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Concordia Language Villages | |
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Address | |
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901 8th St. S. Moorhead , Minnesota 56562 United States | |
Coordinates | 47°33′1″N94°43′42″W / 47.55028°N 94.72833°W |
Information | |
Motto | "to inspire courageous global citizens" |
Denomination | Lutheran (historical) |
Opened | 1961 |
Founder | Gerhard Haukebo |
Status | Open |
Authority | Concordia College |
Director | Mary Maus Kosir 2020 - present |
Staff | 1300 |
Age | 7to 18 |
Number of students | 11880 |
Student to teacher ratio | 1:5 |
Classes offered | Arabic, Chinese, Danish, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish |
Hours in school day | 24 |
Slogan | N/A (2024) |
Song | N/A (2024) |
Accreditation | Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation; North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement |
Communities served | all 50 U.S. States, more than 25 countries |
Alumni | Chelsea Clinton |
Website | concordialanguagevillages |
Concordia Language Villages (CLV), previously the International Language Villages, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization [1] based in Moorhead, Minnesota which operates a language and cultural immersion [2] program, sponsored by the Concordia College. Languages (15 as of 2023) are taught in summer camps, called "villages". School-year weekend programs are also offered, mostly for Spanish, French, and German. [3] Annually, the program is attended by over 13,000 young people, aged 7–18, from every state of the US, as well as Canada and 31 other countries. [4] It was founded in 1961.
There are architecturally and culturally authentic village sites (Finnish, French, German, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, and Korean) located near Bemidji, Minnesota on Turtle River Lake. There are also leased sites throughout Minnesota, as well as abroad in Switzerland and China.
The road connecting the permanent villages at Turtle River Lake to the county road was purposefully constructed to be winding, to simulate the long trip to the target cultures represented at the villages.[ citation needed ] The original plans for these villages included a train to link all of the villages. Although this idea was scrapped, aspects of it still remain in several buildings. The German village's four-story administration building resembles a German train station and is called the Bahnhof ("train station"). The dining hall at Salolampi, the Finnish language village, is modeled after a famous Finnish train station. Additionally, the Turtle River Lake site has a World Inc. Peace Site with peace poles in the village languages at its heart, near the Norwegian village, Skogfjorden and the Bemidji and Turtle River Lake sites have European road signs in kilometers per hour (imported from Germany, not replications).
Several immigrant buildings have been moved to the permanent sites to show villagers what life was like for early European immigrants. The immigrant cabins at the Norwegian village are original to the site. The German "Haus Sonnenaufgang" was first moved from New Ulm, Minnesota to sit next to the Norwegian ones, but was moved sometime in the early 1990s to the German village near Bemidji, Minnesota.
CLV consists of 15 villages:
Each village is named "Lake of the Woods" in its language (as the villages are situated in the woods next to a lake) with the exception of the English villages "Hometown, USA" and "Hometown, Europe", the Portuguese village "Mar e Floresta" (meaning "Sea and Forest"), and the Arabic village "Al-Wāḥa" (meaning "the oasis"). The Japanese village "Mori no Ike" translates to "Pond of the Forest," but this name was chosen in lieu of the more-literal translation (which would use 林 hayashi 'woods' and 湖 mizuumi 'lake') for length and ease of pronunciation.
Villagers use CLV-issued "passport" booklets to manage their camp bank account and familiarize themselves with the use of a real-life passport. Villagers also go through "customs" upon arrival, which includes the storage of phones or other devices with internet connection, non-target language literature, and food (perishable items are disposed of).
Each language village site has numerous traditions, many of which are related to meals and songs. Meal presentations, in which each food and its name are presented in a short skit before each meal, are a language tool implemented by almost all programs. Many villages also put on a restaurant night for villagers to practice going out using their target language. Restaurants will often be fancy affairs that tend to represent international cuisine and languages that are not represented by the villages, such as Vietnamese, Indian, Thai, or Tibetan.
The cuisine in most villages reflect the ethnic cuisines of the target language. At Waldsee, this means that German regional food, Austrian, Swiss and common import foods like Turkish döner kebab are served. At Lac du Bois, foods of Africa and the Caribbean may be included.
