Is This the World's Best Language Immersion School?

🤯 This world-famous school in verdant Vermont is known for helping students learn languages EXTREMELY fast. The catch? If you speak one word of English, you can be expelled!

📺 WATCH NEXT:
How U.S. Military Linguists Learn Languages Fast

⬇️ GET MY FREE STORYLEARNING® KIT:

📖 LEARN A LANGUAGE THROUGH THE POWER OF STORY:

📷 FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM:

📚 RESOURCES:

Middlebury Language Schools Site

Middlebury Language School Financial Aid

Middlebury Language School YouTube Channel

Middlebury Spanish School Site

⏱ TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Intro
0:30 - What is the Programme?
2:01 - How it Works
3:30 - Who is it For?
5:53 - The Application
7:04 - The Language Pledge
9:54 - Where You Stay
12:58 - Languages
13:19 - The Immersion Programmes
16:28 - The Graduate Programmes
18:10 - The Teachers
19:45 - The Method
20:44 - The Daily Schedule
24:31 - Activities
24:58 - Weekends
26:57 - Shows
29:31 - Downsides
31:41 - Tips

📜 SOURCES & ATTRIBUTIONS:

Video clips from @MiddLanguageSchool

[dancinggiraffe]

A friend of mine did a course like this in Russian many years ago. Although all the students had agreed not to speak anything but Russian for the summer, he said that at some point the need to communicate through normal conversation was too strong, and people would sneak off to secluded spots to have occasional illicit conversations in English!

[pfh]

I attended three summers in Middlebury for Spanish and German, and one summer in Monterey for Japanese. Best experience of my life - I met lifelong friends (truly), share memories, and the language skills have been helpful in my work and life in general. I’ve worked in Tokyo, Frankfurt, and throughout Latin America. We live in Miami now and my kids speak English and Spanish. I can’t express the full impact of my time at Middlebury on my life.

[chnsnchoc]

tldr; the Midd LS experience is extremely different depending on which language you choose. It's an incredible program, but if you're interested, look for experiences about your specific language.

Background: I've taken the two highest levels of the Chinese school, and I've worked for the Chinese school. I have close friends and colleagues who've studied at the Spanish, German, Russian, Korean, Japanese, French, Hebrew, and Arabic schools. I'm also a Middlebury College graduate.

First, some of the information on housing is slightly off. The video about "language houses" actually describes on-campus houses for Middlebury undergraduate students to live in during the academic year, in which they abide by an in-house language pledge-esque rule. During the summer, students are housed in normal Middlebury dorms, which are divided across campus by language. Students' access cards only permit them to enter the dorms of their language.

Second, people *rarely* get kicked out due to language pledge violations. The last line in the pledge is used as a scare tactic; it's an administrative and financial hassle to expel students who are part-way through their semester. Each Midd LS is like an ecosystem; the pledge is used to maintain its health. I personally believe in the slogan "your ($10k+) tuition, your pledge." If people want to break it off campus, away from other students/classmates, that's their prerogative, but once someone harms another person's language environment, it becomes an issue.

Third: the course structure is different for each school. I can only speak in depth about the Chinese school (non-MA program), which unlike the Spanish school (which this video is mostly based on), does not have students enroll in different courses. Instead, Chinese students are placed in a level (either 1, 2, 2.5, 3, or 4) based on reading, writing, and speaking entrance exams, and they take four periods per day of that level's course. I won't get into too much detail here, but the Chinese School basics are that for each level, the morning consists of two lecture 大班課 classes and two drill 小班課 classes. After lunch, each student has a 30-min 1-on-1 class. Re: no translations, that certainly doesn't apply to the Chinese school. Obviously, no English is spoken in class (or outside of class), but both English-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-English written translations are a crucial part of the curriculum. After all, the Chinese School is known for creating Chinese translators. Another note about testing, the modalities and timing of, as well as emphasis on, testing vary between schools. For example, the Chinese school tests every Monday (written, oral, and essay), which gives students time to prepare over weekends, but also means that Chinese school students never have free weekends. Some other schools test on Fridays, which has the opposite effect.

