on a limited basis, with advance notice. When registering for a program you will be asked about any allergies or dietary restrictions.
Every Village is a little different. Each cabin has 8-16 beds. We house 2-4 counselors of the same gender in each cabin. In alignment with American Camp Association guidelines, we house by gender, not biological sex, and we ask that all villagers and staff live in a cabin that best fits their gender identity in everyday life. We offer gender-inclusive housing in some Villages and sessions, in which villagers of any gender can live in a cabin together. Parents/guardians must request this option; it will not be assigned by default. Please see our Summer Youth Handbook for more details. If your villager has a roommate request, we make every effort to honor housing requests. Please have both villagers complete the bunk request form found in the registration system.
The staff is comprised of adults of all ages. Our staff comes from all over the world. They are native speakers or students and teachers of the language. Some of our staff have been past villagers in the program. Our overall staffing ratio is 1:4 and meets or exceeds national standards for overnight camps. The staffing ratio reflects the total number of staff in a Village who are responsible for engaging with and supervising participants, as teachers, counselors and program leaders. The overall ratio varies from activity to activity during the course of the Village day, from large-group instruction to small-group interaction. Your child will also have the opportunity for many individual conversations to further develop language and culture skills. Concordia Language Villages hires staff members with the safety of your children foremost in our mind. We hire carefully. We train carefully. We supervise carefully. We follow camp industry best practices, and our approach complies with standards of our accrediting agency, American Camp Association, as well as pertinent laws and insurance regulations.
Each Language Village has a unique and culturally influenced daily schedule. Your child’s day will be packed with fun activities, learning and excitement! Activities are conducted in the target language and are culturally based. Crafts, playing soccer, dancing, cooking and swimming in the lake are just a few activities that can be found in each Village.
Learning a language certainly takes time. Villagers come to us at all levels. We strive to meet language learners at their individual developmental and linguistic levels. Our programs offer the opportunity to interact with others using the target language in an encouraging and supportive environment. This kind of real communication is impossible to replicate by using a textbook or computer program. Villagers gain many important language skills. They will leave with an enthusiasm to continue learning about the world. They will have a sense that learning this language is something they CAN do, and they enjoy doing. They will be motivated to go on and to discover more about other languages and cultures. It is our goal to send your child home from one of the most academically and culturally enriching, and personally transforming experiences, of their young life.
We think that summer camp is a perfect time for children to rediscover the art of the letter. We recommend sending stamped, addressed envelopes along with stationary and writing supplies, though stamps and stationery will be available in the camp store, as well. Please note, because of our beautiful rural setting, mail takes a few days longer to arrive than it would coming out of a larger metropolitan area. Parents are encouraged to send physical letters as well—mailing a letter a few days before camp starts can ensure that it arrives in the first few days of camp—but there is also an email portal in the registration system that you can use to send messages to your villager.
We are an unplugged camp, so we will hold cell phones, gaming devices and other electronics with internet connectivity in the camp office until your villager returns. Four-week villagers will receive their cell phones back at the halfway point of camp when they go into town to do laundry. You can expect them to call between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning, depending on their Village’s weekend schedule.
In a word—no! Our counselors are all accomplished in the target language and have been deemed ready to teach it in their interview with the dean. Approximately 1/5th to 1/3rd of our staff are native speakers of the target language, so we can challenge language learners who are quite advanced. Expect your more advanced camper to come home with an expanded vocabulary, more familiarity with idioms and a repertoire of folk songs to sing in the shower (all of this is true for our beginning campers, as well)!
Typically we are unable to accommodate an age request. The program content is designed to be appropriate for the developmental level specific to the session's age group. For more information, contact our enrollment team at clvregister@cord.edu.
The Villages are designed to be fun and accessible to campers who have never studied the language, so there is no minimum amount your child needs to know to learn and have fun! Any language study your child can do before camp is wonderful and can be a leg up on the first day of camp. If this isn’t possible, please know that we have been running language immersion summer camps since 1961, and we’ve developed a lot of techniques to convey meaning even through a language barrier. We will be using props, gestures, signs and other methods to convey meaning. Our health centers, however, operate in English, so we can be sure that campers know exactly what is going on concerning their health and safety.
