Culturally Amazing! Past Review
By Katelyn H (Elementary Education, Brigham Young University) - abroad from 01/07/2013 to 04/10/2013 with
Brigham Young University: Traveling - New Zealand Elementary Education Program
I loved the cultural aspect of this study abroad. It taught me so many lessons about working with a multicultural class and how to work with students from diverse backgrounds. I loved the opportunity to share my culture with others. The teaching aspect was amazing. Although it is pretty different from the American system it was extremely beneficial to learn other methods and practices.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The experience in the schools was incredible! That was by far the best part of the program. I wish we could have had more time in the schools and more exposure to multiple schools instead of just the one we were assigned to. The classes that we took the first month or so of the program were helpful and provided good resources. They are not difficult classes which is nice because you are a bit limited as to the amount of internet access, study time, and study resources that are available to you. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Our program director was amazing! She was very on top of things. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
I loved where I lived. Our host mom and family were amazing and took very good care of us. We had a clean place to live as well as meals every day. However, the housing coordinator was a bit disappointing. I feel that she didn't really up hold her end of the job. Instead of taking the time to see if the places that we would stay at were clean and taken care of she just made a few phone calls and called it good. The most frustrating part was that we used almost the same families from last year and they had problems with a few of the families but no one informed our director until we were already in the middle of the same problems that they experienced last year. |
| * Food: |
So yum!! |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
Very integrated. I discovered that people will invite you to things if you make the effort to get to know them and to introduce yourself. You can't just sit back and expect them to come to you. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
Nothing really happened |
| * Safety: |
I felt very safe almost all the time. This was never an issue. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
This depended on how much travelling you would do during the week. Food should have already been included unless you wanted to by other things outside of the normal meals. Food is a bit more expensive there but transportation was the most expensive. |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | I was very frugal with my money. I had $1200 to spend and I only spent about $800 during my whole time there. The NZ dollar is under the American dollar in value which helped. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Work hard and save :). You can still have fun without spending tons of money. Look for things that you haven't tried or don't get to eat in the States and spend your money on those things for the experience instead of always eating at McDonalds, KFC, or Dominos, etc. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
Although New Zealand is English speaking they also speak Maori. Many Maori words are incorporated into normal English and we were encouraged to incorporate as much as we could into our speech. |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | There are no courses used to teach Maori at BYU |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Ask for the meanings of words and then learn the proper pronunciation before using them. Use the new words as often as possible. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Transportation is expensive but there are ways to buy passes and such that make it worth it if you use the pass all day long. This experience will ultimately be what you make it- if you want a good experience than make it a good experience. Attitude really is everything. |
