For some people going abroad for half a year or even an entire year isn’t an option because of money issues or simply fearing that they won’t catch up again in school. If you just don’t want to be gone for so long but still want to go to another country by yourself various organizations offer such types of summers.
A SUMMER ABROAD:
If you really want to go to another country to just get to know the culture or to live with a family I would recommend a summer abroad. The summer abroad is actually the same as a year abroad with the small difference that it is only in the timespan from June to September. These organizations make sure that you gain the maximum of experience in that short time. The only disadvantage in my opinion is that you depending on where you go can’t get an impression of how school is if they are also on holidays but if you are fine with that then it is a great experience. If you are interested in doing that here is a link to a possible site where you can apply.
A LANGUAGE COURSE:
If the summer abroad doesn’t sound so tempting because of no having school there is the option of doing a language course. In my school (Graz International Bilingual School) a lot of our teachers recommend doing a language in the language you are learning. I have already applied to a language course in Argentina to learn Spanish. It works like that that from 8 to approximately 2 in the afternoon you have courses in a specific language school. When you apply to this type of course you can choose what you are going to focus on. You can focus on speaking and take the course where you just talk to people or a course focusing on something else. I really like this because I Think that of my three options here you really have the option to learn a lot but at the same time have a lot of free time to do sight seeing.
AN AU PAIR JOB:
The third option is for the people who like kids. What a lot of people do in order to earn money and learn the language is doing an au pair year which is also possible to do for the summer break. You live wit a family and take care of kids or sometimes even dogs. For people who like taking care of children this is really a good way of earning a good amount of money and as a bonus you learn the language really well. At our school I know a few people who have done that and really enjoyed it. Here is a link to a page where you can for example sign up as an au pair in Spain. If you are interested you can continue your research starting from there.
https://www.aupair.com/find_family.php?quick_search=search&countryQ=184&language=en