Consider the age and interest of your child. One-week sessions are called “exploration sessions,” giving the villager an introduction to language learning in an immersion setting. Two-week sessions, our most popular program, are for both first time and returning villagers. They are designed to provide a more in-depth immersion experience and new activities are offered every summer. All language speakers, from beginning to advanced (immersion school students and fluent speakers included), are challenged at their appropriate level. Four-week credit sessions can earn the villager high school and are intensive and innovative programs for older students.
We can accommodate most medically-verifiable food allergies, vegetarian and vegan diets, dairy-free alternatives, celiac disease, allergy announcements at all mealtimes and a basic menu overview for diabetic planning.
We cannot accommodate allergy to aerosolized allergens, sensory-related or selective eating habits, kosher/halal/gluten-free kitchens, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders, special or individualized diets (FODMAP, Keto, etc.), provision of specific carbohydrate counts and multiple allergies in Villages where those ingredients are a predominant part of the cuisine and/or no realistic alternatives can be found.
We do not have highchairs or cribs available. Please bring a travel crib and a portable highchair, if needed. Toddlers need to be able to sleep in a twin bed on their own (otherwise please bring a travel crib), and will be allowed only in the lower-level bunk beds.
Language development sessions will be separate for children and adults; they are also divided by language ability. Activities like sports, crafts, nature hikes, swimming and cooking can be attended by both children and adults as a family or individually, depending on interest. We do not provide babysitting services. Younger children may need a parent to accompany them throughout the day and that may affect the extent to which that parent can focus on his or her own language learning process. During large group activities, our staff works to group families in numerous ways, either by family, by age or by language level.
Our program is meant to keep you busy with language and culture learning during the whole week and our goal is to immerse you completely into the target language/culture. In order to not interfere with the sense of immersion, there is no time scheduled for leaving the program and site. We encourage you to take in the sites of the Bemidji area before or after the program.
We typically house two to three families (or more, depending on the facility and the size of family units) together in a cabin; staff does not live with you. Our cabins house 12-14 people, depending on the site. Bathroom facilities are either directly in the housing unit or a short walk down the path. Within each cabin, families are accommodated in semi-private areas. We do our best to put similar families together, considering gender of participants and the ages of children. If you would like to share a cabin with another family, please note this on your registration form.
Once your request has been received we will post to your account in 10 business days.
Please provide your child with a prepaid Visa, Discover or MasterCard for potential airline fees and meals while waiting at airport for departure. Please pay for all applicable baggage fees prior to our child's departure. If you have paid the baggage and unaccompanied minor fees for the return flight, please include the payment receipt with your villager's travel documents.
We're happy to assist summer youth overnight villagers with getting to their village. All summer programs require a transportation form to indicate how your villager will be arriving and departing from the program. This form is found in the Document Center of your account and will be available in April. You must complete this form to secure your service no later than three weeks prior to the beginning of your session. You can find details about our travel options on our website. For family and adult programs, most participants drive to our sites in private vehicles. For a fee, limited transportation options may be available from the nearest regional airport. For questions, please contact our Transportation team at viltrans@cord.edu.
Drop-off and pick-up is at the designated Village check-in point (follow the signs). Day camps run Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
The closing program begins at 10 a.m. Parents may arrive on-site at 9:30 a.m. If parents are late arriving for pick-up, staff will attempt to contact parents first and then the emergency numbers provided.
Check-in takes place from 2-4:30 p.m. Prior to the Village opening, our staff is using every moment to prepare, so early arrivals cannot be accommodated.
Our staff bring a new set of talents every session so there is something new to learn. Staying in the target language means we can recognize very quickly the language skills of different villagers, and even if they have been to the Language Villages before, there will be plenty of new language exposure.
Speaking the language to villagers, without using English, is a hallmark of immersion language learning. We use many learning techniques to help comprehension: gestures, pictures, pointing, facial expressions, actual objects, mime, repetition, examples and demonstrations, just to name a few. “Context” is important, meaning everything is grounded in daily life at the Language Villages to help language learners understand. We make deliberate use of routines and normal activity. Staff will use English with villagers for health and safety reasons, and also at times to make sure that everyone is feeling comfortable no matter what their language level. If a villager is a beginner, you can rest assured that we will make it fun and understandable!