Fourth (and probably most important): culture. Each LS has a unique culture, which although varies from year to year, there are general points that hold true. Chinese, Russian, Arabic, and Japanese students grind and cry. They're likely vitamin D deficient by August. When I did level three for Chinese, I was spending 5-7 hours a day doing homework and previewing. On the other hand, the majority of my friends who have done the Spanish and French schools claim they rarely have over two hours of work outside class a night. Obviously, this varies on an individual level depending on how you learn...but you get the idea. The romance language schools are known to have more of a party scene (especially Spanish and French), and their school-hosted parties often become hot spots for students of all languages (and pledge violations). Interestingly, these schools are known to be more lax about language pledge (from a community surveillance perspective...not an admin one). In my own experience, its almost always the students of easier languages (I hate the term "easier, " but it helps for the general purpose of this explanation) that can be heard speaking English at the bars Thursday-Saturday nights...even if some Spanish professors swear that the weekly Salsa night (hosted by a local bar, for students *and* for Middlebury locals; happens year-round) is catered for the Spanish school and constitutes a Spanish-speaking environment. BUT, I'm obviously biased, and this isn't to say that certain school cultures are better than others. Frankly, depressed students don't learn much, so if you're someone who needs more free time, the Chinese School may not be for you (but if you like to work hard/play hard...see you next year ;)).

The main takeaway you should get from this is that if you want to study a certain language at a Midd LS, *do more detailed research!* This video is an ok overview, but will by no means inform or prepare you for the educational, psychological, and cultural onslaught that is one of my favorite communities in the world. Feel free to reach out if you have more questions :)


Oh, and yes, it works. In my first summer there, my spoken Mandarin went from intermediate-mid to advanced high (~A2/B1 to ~C1).

[WorldxTracer]

Literally just got done with this program a week ago for the French school and couldn’t recommend it enough! The teachers were amazing and the constant immersion really helps develop listening and speaking!

[nendoakuma]

I did an intensive program in China 20 years ago for six weeks during the summer learning Mandarin. We had a no English pledge. I loved it. Prior to that my speaking and listening abilities were terrible. I improved a lot, and I lost a lot of weight. I looked better than I had in in years.

[emmaharris]

I attended the Level 1 eight week program at the Chinese Language School this summer, and it was the hardest yet most rewarding program I've ever done. I went from a first year Chinese student to attending the Advanced Chinese Writing and Composition, 300-level course at my own university. It was honestly incredible. Everyone around you is all-in, pedal to the medal, super engaged, deeply impassioned about your respective language, and I no longer felt like a weirdo for being a lover of languages. There is a need-based grant for students who might not be able to afford it. because a downside is that it IS rather expensive. When I first got there, I was surprised by how many different people from different backrounds attended--there was a specialist in Chinese medicine, a chef, a tech worker, a member of the Italian military, a full-time mom. Trust me, you won't regret attending Middlebury!

[barbarae-b]

I did this type of immersion for ASL. I learned a lot of it very quickly. When I got home I was so used to not using my voice, that it took a while for me to get back to speaking. We even had to go to a restaurant every night and use ASL there. Some of the waiters were very upset when they discovered that we could hear. I never told them, since I didn’t want them to feel this way. I even had a doctor appointment for which I had to use ASL. Also had to use TTY and Bell relay service to make any phone calls. I already knew how, since I have cousins who are deaf and regularly meet with them.

[dm]

I attended the summer Russian School at Middlebury a while back and I made more progress in my Russian skills in 9 weeks at Middlebury than I did in 3 years of living in Russia. It’s that good! It also goes a looong way in terms of networking and impressing academics and potential employers for the rest of your career.

[ejsshrink]

I was a Middlebury College graduate, graduating with a degree in French and minor in German. I attended Middlebury summer inaugural Arabic school their first three years. It was all modern standard Arabic at that time, in 1982 to 1984. I believe they have added dialects. All these years later, having just retired, I would dearly love to go back and update my German as well as consolidate the Russian I have been learning on my own since the pandemic hit. Vermont is heaven on earth in the summer, FWIW😊

[wyattdenious]

I study Abenaki!! I was lucky enough to attend the pilot program of the Abenaki summer language school at Middlebury in 2020. I’d already been learning for some years prior, but the program changed my life. I’m now in college, pursuing a Linguistics degree to help revitalize indigenous languages including Abenaki.

For many languages like Western Abenaki, there is no option to “study abroad.” We do not have that privilege. This was the closest I could’ve gotten, and I am forever grateful.

Kchi wliwni nidôba wji io. N’wigiba agakimzia mina tali Middlebury-k nabiwi. Liwlaldamana pahami sôwaiwi telbodamen Alnôbaôdwawôgan! Wlinanawalmezi.

[bethanybrooks]

I spent the first 9 years of my academic life in a mandarin immersion school, and after that experience, I couldn’t imagine any other way of learning a language besides total immersion.

[PolynicesEteocles]

I grew up in Middlebury, right on the edge of campus. I remember learning at a very young age about the language school and how during the summer I shouldn't try to speak to any of the groups of students I saw on campus. It was odd to hear different foreign languages when I was a kid roaming around.

