Concordia Language Villages
Encyclopedia
Concordia Language Villages (CLV), previously the International Language Villages, is a world-language and culture education program whose mission is to prepare young people for responsible citizenship in our global community. Since beginning in 1961, it has grown to offer summer camp
in 15 modern languages and school-year
weekend programs mostly for Spanish, French and German program. Summer and winter programs are taught through a language and cultural immersion
philosophy, which allows for experience-based learning. The Villages annually serves over 13,000 young people, aged 7–18, from every state of the US
, as well as Canada
and 31 other countries, and are sponsored by Concordia College
of Moorhead
, Minnesota
, a private four-year liberal arts
college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
.
CLV's mission is to "prepare young people for responsible citizenship in our global community."
Each village focuses on immersion in both the language and the culture(s) of its target. Counselors speak the target language from waking up to going to sleep, with the help of many communicative techniques designed to reduce frustration on the part of the villagers; villagers are encouraged to use as much of the target language as they can produce. By the end of the summer, even villagers with no previous encounters with the language remark on how much they are able to understand.
CLV also aims to develop cultural awareness. Everything from the meals to the crafts to the games is tailored to the target culture(s). Village programs are designed to cast light on the cultures in question, as well as the diversity of cultures around the world, and can take on inter-village meaning in everything from "World Cup" soccer matches between nearby villages to simulating the European Union
deliberating on an issue. Additionally, at CLV villagers are able to live with, play with, work with, and get to know foreign native speakers. CLV also sponsors a "International Day" twice yearly; it is free and open to the public and aims to foster further global awareness.
Strong environmental
goals encompass all aspects of the program, from recycling
, waste reduction, water management
, encouragement for campers to bring biodegradable toiletries, alternative energy sources like solar
and geothermal power
are implemented on the permanent site. The new Waldsee
"BioHaus," the first certified passive house
in North America
, is a testament to these goals. The villages also have a relatively high vegetarian and vegan ratio, to which they cater.
There are architecturally and culturally authentic village sites (Finnish, French, German
, Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish) located near Bemidji
, Minnesota
on Turtle River Lake. There are also leased sites throughout Minnesota, as well as at Savannah
, Georgia
, and abroad in Switzerland
, and China
.
The road connecting the permanent villages at Turtle River Lake to the county road was purposefully constructed to be winding, to simulate the long trip to the target cultures represented at the villages. The original plans for these villages included a train to link all of the villages. Although this idea was scrapped, aspects of it still remain in several buildings. The German
village's four-story administration building resembles a German train station
and is called the Bahnhof ("train station"). The dining hall at Salolampi, the Finnish language
village, is modeled after a famous Finnish train station. Additionally, the Turtle River Lake site has a World Inc. Peace Site with peace poles in the village languages at its heart, near the Norwegian
village, Skogfjorden
and the Bemidji and Turtle River Lake sites have European road signs in kilometers per hour (imported from Germany, not replications).
Several immigrant
buildings have been moved to the permanent sites to show villagers what life was like for early European immigrants. The immigrant cabins at the Norwegian
village are original to the site. The German
"Haus Sonnenaufgang" was first moved from New Ulm
, Minnesota
to sit next to the Norwegian ones, but was moved sometime in the early 1990s to the German village near Bemidji
, Minnesota
.
CLV consists of 15 villages:
Each village is named "Lake of the Woods" in its language, with the exception of the English villages Hometown, USA and Hometown, Europe, the Portuguese village Mar E Floresta (Sea and Forest), and the Arabic village al-Wāḥa ("the oasis").
Villagers use CLV-issued passports to manage their camp bank account and familiarize them with the use of a passport. Villagers also go through customs upon arrival.
Each language village site has numerous traditions, many of which are related to meals and songs. Meal presentations, in which each food and its name are presented in a short skit before each meal, are a language tool implemented by almost all programs. Many villages also put on a restaurant
night for villagers to practice going out using their target language. Restaurants will often be fancy affairs that tend to represent international cuisine and languages that are not represented by the villages, such as Vietnamese
, Indian
, Thai
, or Tibetan
.
