Benefits Of Studying Abroad At Summer School
With the vacation season starting, children are filled with anticipation and excitement. If your child is at that age when they are thinking of higher education options and considering colleges abroad, summer school in a target country is a great way to explore your alternatives. The initial thought might be unnerving but it will certainly do him/her good, now and later. Here are ways in which summer school can help:
1. Gain Perspective: An experience of a summer program abroad will give your child an idea about what to expect in terms of academic learning and experience in a foreign country. It will introduce your child to the potential academic curriculum and provide him/her with a better understanding of the pedagogy and the teaching style. Furthermore, intensive exposure to a chosen subject will make it easier for your child to assess their acumen for it and make decisions about what course to join in future. For example if they wish to study design, then a summer program at a top design school will provide true insight into what their academic future will look like. A simple google search just won’t produce the same results!
2. Broaden Their Horizon: A summer experience abroad could be your child’s first direct interaction with another culture and place without parents. Imagine how much your child will learn. This first-hand experience of immersion in a different culture will lay the foundation of a broader view of life and the world. Summer schools accommodate participants from different countries and organise cultural events where the entrants perform music, dance and represent their tradition and culture. Your young-one will come in close contact with aspects that he/she had probably read in textbooks. It will be an exciting discovery for them. As Confucius said, “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand”; this experience will form indelible impressions on your child by making them more sensitive and accepting of others.
3. Help Answer the Question “Is My Child Ready To Go Abroad?:” Studying abroad requires your child to get out of their comfort zone, be independent, and interact with people from different countries and cultures. Some people thrive in such situations while others prefer the comfort of familiar surroundings. Neither are right or wrong, but spending time at a summer school can help your child make this important decision, saving a lot of ache and pain down the road! Furthermore, all universities have different methods of teaching, and even the contents of the curriculum vary from college to college – even for the same program. A short stint at your child’s target summer school allows them to judge his/her comfort level with the course, and whether the teaching style and methods are as per their expectations. It is better to know this beforehand instead of a possibly unpleasant surprise when they are already there.
4. Meet A New Support Group: As the programs include group activities and team work, children/teenagers strike rapid friendships with one another through fun-filled games, projects and outdoor sports. Your youngster too will make a bunch of new friends, exchange e-mails, and later catch up on networking sites. Above all, he/she will already have a network of international acquaintances. They probably might want to participate in another summer program for the fun of being together. In the future when your child is ready to travel abroad for higher education, they will have a reliable group of friends from the international community to connect with, and you will have much less to worry about.
5. Build on Life Skills: The summer programs abroad take full advantage of the prolonged holidays and beautiful weather to design a holistic learning experience for your child. The lessons range from tapping into their creative potential to involving everyone to a variety of physical activities. Your kid would achieve feats beyond his/her comfort zone. Such experiences act as building blocks of life by developing essential life skills like:
- Ability to adapt to any situation
- Solving problems independently
- Showing enhanced creativity
- Demonstrating greater cognitive development
- Acquiring advanced communication skills
6. Strengthen Their College Application: When your child is applying to colleges abroad, their CV and essays hold a lot of weight. Having spent time at a summer school will make a definitive impression about their sincerity and focus, and will showcase them as a person who is academically oriented. Additionally, the experience will allow your child to clearly articulate why he/she want to study abroad abroad and why they are passionate about their subject of interest. The hands on experience could possibly be a deciding factor in swinging an offer in their favour.
After attending a summer program abroad your child will gather valuable lessons about the world and himself/herself. It is the first step towards self-evaluation and self-discovery which will provide them with a defined goal in life, prepare them for brighter prospects and help them carve a niche in their chosen field.
ReachIvy sincerely hopes that this article serves as a critical tool to increase your knowledge base. For study abroad consultation or career counselling with ReachIvy, Submit a Query now! Also, review our resources to access our free premium content.
This article was also published in Rivo Kids on 12/04/2017.