[cadalman]

I took the Japanese Level 1 program at Middlebury in 2015. It was 5 days a week of 4 hours daily instruction with 3-5 hours of homework every night for 8 weeks (one of the longer language programs). And LOTS of catching up over the weekend--little else to do.

Originally I tried to get into Level 2, as I had studied Japanese in undergrad for a semester (years before), but after an initial interview by the instructors, I was strongly encouraged to go back to Level 1 (denied!). I felt that I was ahead in the beginning of Level 1, as I had come into the program already knowing hiragana, katakana, and about 25 kanji characters, and it was hard to keep up. After 2 weeks my edge was gone. I can't imagine someone not knowing a lick of Japanese and trying to keep up at the pace this program was conducted. The program was not only Japanese language instruction, but also learning the Japanese 'way' of doing things, which might have a bit too inflexible for some of my Western peers. There were many cultural extracurricular activities to accompany the learning--we had an in-house poet that year--and there was a student showcase at the end of the course, as well as a special 100 years commemorative program.

The video talked about the Language pledge -- not speaking English; the only way for me to keep the pledge was to keep to myself outside of class and lunch time ("If there's no one to talk to..") Although there are other language programs going on at campus at the same time, you will have almost no contact with them. They even schedule your lunch time in the cafeteria so that you don't overlap with another language school. (Oh yeah, the food was really good!). There was a sense of isolation in the School. That, plus the discipline needed to keep up the study, the cultural difference, and the strict language pledge led to people having breakdowns during the program.

Middlebury was an interesting personal experience for me as I was a mid-career professional who took a sabbatical to do this, while most everyone else was college age and actively studying Japanese. I was surprised to find so many "repeaters" who had either taken Japanese or who had taken another language at Middlebury in a previous year. After the 8 weeks I was able to understand basic conversation and communicate and I easily passed the JLPT Level 5 (lowest level) test. Actually the final exam at Middlebury was much harder, and more stressful, than the JLPT Level 5. I went to Japan a few days after the end of the program and felt a lot more at ease than in my previous visits to Japan. And I went back to Japan a few months later and was able to lead my friends around Kyoto and Osaka, and do the "translating" for them (though still at a basic level).

Taking the Middlebury Japanese program after a long period of dormancy with my Japanese language ability helped me retain the Japanese language knowledge I had learned there. If I had the time, the money (it's pricey!), and ready to handle another intense 8 weeks, I would do it again.

[jenniferquigley-jones]

I did the Arabic summer course and had arranged to get married two days after the course ended. I had to call my fiancé at the beginning of the course to warn him that he’d be planning the rest of the wedding alone, because of the language pledge!

It sounds strict, but it was an incredible and transformative experience. It massively improved my Arabic, but the most fundamental aspect was that I was motivated and excited to pick it up. It was the first ever time a language switch flicked in my head. I came away from the summer loving the language.

[rafaeldias]

I taught Portuguese there in the Summer of 2018. It was a quite interesting experience. Even me as a teacher, I never broke the language pledge, I loved talking to the students 24/7. We would share the dorms so that the students would have easy access to their teachers. I really recommend Middlebury!

[shosetsuninja]

I did the Japanese program 20 years ago. At the time I wanted to study the language 24/7, so it was a nice chance to drop everything else and go for it. The best part is that you are surrounded by people just as crazy as yourself!
I would love to go back for Chinese if I were in a different stage of life.

[ethanwalsh]

Just 2 weeks ago I finished my first summer at the LS at middlebury in German and it completely changed my future career path. The language pledge really does work. I can now have fluid conversation with nearly all levels and feel comfortable doing so. I noticed the biggest change in my spoken language as it was more of an everyday speaking setting in contrast to just in class speaking. Couldn’t recommend it more!

[Someone-ctck]

If I would say one word about learning languages effectively, that word would be "immersion".

[nanicruz]

Great to see you covering Middlebury! I've been three times once for Chinese and twice for Korean.

All three times financial aid covered more than half the cost, so while expensive it was a little more doable.

I would say these programs are a wonderful experience, but they are not some magical get fluent fast short cut. You get out of it what you put into it. The students who took advantage of all the opportunities Middlebury offers (easy access to teachers outside of class, extracurriculars etc) and really stuck to the language pledge improved noticeably more by the end of the summer than those who just went to class and did their homework.

[tacomajoe]

I go through this town every week I had no idea thier was a language school thier let alone an immersion program in the summer I would love to do something like this for Russian