The cuisine in most villages reflect the ethnic cuisines of the target language. At Waldsee
, this means that German
regional food, Austrian
, Swiss
and common import foods like Turkish
döner kebab
are served. At Lac du Bois, foods of Africa
and the Caribbean
may be included.
The fusion of American and foreign cultures has created a strange linguistic phenomenon sometimes referred to as Lac du Bois's "Franglais
" (French+anglais) or Waldsee
's "Denglish
" (Deutsch+English). Examples would be Je need a couteau ("I need a knife") or What did you seh at the Kino? ("What did you see at the movie theatre?"). This trend, however, is not limited to just the Lac du Bois and Waldsee camps, villagers at every camp employ a unique variety of code-switching
with English and the target language. Site buildings are given names in the target language, and rarely does anyone refer to site buildings by their English names, even when speaking English. Additionally, some words have been invented by native-speaking staff members for concepts that are not native to the target cultures but daily words in camp life, such as "chipmunk
," "poison ivy
," and "mosquito repellent."
Simulations play a major role in giving villagers the opportunity to experience historic events and situations in international affairs that affect world peace. Examples have included world religions, children’s rights, and tolerance. Comfort with the language, open-mindedness, and awareness of world citizenship are core values taught at Concordia Language Villages.
Villagers also can attend a four week program for high school credit. Obviously, the schedule for these villagers is slightly different. "A thematic curriculum, experiential immersion techniques and performance-based assessments are the basis for this academic program." To earn the 180 hours to gain credit at a high school, villagers will attend 4 to 5 structured classes during the day. The credit villagers are in the immersion program and take part in "doing" foreign language, but unlike many of the 2 week programs, these villagers will also focus on reading and writing. Credit villagers still get to participate in many of the fun activities such as evening programs, sports, arts and crafts and other unique offerings in each village.
. Villagers can stay for 1 week, 2 weeks, or 4 week programs, and it is possible to earn high school or college credit for the time spent being immersed in the language. "Wilderness programs" during the summer offer additional opportunities to spend time in the outdoors of Minnesota
for those who enjoy the environment, exploration, and camping. Many camps also offer other themed programs, such as French African
or Swiss
culture (which is a blend of the German, French, and Italian villages) or the Middle Ages
in combination with theatre
.
Summer day camps are offered for younger learners who live in the area, and "family week" programs during the summer serve entire families, even those with young children.
Concordia Language Villages also offers a 10-day 4-credit graduate level course for teachers in second language
s and immersion
.
During each half of the summer, all the camps within driving distance travel to Waldsee
,the German camp, for a day-long festival of cultures called International Day, or I-Day. The camps bring out their wares and each has a booth of ethnic food to share, and each camp prepares a short closing performance to share. Each year has a theme. Additionally, campers in every village learn a choreographed dance to the year's "I-Day song" during the two weeks preceding I-Day. This is a song from a language not covered by the camps; everyone dances to it together during the festival. All songs can be heard on You Tube.
, the Norwegian Language Village. Patronage is an affirmation from the Royal Family of Norway of the quality educational programming of Concordia Language Villages.
In 2009, Tove Irene Dahl,the dean of Skogfjorden, was named a Knight of the First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, by His Majesty King Harald V of Norway for the advancement of Norwegian language and culture in the United States.
Mr. Johannes Rau
, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany has also granted personal patronage to Waldsee
, the German Language Village. This patronage is symbolic of the strong bonds between the people of Germany and Concordia Language Villages.
