School Year Abroad

The program in Spain is SYA's oldest. The original incarnation was "Schoolboys Abroad" and consisted of 11 students accompanied by founder Clark Vaughan and his wife Polly, plus two more teachers, who in 1964, traveled by ship on the MS Aurelia to study in Barcelona, Spain. Polly Vaughan chose the symbol that continues to serve as the logo for the program. Their son Christopher was in the fourth Andover class to participate in SYA.

Though founded in Barcelona, the program relocated to Zaragoza in 1999. The move took place in order to facilitate the ease with which students learned and heard Castilian Spanish spoke around them. As the program grew in Barcelona, it became clear that the proliferation of Catalan, as well as the number of tourists, detracted from the immersion of the students. The move to Zaragoza, the fifth largest city in Spain, provided students with a city environment with less tourist attraction, making it necessary for Castilian Spanish to be spoken throughout the city.

SYA Spain students attend classes on the sprawling, 425-square-meter second floor of a Neoclassical building in Zaragoza's city center on Paseo de Pamplona.

School-to-School Exchanges SYA students here are able to participate in various school-to-school exchanges all over the country, providing excellent opportunities to become friends with Spanish students their own age. These range from exchanges lasting one to five days to evening seminars organized once a week.

Through "One Day Here, One Day There", an SYA student spends a day at a high school in Zaragoza, hosted by a counterpart their age; that same Spanish student attends classes at SYA the next day.

The program “Five days in . . .” Burgos, Madrid, Toledo or Sevilla enables an SYA student to go to one of these cities to attend classes and live with a local host family for five full days.

SYA France is located in Rennes, the capital of Brittany. Founded in 1967, it is SYA's second oldest program. SYA France is open to students who are currently enrolled in at least level II of French. The majority of students take seven credits, including English and math. All but the English and math courses are taught in French.

Students are required to take English, math, and French language and culture. In addition to the three core courses, 3 other elective courses are required from the options of: French literature, art history, modern history, politics, visual media, architectural history, and environmental science.

Based on language proficiency tests administered in September and language-study previous records, students are placed in one of four groups (Arthur, Morgane, Lancelot, or Viviane which are named after characters from the fabled Knights of the Round Table which is thought to have taken place in Brittany). (As of 2019, these proficiency-based levels are no longer used.) for the courses taught in French. Adjustments in the groups are generally made early in the year if appropriate. Math placement is based on prior experience and a placement test. Courses meet for a minimum of four 45-minute periods per week.

SYA France school trips are scheduled in accordance with the French academic calendar; during French school vacations, students travel all over France and/or Europe.

In 1994, the Chinese government allowed School Year Abroad to begin a program in Beijing. It was the first of its kind at either a high school or college level, with students being placed in host families for the full school year. The program operates out of the Second High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. SYA China is open to both beginners and students who have already studied Mandarin. All students take Mandarin Chinese Language, Chinese History and Chinese Society and Culture along with English and math, for a total of six credits. These courses meet four or five periods each week with the exception of Chinese Culture and Society and Mandarin Chinese Language. Chinese Culture and Society meets two periods each week in addition to guest lectures and field trips. Mandarin Chinese Language meets everyday of the week for 2 consecutive periods. All courses except for Advanced Algebra with Functions, Precalculus and Advanced Topics in Mathematics, and Chinese Society and Culture are taught at the honors or AP level.

Martial arts, traditional Chinese brush painting, calligraphy and music are offered as noncredit courses, pass/fail. Each course meets once per week. Home schools may accept these courses for credit if deemed appropriate. School Year Abroad does not distinguish between tenth- eleventh- and twelfth-grade students in the organization of classes.

Students participate in the host high school's special events such as Sports Day as well as clubs such as Bilingual Club.

Students are placed in class according to their proficiency in Chinese, which is assessed by a diagnostic exam administered at the beginning of the school year.

Since it opened in 2001, SYA's Italian program has been housed in a 16th- century palazzo in the city of Viterbo in Lazio.

• School Year Abroad