Concordia German Language Village

[Anonymous]

Very serious about signing up my 10 year-old for a two weeks session next summer. He's been learning German for three years so this is something he's be excited to do, and we'd be excited to see him engage more with the language. I've searched the forums and all the threads I've found are generally positive but at least 5 years old. Just checking to see if anyone here has had a recent camp experience they'd like to share. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We sent DD to Italian camp one summer and she LOVED it. If it weren’t so far away, we’d do it every summer. All the language villages are well run and well regarded.

[Anonymous]

Thanks!! Good to hear. It's a but hard to find updated reviews on this camp. If you don't mind me asking, did she fly herself there?

[Anonymous]

This website is helpful:

https://www.campratingz.com/

[Anonymous]

A good friend of mine runs the Swedish camp and I can tell you that they are all very well organized. Because they are such specialized camps with kids coming from all over the country, lots of kids fly in solo and are picked up at the airport. I would just make sure that you get a direct flight.

[Anonymous]

This is an older thread but we just attended the German program there. It was excellent. They have family programs if you want to go with your child first and check it out. Highly recommend Concordia.

[Anonymous]

Friends attend and love it. Know people who attended and really liked it 20+ years ago. They have been around a long time and have a good reputation.

[Anonymous]

I attended German village as a kid and loved it. My sister is a university professor trained (Ivy League) and teaches at a reputable university and worked there for a summer. You have to be native speakers or be highly trained/experienced and completely fluent as a native to work there. I have always been impressed. I wanted to send my kids this year but didn’t work out with pandemic impacts. We hope to do it next year when maybe things are better with pandemic and we can afford to send both kids at same time. The only negative is the price. Everything else is good. Just bring lots of mosquito spray — Minnesota lake life is full of bugs.

[Anonymous]

Posted previously and writing again - Concordia is (still) great. The program has grown with my child. It offers highschool credit in the later years. This is our third summer. I'd say biggest hurdles are cost (though there are scholarships) and distance but it's been well worth it for us. We've done family week and DD has done the one week overnight camp.

[Anonymous]

My DD did 3 years of Chinese camp (2 yrs pre covid, 1 yr post). This was upper elementary and middle school. She felt as though she had outgrown it at that point. Great program. Definitely go for 2 weeks if you can afford it - kids get much more out of it.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone have their child take the camp bus from the airport to Concordia? If so, what was the bus experience like? Our DD is attending for the first time this summer as a 9 year old, and we are considering driving her ourselves to drop off but having her take the bus on the way back (we'll meet her at the airport).

[Anonymous]

My 15-year-old current HS sophomore did Concordia's 4-week HS credit program in Mandarin last summer (2024). He had a great time. He took the Mandarin-only pledge very seriously and made great progress.

Because the Chinese village burned down a few years ago, Mandarin camps in 2023 and 2024 were held at Concordia's campus in Moorhead, not with all the other villages at the lakes. So the logistics were completely different from the rest of the camps -- he flew solo (did not use unaccompanied minor program) DTW <-> MSP <-> FAR, and there was a quick shuttle from FAR to campus. (Summer 2025 logistics for Mandarin will be similar to the rest of the villages because they'll be using the Norwegian village late in the summer after Norwegian camps have finished. Unfortunately kid won't be able to go again in 2025 because it overlaps with another experience he wants slightly more.)

We would've happily sent him back again, but it won't work for 2025, and in 2026 we'll probably send him to a program in China or Taiwan.

[Anonymous]

PP. If I understand the main camp air travel situation correctly, they have the kids fly into MSP throughout the day on Sunday, have them stay in a hotel (4 to a room) on Sunday night, then bus them to the actual camp on Monday morning.

For the return, there's no hotel. They just bus them to MSP in the morning for afternoon flights.

https://www.concordialanguagevillages.org/transportation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone have their child take the camp bus from the airport to Concordia? If so, what was the bus experience like? Our DD is attending for the first time this summer as a 9 year old, and we are considering driving her ourselves to drop off but having her take the bus on the way back (we'll meet her at the airport).

So, not taking the bus to a flight? Just taking the bus to the airport? Should be fine. But, check the distance from the airport to camp. If it’s say 2-4 hours, many kids will be on the bus. If it’s more like 6-8 hours, fewer kids will be on the bus and it might leave camp very early in the morning, before most kids.

[Anonymous]

Would love any more recent thoughts on this camp and how the transportation worked out. My 10 y/o DC is learning German and very interested in attending.