Summer camp
Summer camp is a supervised program for children or teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers....
in 15 modern languages and school-year
Academic term
An academic term is a division of an academic year, the time during which a school, college or university holds classes. These divisions may be called terms...
weekend programs mostly for Spanish, French and German program. Summer and winter programs are taught through a language and cultural immersion
Language immersion
Language immersion is a method of teaching a second language in which the target language is used as the means of instruction. Unlike more traditional language courses, where the target language is simply the subject material, language immersion uses the target language as a teaching tool,...
philosophy, which allows for experience-based learning. The Villages annually serves over 13,000 young people, aged 7–18, from every state of the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as well as Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and 31 other countries, and are sponsored by Concordia College
Concordia College, Moorhead
Concordia College is a private liberal arts school located in Moorhead, Minnesota, United States. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and offers bachelors' degrees in the arts and music, as well as a master's degree in education. The college was founded by Norwegian...
of Moorhead
Moorhead, Minnesota
Moorhead is a city in Clay County, Minnesota, United States, and the largest city in northwest Minnesota. The population was 38,065 at the 2010 Census. It is the county seat of Clay County....
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, a private four-year liberal arts
Liberal arts
The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...
college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...
.
Mission
Each village focuses on immersion in both the language and the culture(s) of its target. Counselors speak the target language from waking up to going to sleep, with the help of many communicative techniques designed to reduce frustration on the part of the villagers; villagers are encouraged to use as much of the target language as they can produce. By the end of the summer, even villagers with no previous encounters with the language remark on how much they are able to understand.
CLV also aims to develop cultural awareness. Everything from the meals to the crafts to the games is tailored to the target culture(s). Village programs are designed to cast light on the cultures in question, as well as the diversity of cultures around the world, and can take on inter-village meaning in everything from "World Cup" soccer matches between nearby villages to simulating the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
deliberating on an issue. Additionally, at CLV villagers are able to live with, play with, work with, and get to know foreign native speakers. CLV also sponsors a "International Day" twice yearly; it is free and open to the public and aims to foster further global awareness.
Strong environmental
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
goals encompass all aspects of the program, from recycling
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
, waste reduction, water management
Water management
Water management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing and managing the optimum use of water resources. In an ideal world. water management planning has regard to all the competing demands for water and seeks to allocate water on an equitable basis to satisfy all uses and demands...
, encouragement for campers to bring biodegradable toiletries, alternative energy sources like solar
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
and geothermal power
Geothermal power
Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is the energy that determines the temperature of matter. Earth's geothermal energy originates from the original formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of minerals...
are implemented on the permanent site. The new Waldsee
Waldsee (camp)
Waldsee, "Lake of the Woods," is the German immersion program offered by Concordia Language Villages. Located near Bemidji, Minnesota, Waldsee is also the site of North America's first certified passive house, which uses 85% less energy than a house built to the Minnesota Energy Code.Waldsee is...
"BioHaus," the first certified passive house
Passive house
The term passive house refers to the rigorous, voluntary, Passivhaus standard for energy efficiency in a building, reducing its ecological footprint. It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or cooling. A similar standard, MINERGIE-P, is used in...
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, is a testament to these goals. The villages also have a relatively high vegetarian and vegan ratio, to which they cater.
Villages
Waldsee (camp)
Waldsee, "Lake of the Woods," is the German immersion program offered by Concordia Language Villages. Located near Bemidji, Minnesota, Waldsee is also the site of North America's first certified passive house, which uses 85% less energy than a house built to the Minnesota Energy Code.Waldsee is...
, Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish) located near Bemidji
Bemidji, Minnesota
Bemidji is a city in Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was at 13,431 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Beltrami County. Bemidji is the most major city in North Central Minnesota and the largest commercial center between Grand Forks, North Dakota and Duluth,...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
on Turtle River Lake. There are also leased sites throughout Minnesota, as well as at Savannah
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, and abroad in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
The road connecting the permanent villages at Turtle River Lake to the county road was purposefully constructed to be winding, to simulate the long trip to the target cultures represented at the villages. The original plans for these villages included a train to link all of the villages. Although this idea was scrapped, aspects of it still remain in several buildings. The German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
village's four-story administration building resembles a German train station
Train station
A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
and is called the Bahnhof ("train station"). The dining hall at Salolampi, the Finnish language
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
village, is modeled after a famous Finnish train station. Additionally, the Turtle River Lake site has a World Inc. Peace Site with peace poles in the village languages at its heart, near the Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
village, Skogfjorden
Skogfjorden
Skogfjorden is a Norwegian language village and campsite affiliated with the Concordia Language Villages. It is located at the Concordia site at Turtle River Lake near Bemidji, Minnesota....
and the Bemidji and Turtle River Lake sites have European road signs in kilometers per hour (imported from Germany, not replications).