Villagers come to us at all levels and we strive to meet language learners at their individual developmental and linguistic levels. Our programs offer the opportunity to interact with others using the target language in an encouraging and supportive environment. This kind of real communication is impossible to replicate by using a text book or computer program. Villagers gain many important language skills. They will leave with an enthusiasm to continue learning about the world. They will have a sense that learning this language is something they CAN do, and they enjoy doing. They will be motivated to go on and to discover more about other languages and cultures. It is our goal to send each villager home from one of the most academically and culturally enriching, and personally transforming experiences of his or her life, no matter their age.
With many languages to choose from, this can be a tough decision! Some villagers choose a language to learn more about their family’s heritage. Young villagers may base their choice on what language is offered at their school; in this way the Village experience can serve as an extension to classroom learning. Both youth and adult villagers may opt for trying a second or third language. No matter your age or motivation, you're sure to find a program that's right for you.
For overnight sessions, villagers' language levels are evaluated when they arrive and are placed in language groups with others of the same ability as them. Throughout each day, villagers have language sessions will this smaller language group. Other times during the day will be spent with mixed levels, participating in activities, meals, evening programs and campfire. For virtual programs, we evaluate proficiency using standardized forms prior to the start of the session and place villagers in the appropriate group based on current knowledge and skill.
No; we welcome all experience levels into our programs!
Please provide your child with a prepaid Visa, Discover or MasterCard for potential airline fees and meals while waiting at airport for departure. Please pay for all applicable baggage fees prior to our child's departure. If you have paid the baggage and unaccompanied minor fees for the return flight, please include the payment receipt with your villager's travel documents.
Once your request has been received we will post to your account in 10 business days.
To see the status of your account at any time, please log in to the registration system.
Funds for your villager to use on site will now be deposited online into their villager's Camp Store account through UltraCamp. Follow these steps to deposit money to your villager’s Camp Store Account:
1. Log-in to your Concordia Language Villages Account.
2. Click on the 3 bars to the left of "Reservations."
3. In the drop down menu, select ‘Camp Store’ and then "Store Deposits".
4. You can choose to have the remaining balance donated to Concordia Language Villages, refunded to the original method of payment or left in your account to be used towards future registrations. PLEASE NOTE: If you have an outstanding registration balance on your account, any unspent Camp Store funds will be applied there first.
We do not have ATMs available.
Please do not bring cash to camp, beyond what is necessary for travel. Villagers will have a daily opportunity to purchase items in our village stores. Spending money must be deposited electronically to their Camp Store account prior to arrival. Families may not send cash or check to camp. The amount of money needed should be based on the length of stay, villager’s activities and your budget. T-shirts are priced at $5 to $30, sweatshirts at $30 to $65, and $20-$25 per week for snacks is sufficient. Please note, snacks are provided daily through our culinary department as part of our comprehensive meal service. Snacks for purchase at the store are additional.
Transportation services incur additional charges. We do not provide notebooks, pens or paper; you are advised to bring your own study materials. Bedding and towels are not included.
Our sessions include housing (bedding is not included), meals, activities, instruction and instruction materials. Limited dictionaries and basic textbooks are available.
Monthly installments are accepted for summer youth programs only. During registration, the monthly installment option is available. If you wish to add/remove monthly installments after registration is complete, please contact the Finance Office at (218) 299-4350.
Our financial policies are strictly applied to ensure our ability to continue our mission and programs. The registration fee offsets some but not all of the fixed and unrecoverable expenses we incur to plan and prepare to offer a program, and is refundable within 72 hours from the date of registration.
Prior to 90 days from your session start date: If cancellation is received prior to 90 days ahead of the session start date, a 100 percent (100%) refund of paid tuition and transportation fees, less the non-refundable registration and processing fees, will be processed. Upon cancellation, all discounts and scholarships will be forfeited.