The fusion of American and foreign cultures gives rise to linguistic phenomenon referred to as "Franglais" (French and anglais) or "Denglish" (Deutsch and English), depending on the languages in contact. Examples include "Je need a couteau" ("I need a knife") or "What did you seh at the Kino?" ("What did you see at the movie theatre?"). Villagers at every camp employ a unique variety of code-switching with English and the target language. Site buildings are given names in the target language, are rarely referred to with their English names, even when speaking English. Additionally, some words have been invented by native-speaking staff members for concepts that are not native to the target cultures but daily words in camp life, such as "chipmunk", "poison ivy", and "mosquito repellent".
A typical day at one of the Villages includes cultural and typical summer camp activities. In the target language, villagers might go canoeing, create art projects, play traditional music, practice yoga, play ping pong, or make a film. Camp songs and daily skits are an integral part of the village experience, including at mealtimes, as are jokes, games, and weekend dances, all of which surround campers with the language.
Villagers may sign up for two-week or four-week programs, the latter of which are accredited academic programs which gives students high school credit via "a thematic curriculum, experiential immersion techniques and performance-based assessments." [5] To earn the 180 hours to gain credit at a high school, villagers attend multiple structured classes during the day with a higher level of focus on reading, writing, listening, and conversation. "Credit villagers", as they are often referred to in English, are still able to participate in all-camp activities such as evening programs, sports, arts and crafts, and other unique offerings in each village.
Concordia Language Villages has offered a 10-day, 4-credit graduate level course for teachers in second languages and immersion, along with various adult programs to serve its diverse audience, not all of which are offered in every language. High school credit abroad programs were formerly offered in China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Cameroon, and Argentina.
During the summer, CLV serves youth with villages in the United States. Villagers can stay for one week, two weeks, or four week programs, and it is possible to earn high school or college credit for the time spent being immersed in the language. Wilderness programs during the summer offer additional opportunities to spend time in the outdoors of Minnesota for those who enjoy the environment, exploration, and camping. Many camps also offer other themed programs, such as French African or Swiss culture (which is a blend of the German, French, and Italian villages) or the Middle Ages in combination with theatre. Summer day camps are offered for younger learners who live in the area, and family week programs during the summer serve entire families, even those with young children.
Between September and June, CLV offers weeks and weekends of immersion for adults, families, teachers, and school groups. These programs meet over weekends and long weekends, and each school year has a theme for its weekend.
During each half of the summer, all the camps within driving distance travel to Waldsee, the German camp, for a day-long festival of cultures called International Day, or I-Day. The camps bring out their wares and each has a booth of ethnic food to share, and each camp prepares a short closing performance to share. Each year has a different theme. Additionally, campers in every village learn a choreographed dance to the year's "I-Day song" during the two weeks preceding I-Day. This is a song from a language not covered by the camps; everyone dances to it together during the festival. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, International Day has been postponed until further notice.
Over the years, Concordia Language Villages has been visited by numerous dignitaries and supporters, including:
His Majesty King Harald V of Norway has granted royal patronage to Skogfjorden, the Norwegian Language Village. Patronage is an affirmation from the Royal Family of Norway of the quality educational programming of Concordia Language Villages.
In 2009, Tove Irene Dahl, the dean of Skogfjorden, was named a Knight of the First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, by His Majesty King Harald V of Norway for the advancement of Norwegian language and culture in the United States.
Johannes Rau, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany has also granted personal patronage to Waldsee, the German Language Village. This patronage is symbolic of the strong bonds between the people of Germany and Concordia Language Villages.
Bemidji is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 census. According to 2022 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 15,946, making it the largest commercial center between Grand Forks, North Dakota and Duluth.
Cass Lake is a lake in north central Minnesota in the United States. It is approximately 10 mi (16 km) long and 7 mi (11 km) wide, located in Cass and Beltrami counties, within the Chippewa National Forest and the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, adjacent to its namesake city of Cass Lake. It is the 11th largest lake in Minnesota, and the 8th largest lake lying entirely within the borders of the state.
Finnish Americans comprise Americans with ancestral roots in Finland, or Finnish people who immigrated to and reside in the United States. The Finnish-American population is around 650,000. Many Finnish people historically immigrated to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and the Iron Range of northern Minnesota to work in the mining industry; much of the population in these regions is of Finnish descent.
A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer vacation in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camps are known as campers. Summer school is usually a part of the academic curriculum for a student to make up work not accomplished during the academic year.
English villages are language education institutions which aim to create a language immersion environment for students of English in their own country.
Summer school is a school, or a program generally sponsored by a school or a school district, or provided by a private company, that provides lessons and activities during the summer vacation. Participation in summer schools has been shown to have substantial beneficial effects on education.