Several immigrant
History of immigration to the United States
The history of immigration to the United States is a continuing story of peoples from more populated continents, particularly Europe and also Africa and Asia, crossing oceans to the new land. Historians do not treat the first indigenous settlers as immigrants. Starting around 1600 British and...
buildings have been moved to the permanent sites to show villagers what life was like for early European immigrants. The immigrant cabins at the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
village are original to the site. The German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
"Haus Sonnenaufgang" was first moved from New Ulm
New Ulm, Minnesota
New Ulm is a city in Brown County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,522 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Brown County....
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
to sit next to the Norwegian ones, but was moved sometime in the early 1990s to the German village near Bemidji
Bemidji, Minnesota
Bemidji is a city in Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was at 13,431 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Beltrami County. Bemidji is the most major city in North Central Minnesota and the largest commercial center between Grand Forks, North Dakota and Duluth,...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
.
CLV consists of 15 villages:
- GermanGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: WaldseeWaldsee (camp)Waldsee, "Lake of the Woods," is the German immersion program offered by Concordia Language Villages. Located near Bemidji, Minnesota, Waldsee is also the site of North America's first certified passive house, which uses 85% less energy than a house built to the Minnesota Energy Code.Waldsee is...
(est. 1961) - FrenchFrench languageFrench is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
: Lac du Bois or Les VoyageursVoyageurs (camp)Voyageurs is a French language and culture program at the Concordia Language Villages based in northern Minnesota. Recreating the life of the voyageurs, French fur traders of the 18th-century, campers cook over an open fire, bathe in the lake, and complete a grande voyage by canoe during the two-...
(est. 1962) - SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: El Lago del BosqueEl Lago del BosqueEl Lago del Bosque , Spanish for "The Lake of the Woods," is the Spanish language and Hispanic culture immersion program of Concordia Language Villages. El Lago del Bosque was established in 1963.Currently there are three ELdB locations:...
(est. 1963) - NorwegianNorwegian languageNorwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
: SkogfjordenSkogfjordenSkogfjorden is a Norwegian language village and campsite affiliated with the Concordia Language Villages. It is located at the Concordia site at Turtle River Lake near Bemidji, Minnesota....
(est. 1963) - RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
: Lesnoe Ozero (Лесное озеро) (est. 1966) - SwedishSwedish languageSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
: SjölundenSjölundenSjölunden is the Swedish camp site associated with Concordia Language Villages and is located at the Concordia site at Turtle River Lake, near Bemidji, Minnesota. After 30 years without an architecturally authentic Swedish site, the first step towards a village was taken on August 11, 2006 when...
(est. 1975) - FinnishFinnish languageFinnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
: Salolampi (est. 1978) - DanishDanish languageDanish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
: Skovsøen (est. 1982) - ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
: Sen Lin HuSen Lin HuSen Lin Hu is a Chinese language and culture program under the auspices Concordia Language Villages, based in Minnesota. As with the other Concordia Language Villages programs, it is a language immersion-based program. Sen Lin Hu was located at Camp Minne-wa-Kan, a Lutheran Bible Camp with...
(森林湖) (est. 1984) - JapaneseJapanese languageis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
: Mori no IkeMori no Ikeis the Japanese language program of Concordia Language Villages, located in Dent, Minnesota, U.S.A. Japanese is one of the 15 languages offered by Concordia Language Villages...