At 90 days prior to your session start date: 50% of the total session fees are due and become non-refundable. If registering less than 90 days prior to the session start date, payment of 50% of the total session fees is required at the time of registration and is non-refundable.
One month prior to your session start date: All session fees must be paid in full and become non-refundable. If registering less one month prior to the session start date, full payment is required at the time of registration and is non-refundable. If the pay in full date falls on a weekend, payment is expected on Monday after that date.
Less than one month from your session start date: If a cancellation is received less than 30 days prior to the session start date, no refunds will be given for paid tuition, but fees for any unused transportation may be eligible for a refund. Villagers who do not report to a session will not receive a tuition refund.
Less than 5 days prior to arrival or departure: Transportation fees are non-refundable.
CANCELLATION/INTERRUPTION INSURANCE (Summer youth programs only): The Travel/Camper Protection Plan for summer youth programs is available for purchase during the online registration process and if purchased, may protect up to the full cost of your session, and includes a variety of other benefits should the need arise. This insurance is offered through Travel Insured International and is not directly affiliated with Concordia Language Villages. If you have questions regarding claims, please call Travel Insured at 844-440-8113.
Payment in full is required no later than 30 days prior to start of session. Registrations that take place after payment in full date must be paid in full at the time of registration. Cancellations and registrations are considered received in our office by referring to the postmark date or timestamp of your email or phone call. Registration fees are non-refundable.
For youth sessions, medications must be provided in the original packaging (or approved pill-packs). Medications are held at the Health Center and distributed by our staff at the appropriate times. For family sessions, parents/guardians are considered the primary caretaker and responsible for the well-being of themselves as well as the children in their care. Medication must be left in the cabins/living space of each family and is the responsibility of the adults in the family.
When you arrive at the Villages, you will meet with the Village health care team to check in and review any medication you might be taking or specific health care needs you might have. If you feel sick later on, you can visit the health center during their daily office hours. And it’s also normal to miss home if you’re away for the first time. Your counselors want to make sure you’re having a good time; they’ll be there for you.
Every Village has a Health Center and a designated healthcare provider onsite. Healthcare staff complete an orientation that includes review of medical protocols from our program’s supervising physician. The scope of service provided by our Health Center staff is limited to care of routine illness and injury; we do not have physicians in residence. At minimum, each Village has a staff person credentialed in first aid and CPR.
The staff is comprised of adults of all ages from all over the world. They are native speakers or students and teachers of the language, and some are past villagers in the program. Concordia Language Villages hires staff members with the safety of villagers foremost in our mind. We hire carefully. We train carefully. We supervise carefully. We follow camp industry best practices, and our approach complies with standards of our accrediting agency, American Camp Association, as well as pertinent laws and insurance regulations.
Read and follow the application guidelines carefully. Consider languages with smaller programs or more funding, such as Arabic, Finnish, German, Korean, Norwegian or Swedish. If you received a scholarship last year, make sure you've sent us a thank you letter!
The Concordia Language Villages scholarship committee reviews scholarship applications. Information provided with your application will be kept entirely confidential. Passport Fund scholarships are based on financial need, determined by family size and adjusted gross income. Special circumstances are also noted. Typically, families with an AGI of $60,000 or less are considered first.
A typical scholarship covers no more than 30% of the cost of tuition. For more detailed information, please contact clvregister@cord.edu.
No. It is our policy to award no more than 90% of the cost of the tuition.
Scholarships are non-transferable. This includes transferring scholarships between languages, between years and between family members. Some scholarships can be transferred between sessions in the same language during the same summer. Please contact clvregister@cord.edu to discuss your options if you must change sessions.
We hope you are still able to join us at camp! If you cannot attend due to financial reasons, please see if there are additional scholarship opportunities for the language you are attending, or you could consider switching to a language with more scholarship funding available. Generally speaking, we have the most scholarship funding in Arabic, Finnish, German, Korean, Norwegian and Swedish. If a shorter camp session would be more affordable, you can contact our Registration office at clvregister@cord.edu to discuss changing sessions. The money you have already paid is transferable to a different session within the same summer or an immediate family member if that person is attending during the same summer. We offer monthly payment plans through our Finance department. The final option would be to cancel your registration. If you cancel within two weeks of notification of your scholarship award, your registration fee, and any payments you have made, will be fully refunded. Any cancellations after the deadline are subject to our cancellation policies.