Lac du Bois is a French language and culture camp at the Concordia Language Villages based in Minnesota. As with the other Concordia Language Village programs, it is a language immersion program. The Lac du Bois experience is offered on two sites: one in Bemidji, MN and another in Hackensack, MN. A third site, Voyageurs (camp), provides similar language learning with a different curriculum and structure. All Concordia Language Villages programs are accredited by the American Camp Association.
Waldsee is the German immersion program offered by Concordia Language Villages. Located near Bemidji, Minnesota, Waldsee is also the site of North America's first certified passive house, which uses 85% less energy than a house built to the Minnesota Energy Code.
Lake Bemidji State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, on the north shore of 6,765-acre (27.38 km2) Lake Bemidji. The northern half of the park preserves a spruce-tamarack bog. A district of National Park Service rustic structures built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and National Youth Administration in the 1930s is on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is located 5 miles (8.0 km) north of the city of Bemidji.
Sjölunden(Swedish: sjö: lake, lund: grove) is the Swedish language camp site associated with Concordia Language Villages and is located at the Concordia site at Turtle River Lake, near Bemidji, Minnesota. After 30 years without an architecturally authentic Swedish site, the first step towards a village was taken on August 11, 2006 when groundbreaking for the new site took place. Sjölunden can house approximately 85 people at a time.
Minnesota Wing, Civil Air Patrol (MNWG) is one of 52 Wings of Civil Air Patrol and helps fulfill Civil Air Patrol's core missions in Aerospace Education, Cadet Programs, and Emergency Services.
Voyageurs is a French language and culture program at the Concordia Language Villages based in northern Minnesota, United States. Recreating the life of the voyageurs, French fur traders of the 18th-century, campers cook over an open fire, bathe in the lake, and complete a grand voyage by canoe during the two- or four-week stay. All Concordia Language Villages programs are accredited by the American Camp Association.
A language nest is an immersion-based approach to language revitalization in early-childhood education. Language nests originated in New Zealand in the 1980s, as a part of the Māori-language revival in that country. The term "language nest" is a calque of the Māori phrase kōhanga reo. In a language nest, older speakers of the language take part in the education of children through intergenerational language transference. With that, these older fluent speakers act as mentors and help children use the target language in many different settings. The language nest is a program that places focus on local Indigenous cultural practices and perspectives, and with that incorporates traditional activities, cultural products, and Indigenous language discourse. Additionally, the quality of these early childhood immersion programs helps in aiding the development of linguistic and cultural competence for participants.
Al-Wāḥa is an immersion-based Arabic-language camp for students between the ages of 7 and 18 associated with Concordia Language Villages. It was established in 2006 with the help from a grant from the U.S. State Department but maintains no lasting connection with the United States government.
Northern Star Council is a Boy Scout Council headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The council was formerly the Viking Council and Indianhead Council until the two councils merged on July 1, 2005. The council serves communities across central Minnesota and western Wisconsin, encompassing 25 counties.
Skogfjorden is a Norwegian language village and campsite affiliated with the Concordia Language Villages. It is located at the Concordia site at Turtle River Lake near Bemidji, Minnesota, United States. Skogfjorden is a village for language immersion where American villagers come to live and experience Norwegian language and culture.
The Middlebury Language Schools are language schools administered by Middlebury College. Immersion and graduate programs are offered in 13 languages during two-, six-, seven-, or eight-week summer sessions. The schools enroll approximately 1,500 students every summer. The pedagogical approach of the programs relies on immersion-based instruction and acquisition. All students in the Language Schools are required to live on campus and must sign and abide by Middlebury College's "Language Pledge", a pledge to use exclusively their target language during their time in the program.
Alexander Sabino Argüelles is an American linguist notable for his work on the Korean language. An avid language learner, he was profiled in Michael Erard's Babel No More. He is one of the polyglots listed in Kenneth Hyltenstam's Advanced Proficiency and Exceptional Ability in Second Languages, and has been described by The New Yorker as "a legendary figure in the [polyglot] community".
Sup sogŭi Hosu is a language immersion summer camp for the Korean language in Bemidji, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the 501(c)(3) non-profit Concordia Language Villages school, and is sponsored by Concordia College. It first opened in 1999, and as of 2023 it had over 3,000 attendees across its history.
Concordia Language Villages is a program of Concordia College, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Located in Moorhead, Minn., Concordia College is a private liberal arts college and a recognized leader in global education.