(森の池) (est. 1988) - EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
: Hometown, USA or Hometown, Europe (est. 1999) - KoreanKorean languageKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
: Sup sogǔi Hosu (숲 속의 호수) (est. 1999) - ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
: Lago del Bosco (est. 2003) - ArabicArabic languageArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
: Al-WāḥaAl-Wahais an immersion-based Arabic-language camp for students between the ages of 7 and 18 associated with Concordia Language Villages. It was established in 2006 with the help from a grant from the U.S. State Department. The camp is located near Vergas, in northwestern Minnesota, on the shores of Lake...
(الواحة) (est. 2006) - PortuguesePortuguese languagePortuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
: Mar E FlorestaMar E FlorestaMar e Floresta, literally translated to "Sea and Forest", is the Portuguese immersion camp offered by Concordia Language Villages. The camp is located in Maplelag Ski Resort, of Callaway, Minnesota. As of now, Mar e Floresta uses about half of the Maplelag area and the other half is used by the...
(est. 2008)
Each village is named "Lake of the Woods" in its language, with the exception of the English villages Hometown, USA and Hometown, Europe, the Portuguese village Mar E Floresta (Sea and Forest), and the Arabic village al-Wāḥa ("the oasis").
Village culture
Each language village site has numerous traditions, many of which are related to meals and songs. Meal presentations, in which each food and its name are presented in a short skit before each meal, are a language tool implemented by almost all programs. Many villages also put on a restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
night for villagers to practice going out using their target language. Restaurants will often be fancy affairs that tend to represent international cuisine and languages that are not represented by the villages, such as Vietnamese
Cuisine of Vietnam
Vietnamese cuisine is a style of cooking derived from Vietnam. Fish sauce and paste, soy paste, rice, fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables are commonly used. Vietnamese recipes utilize a diverse range of herbs, including lemongrass, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander and Thai basil leaves...
, Indian
Indian cuisine
Indian cuisine consists of thousands of regional cuisines which date back thousands of years. The dishes of India are characterised by the extensive use of various Indian spices, herbs, vegetables and fruit. Indian cuisine is also known for the widespread practice of vegetarianism in Indian society...
, Thai
Cuisine of Thailand
Thai cuisine is the national cuisine of Thailand. Blending elements of several Southeast Asian traditions, Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components. The spiciness of Thai cuisine is well known. As with other Asian cuisines, balance, detail and variety...
, or Tibetan
Cuisine of Tibet
Tibetan cuisine reflects local climes and customs. Few crops grow at the high altitudes that characterize Tibet, although a few areas in Tibet are low enough to grow such crops as rice, oranges, bananas, and lemon. The most important crop is barley. Flour milled from roasted barley, called tsampa,...
.
The cuisine in most villages reflect the ethnic cuisines of the target language. At Waldsee
Waldsee (camp)
Waldsee, "Lake of the Woods," is the German immersion program offered by Concordia Language Villages. Located near Bemidji, Minnesota, Waldsee is also the site of North America's first certified passive house, which uses 85% less energy than a house built to the Minnesota Energy Code.Waldsee is...
, this means that German
German cuisine
German cuisine is a style of cooking derived from the nation of Germany. It has evolved as a national cuisine through centuries of social and political change with variations from region to region. The southern regions of Germany, including Bavaria and neighbouring Swabia, share many dishes....
regional food, Austrian
Cuisine of Austria
Austrian cuisine is a style of cuisine native to Austria and composed of influences from throughout the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Regional influences from Italy, Hungary, Germany and the Balkans have had an effect on Austrian cooking, and in turn this fusion of styles was influential...
, Swiss
Swiss cuisine
Swiss cuisine bears witness to many regional influences, including from Italian, French, and German cuisine, and also features many dishes specific to Switzerland...
and common import foods like Turkish
Turkish cuisine
Turkish cuisine is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan cuisines. Turkish cuisine has in turn influenced those and other neighbouring cuisines, including that of western Europe...
döner kebab
Döner kebab
Doner kebab is a dish made of roasted meat cooked on a vertical spit. It is also known regionally as gyro , shawarma, and al pastor . It consists of shaved lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, beef, or mixed meats roasted on a spit. Less common alternatives include fish and sausage...
are served. At Lac du Bois, foods of Africa
Cuisine of Africa
African cuisine is a generalized term collectively referring to the cuisines of Africa. The continent of Africa is the second largest landmass on Earth, and is home to hundreds of different cultural and ethnic groups...
and the Caribbean
Caribbean cuisine
Caribbean cuisine is a fusion of African, Amerindian, British, Spanish, French, Dutch, Indian, and Chinese cuisine. These traditions were brought from the many homelands of this region's population...
may be included.
