Ready for High School
Preparing students for high school studies overseas is a long and thorough process, as the agents we interviewed for this article testify. Gillian Evans reports.
The more prepared the students are before starting [their international high school experience], the better for [the student], their family and the programme itself,” says Marcela Amaral , Product Director at IE Intercambio www.ieintercambio.com.br in Brazil.
Education consultants and agents work hard to prepare students for high school studies overseas, and it’s not just about getting them to sign on the dotted line. “It takes a long time – several months – to advise and prepare the students and their parents to take the final decision,” says Ana Maria Ferrer , Executive Director of Pacific Education www.pacificeducation.cl in Chile. “[We] offer different schools, [advise them on] which is the best country to study, curriculum, learning culture and differences between countries and cultures.”
While many high schools overseas offer formal international student orientation programmes, it is less common for agencies to do so. One of the few that does this is Study.UA www.study.ua. “From our many years of experience in [enrolling] students at boarding schools around the world, we came to the conclusion that the process of preparing a student for his/her studies abroad should be thorough and cover a wide range of issues,” explains Anna Kopala . “Therefore, we developed a specialised preparatory programme which is called Academic Start for Boarding Schools. The programme lasts from six to nine months and includes the following components: English language training; terminology for individual subjects; preparation for an interview at school; public speaking and project assignments; and life skills.”
After this course, the agency advises the student to take an academic preparation course at the chosen high school, usually during the summer holidays. In this way, says Anna, “The students experience less stress when joining the main course of the school. They already know the school campus, understand who to ask for help, and tentatively know what awaits them on the school subjects. After completing this programme, the students go to a foreign country more prepared for a life away from home, familiar with the new system of education and having a certain level of necessary skills.”
Staying in touch
Studying at a secondary school in a foreign country is a daunting prospect for many students. According to Gordana Kolenko, Director of BHV Education in Croatia, homesickness and adapting to a new family and school can be difficult. “Some students are shy so they need more time to open up and establish communication,” she says. Marcela Amaral at IE in Brazil says that she thinks cultural difference is “the most difficult issue [students] face when leaving their home country”. She adds that this can be heightened with the prevalence of anxiety in young people today. “People do not know how to deal with problems and they simply freak out,” she says.
To help students navigate their way through these challenges, most agencies stay in touch with them while they are studying abroad. As Máximo Sepúlveda Ramos at Mosaico Idiomas in Spain says, “The student is our client from the moment he/she hires [us] until he/she returns. During all that time we are here to help the family with any incident.”