We will send out award letters approximately 2-3 weeks after submitting a complete application. The letter will include the following information: 1) if you have or have not been awarded a gift, 2) the amount of the gift and 3) a return form to accept or decline the award.
For scholarship questions, please email clvregister@cord.edu. For payment questions, please email clvfinance@cord.edu.
You will need to register for a session and complete the application found in the Forms and Documents section of the parent portal.
Scholarships are available for youth overnight and Virtual Village sessions. We prioritize awarding to families with Adjusted Gross Incomes of $60,000 or less. Sometimes our volume of applications is high enough that we are not able to award to everyone who would otherwise qualify for a scholarship. It never hurts to apply, as the funds available vary based on the language program chosen. We have a limited number of scholarships available for Norwegian and German adult overnight sessions. Family and Day Camp sessions are not eligible for Passport Fund scholarships.
The deadline for first-round consideration is February 5, 2025; recipients will be notified by March 1. Applications for second-round consideration are due March 5, 2025; recipients will be notified by late April1. We will continue accepting applications until funding is exhausted. More funds are available for some languages than others. We will provide information about where funding is still available on the website and in relevant forms.
Your teachers will be a mix of native speakers and highly proficient second language speakers. Credit teachers are experienced in teaching language and culture in the U.S. and/or internationally. Those students who have participated in our overnight programs may already know these credit teachers from past summers!
Not at all! Parents/guardians do not need to have any previous experience with language learning and are not expected to provide language support at home. They do, however, need to provide encouragement and a good environment for learning, ensure regular attendance and purchase any necessary supplies prior to the first meeting day. A supply list will be provided in advance. Additionally, parents/guardians will need to sign a consent form for participation in the program and agree together to an appropriate code of conduct that we will have in place.
Just like in the overnight programs at the Language Villages, the Virtual Village experience aims to be as immersive as possible. Instruction will be in the language you are learning. We will share some helpful strategies for learning in a virtual immersion environment at the beginning of the session. In the event that there are significant technical or other unforeseen issues, English may be used sparingly to get us back on track.
To best take advantage of this interactive experience, you will need a reliable internet connection and a computer with access to a microphone, speakers and webcam; headphones are recommended but not required. Use of Chromebooks are not recommended as you cannot access all the features of the Virtual Village platform. High school credit villagers will access Google Classroom to submit assignments. As a program of Concordia College, we are coordinating our efforts with the college so that all virtual platforms will have the necessary and appropriate security features to protect the privacy of users, including compliance with FERPA and COPPA.
Adult Class programs are focused on developing your language skills through formal instruction, held for one hour twice per week. Adult Conversation programs are focused on developing your language skills through informal conversational practice, held for one hour one day each week. Schedules are determined by the program leader, and participants are placed in groups based on proficiency.
Your virtual session counselors will be a mix of classroom teachers, native speakers and college students or recent graduates with significant experience abroad. Many counselors were also villagers for many years.
Yes, we encourage you to try another language or continue in the same language! Typically, the activities offered in a Virtual Village vary from week to week.
The focus in the one-week session is primarily on understanding and engaging in conversations in fun and captivating ways. You will participate in cultural experiences and activities and projects such as artwork and cooking. While you may spend some time reading and writing in your Village language, the primary goal is to develop confidence in speaking the language you’re learning.
One-week sessions will provide approximately two hours per day of virtual instruction and one hour per day of offline activity for five days, Monday-Friday, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Central. The Village staff will provide you with a detailed schedule of meeting times at the beginning of the session, but please make sure that you are available for synchronous programming between these hours. The exact timing of the two hours is not set; we will make every effort to accommodate requests for specific timings from those in different time zones.
You can sign up for these sessions one week at a time. Sessions will focus on basic patterns of language appropriate for different proficiency levels and will draw on real-life, culturally authentic situations (walking in the woods, creating arts and crafts, etc.).