The fusion of American and foreign cultures has created a strange linguistic phenomenon sometimes referred to as Lac du Bois's "Franglais
Franglais
Franglais , a portmanteau combining the French words "français" and "anglais" , is a slang term for an interlanguage, although the word has different overtones in French and English....
" (French+anglais) or Waldsee
Waldsee (camp)
Waldsee, "Lake of the Woods," is the German immersion program offered by Concordia Language Villages. Located near Bemidji, Minnesota, Waldsee is also the site of North America's first certified passive house, which uses 85% less energy than a house built to the Minnesota Energy Code.Waldsee is...
's "Denglish
Denglisch
Denglisch or Denglish is a portmanteau of the German words Deutsch and Englisch. Used in all German-speaking and Dutch-speaking countries, it describes an influx of English, or pseudo-English, vocabulary into the German or Dutch language through travel and the widespread usage of English in...
" (Deutsch+English). Examples would be Je need a couteau ("I need a knife") or What did you seh at the Kino? ("What did you see at the movie theatre?"). This trend, however, is not limited to just the Lac du Bois and Waldsee camps, villagers at every camp employ a unique variety of code-switching
Code-switching
In linguistics, code-switching is the concurrent use of more than one language, or language variety, in conversation. Multilinguals—people who speak more than one language—sometimes use elements of multiple languages in conversing with each other...
with English and the target language. Site buildings are given names in the target language, and rarely does anyone refer to site buildings by their English names, even when speaking English. Additionally, some words have been invented by native-speaking staff members for concepts that are not native to the target cultures but daily words in camp life, such as "chipmunk
Chipmunk
Chipmunks are small striped squirrels native to North America and Asia. They are usually classed either as a single genus with three subgenera, or as three genera.-Etymology and taxonomy:...
," "poison ivy
Poison ivy
Toxicodendron radicans, better known as poison ivy , is a poisonous North American plant that is well known for its production of urushiol, a clear liquid compound found within the sap of the plant that causes an itching rash in most people who touch it...
," and "mosquito repellent."
Village activities
A typical day at one of the Villages includes cultural and typical summer camp activities. In the target language, villagers might go canoeing, create art projects, play African drums, practice yoga, play ping-pong, or make a film. Camp songs and daily skits are an integral part of the village experience, as are jokes, games, and weekend dances, all of which surround campers with the language.Simulations play a major role in giving villagers the opportunity to experience historic events and situations in international affairs that affect world peace. Examples have included world religions, children’s rights, and tolerance. Comfort with the language, open-mindedness, and awareness of world citizenship are core values taught at Concordia Language Villages.
Villagers also can attend a four week program for high school credit. Obviously, the schedule for these villagers is slightly different. "A thematic curriculum, experiential immersion techniques and performance-based assessments are the basis for this academic program." To earn the 180 hours to gain credit at a high school, villagers will attend 4 to 5 structured classes during the day. The credit villagers are in the immersion program and take part in "doing" foreign language, but unlike many of the 2 week programs, these villagers will also focus on reading and writing. Credit villagers still get to participate in many of the fun activities such as evening programs, sports, arts and crafts and other unique offerings in each village.
Programs
CLV offers a number of programs to serve its diverse audience, not all of which are offered in every language.Summer youth
During the summer, CLV serves youth with villages in the United States, as well as a limited number of programs abroad for academic creditCredit (education)
A course credit is a unit that gives weighting to the value, level or time requirements of an academic course taken at a school or other educational institution.- United States :...
