ARE THE IMMERSION TRIPS USEFUL?

Andrés Felipe Cifuentes Navarro

Publicado en Capital Letter No. 4

Noviembre de 2003

"What is the one thing you could do in your life right now

that would make a difference in your personal (professional) relationships?"

Then:"Why aren't you doing it?"

Stephen Covey

Many people would think that fieldwork in our studies is just a waste of time, but with a more accurate diagnosis, we find that most of the English students don't have any opportunity to practice in a real context what is learnt in a normal lesson. That is why it is necessary to work out with some attractive ideas to overcome this obstacle. 

One of those is the Immersion Trips which consist of outdoors activities where participants try to interact all the time in English. The main objective of an immersion trip is to practice the basic components of the learning process (Listening and Speaking) in an enjoyable environment, using games, sports competitions and activities that involve other skills such as grammar, vocabulary or simply imagination.

In a typical class, most of the activities that are planned to promote fluency are artificial. This way of speaking practice does not prepare students for the real world. In a way, an immersion trip is artificial as well, but it is the closest way to real contexts that English students have to practice their knowledge. Furthermore, you can learn and practice your English, meanwhile you have a lot of fun, increasing your motivation and having an important effect onyour learning process.

Recent experiences have shown that this kind of activities are not only useful but also meaningful for participants because they serve as a conscious evaluation of the real English level acquired. Moreover, the practice of English is more spontaneous and natural in this kind of setting.

Obviously you won't know how effective this is until you live the experience!