Just like in the residential programs at the Language Villages, the Virtual Village experience aims to be as immersive as possible. Instruction will be in the language you are learning. We will share some helpful strategies for learning in a virtual immersion environment at the beginning of the session. In the event that there are significant technical or other unforeseen issues, English may be used sparingly to get us back on track.
In order to best take advantage of this interactive experience, you will need a reliable internet connection and a computer with access to a microphone, speakers and webcam; headphones are recommended but not required. Use of Chromebooks are not recommended as you cannot access all the features of the Virtual Village platform. High school credit villagers will access Google Classroom to submit assignments. As a program of Concordia College, we are coordinating our efforts with the college so that all virtual platforms will have the necessary and appropriate security features to protect the privacy of users, including compliance with FERPA and COPPA.
Participants are responsible for arranging transportation to adult overnight programs. Most drive themselves to the Village. You may also choose to fly into the nearest airport. For those attending a program at our Turtle River sites near Bemidji, we offer a shuttle to pick you up and return you to the Bemidji Regional Airport (BJI), for a nominal fee.
The cuisine at Concordia Language Villages is culturally appropriate. Be prepared to try new dishes from around the world. Our staff will join you at meals to help you continue to use the target language during your mealtime.
There is a packing list within the confirmation/welcome packet to guide the adult learner in what to bring. Optional items would be any type of musical instrument, target language games or pictures of a recent trip to the target country. The Villages provides all linens, towels, bedding, pillow with pillowcase and Kleenex; participants are required to bring personal clothing, toiletries and bath soap. View a packing list here.
Participants live in winterized residential facilities. We typically house 4-8 participants within a cabin or residential facility. Some facilities have bathrooms and showers in the building, while some bathrooms and showers are in an adjacent building just a short walk away. Staff and leaders are housed separately.
Select scholarships are available for German and Norwegian adult overnight programs, thanks to generous endowments from current and former adult village learners. See our Scholarships page for more details.
We do various activities through large and small group activities. Ethnic crafts, outdoor games, board games, card games may be offered in both the target language and English. While the waterfront will not be open, we invite participants to enjoy seasonal activities including nature walks or biking. (Bikes must be either rented or brought to the Village.)
Language sessions will be separate and divided by language ability. Activities like sports, crafts, music, song, dance and cooking can be attended all participants depending on interest.
Adult weeks and weekends are considered exploratory programs providing learners with the opportunity to interact with others using the target language. This kind of real communication is impossible to replicate by using a textbook! At the same time, participants learn about the culture and traditions of the nations where the language is spoken. We strive to meet language learners at their individual developmental and linguistic levels.
Adult learners must be at least 18 years of age to attend the adult overnight weeks and weekends. Participants come from around the United States and Canada to experience language and culture at Concordia Language Villages. Many are looking towards an introduction to the language. For some, the language is part of their heritage or they are preparing for a trip abroad. Many see the program as a ‘learning vacation’, where they enjoy the unique combination of recreation and instruction. It’s also a great way to get language learners of any adult age to become familiar with the Language Villages. Many of our participants return year after year.
Participants come from around the United States and Canada to experience language and culture at Concordia Language Villages. Many are looking towards an introduction to the language. For some, the language is part of their heritage or they are preparing for a trip abroad. Many see the programs as a ‘learning vacation’, where they enjoy the unique combination of recreation and instruction. It’s also a great way to get language learners of any adult age to become familiar with the Language Villages. Many of our participants return year after year, attend another language adult overnight week, attend a family summer week or send youth to the summer programs.
Adult overnight weekends normally begin on either Thursday or Friday evenings and last through brunch on Sunday or Monday. They provide an excellent introduction to language and culture for beginning learners, as well as a great way to practice existing language skills for more advanced speakers. These programs are held in the spring and fall months at our facilities near Bemidji, Minn.
We define “family” in the broadest terms, including grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, neighbors and friends, as long as there are adults accompanying children.
To provide family members with the optimum immersion learning experience, the program is filled with a variety of structured and informal language learning opportunities. Each program typically includes some personal, unstructured time during the day.
We often have native speakers attend with their families. However, no discounts are available.