. Villagers can stay for 1 week, 2 weeks, or 4 week programs, and it is possible to earn high school or college credit for the time spent being immersed in the language. "Wilderness programs" during the summer offer additional opportunities to spend time in the outdoors of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
for those who enjoy the environment, exploration, and camping. Many camps also offer other themed programs, such as French African
French colonial empires
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
or Swiss
Swiss (people)
The Swiss are citizens or natives of Switzerland. The demonym derives from the toponym of Schwyz and has been in widespread use to refer to the Old Swiss Confederacy since the 16th century....
culture (which is a blend of the German, French, and Italian villages) or the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
in combination with theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
.
Summer day camps are offered for younger learners who live in the area, and "family week" programs during the summer serve entire families, even those with young children.
High school summer credit abroad
Six high school credit abroad programs are offered in China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, and Argentina.Year-round programs
Between September and June, CLV offers weeks and weekends of immersion for adults, elderhostelers, families, teachers, and school groups. These programs meet over weekends and long weekends, and each school year has a theme for its weekend.Concordia Language Villages also offers a 10-day 4-credit graduate level course for teachers in second language
Second language
A second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas ....
s and immersion
Language immersion
Language immersion is a method of teaching a second language in which the target language is used as the means of instruction. Unlike more traditional language courses, where the target language is simply the subject material, language immersion uses the target language as a teaching tool,...
.
International Day
Waldsee (camp)
Waldsee, "Lake of the Woods," is the German immersion program offered by Concordia Language Villages. Located near Bemidji, Minnesota, Waldsee is also the site of North America's first certified passive house, which uses 85% less energy than a house built to the Minnesota Energy Code.Waldsee is...
,the German camp, for a day-long festival of cultures called International Day, or I-Day. The camps bring out their wares and each has a booth of ethnic food to share, and each camp prepares a short closing performance to share. Each year has a theme. Additionally, campers in every village learn a choreographed dance to the year's "I-Day song" during the two weeks preceding I-Day. This is a song from a language not covered by the camps; everyone dances to it together during the festival. All songs can be heard on You Tube.
| Year | I-Day Theme | I-Day Song | Song Artist | Song Language | I-Day Dance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Become the Change | "Jambo Bwana Jambo Bwana "Jambo Bwana" is one of the best internationally-known Kenyan pop songs. It was first released in 1982 by Kenyan band Them Mushrooms, and later covered by a number of other groups and artists, including Mombasa Roots, Safari Sound Band, Khadja Nin, Adam Solomon and the German group Boney M.... "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VWBND1ggF8 |
Them Mushrooms Them Mushrooms Them Mushrooms is a musical band from Kenya, playing mostly Chakacha, some Benga and also some reggae. They are most famous for the Swahili song Jambo Bwana. The band is composed of Teddy Kalanda, Henry Ndenge Saha and Ben Mutwiwa. They mainly do covers of previously written hit songs.The group was... |
Swahili Swahili language Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia... |
|
| 2010 | Party Like It's 1961 | "Jai Ho Jai Ho "Jai Ho" is a Hindi song composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Gulzar, for the 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire. It accompanies a choreographed dance sequence at the end credits of the film. The song also features vocals by Mahalakshmi Iyer, Tanvi Shah, Vijay Prakash, and Sukhwinder Singh, who is... " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRC4QrUwo9o |
A. R. Rahman A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and philanthropist. Described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time, his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and... |
Hindi Hindi Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi... |
|
| 2009 | Colors of Hope | "Mauja hi Mauja" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8zQUujRjQ0 | Mika Singh | Hindi Hindi Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi... |
|
| 2008 | Imagine! | "Fan Fun Tuer" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WyVMbzgUBE | Anan Anwar Anan Anwar Anan Anwar , born on 15 September 1986 in Thailand, is a Thai singer and actor. He is the fourth child of his Scottish mother and Indonesian father. His older brother Joni Anwar was a member of the musical group Raptor.... |
Thai Thai language Thai , also known as Central Thai and Siamese, is the national and official language of Thailand and the native language of the Thai people, Thailand's dominant ethnic group. Thai is a member of the Tai group of the Tai–Kadai language family. Historical linguists have been unable to definitively... |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acTDATa9sUw |
| 2007 | Speak Your Peace | "Festa" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86o-uaJUX6w | Ivete Sangalo Ivete Sangalo Ivete Maria Dias de Sangalo is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Brazilian Axé and MPB singer, songwriter, and occasional actress and television show host... |
Portuguese Portuguese language Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095... , in honor of the opening of Mar E Floresta |
|
| 2006 | Creating a World Where Everyone Understands | "Bye Bye" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovA6S0Br-Bo | Elli Kokkinou Elli Kokkinou Elli Kokkinou is a Greek singer who was born in Athens, Greece. Kokkinou is among the most popular singers in Greece today. She has performed together with Greek music stars such as Anna Vissi, Glykeria, Paschalis Terzis, Sakis Rouvas, Tolis Voskopoulos, Thanos Petrelis, Natassa Theodoridou,... |
Greek Greek language Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;... |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWZLCPTx944 |
| 2005 | Creating Cultures of Peace | "Tunak Tunak Tun Tunak Tunak Tun "Tunak Tunak Tun" or "Tunak", is a bhangra/pop love song by Indian artist Daler Mehndi released in 1998. At the time, critics complained that Mehndi's music was only popular due to his videos that featured beautiful women dancing. Mehndi's response was to create a video that featured only himself... " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bAN7Ts0xBo |
Daler Mehndi Daler Mehndi Daler Mehndi , born August 18, 1967, is an Indian Bhangra pop singer.Mehndi was a student of traditional Punjabi music and his first album broke sales records in India. Since 1995 he has recorded several highly successful albums in India, and also sung as a playback singer for several Hindi movies... |
Punjabi Punjabi language Punjabi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by inhabitants of the historical Punjab region . For Sikhs, the Punjabi language stands as the official language in which all ceremonies take place. In Pakistan, Punjabi is the most widely spoken language... |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtNyA6vTvDg |
| 2004 | Peace is in our hands | "Dragostea Din Tei Dragostea din Tei "Dragostea din tei" , also informally known as "The Numa Numa Song" , is the most successful single by the Moldovan pop group O-Zone, sung in Romanian. It shot to the number one spot on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it remained for 12 weeks between June and early September 2004... " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRx5PrAlUdY |
O-Zone O-Zone O-Zone was a Romania/Moldovan pop music trio that was active from 1998 to 2005 and consisted of Dan Bălan, Radu Sîrbu, and Arsenie Todiraş. The group gained global popularity with their song "Dragostea din tei" and their subsequent album DiscO-Zone.... |
Romanian Romanian language Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova... |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fw3V3YVEUE |
| 2003 | Learn. Reach. Grow. | "Moi Et Toi" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjKweccTMHY | Abdel Ali Slimani | Algerian Arabic Algerian Arabic Algerian Arabic is the variety or varieties of Arabic spoken in Algeria. In Algeria, as elsewhere, spoken Arabic differs from written Arabic; Algerian Arabic has a vocabulary mostly Arabic, with significant Berber substrates, and many new words and loanwords borrowed from French, Turkish and... |
|
| 2002 | Our World: a Peace Puzzle | "Gioca Jouer" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQcjsOF9mjo | Claudio Cecchetto | Italian Italian language Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia... |
|
| 2001 | A Language Odyssey | "Alane Alane (song) "Alane" is a 1997 song recorded by Wes. It was his debut single from his album Welenga, and was released in 1997 in Francophone countries and in 1998 in other European countries... " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCevP9DJtIY |
Wes Madiko Wes Madiko Wes Madiko , better known as Wes, is a Cameroonian musician. He is probably best known among Western audiences for "In Youpendi", a song from The Lion King II soundtrack, as well as work with Deep Forest and his own 1997 hit "Alane".-Albums:*Welenga *Sinami *Melowe Wes Madiko (born January 15,... |
Duala Duala language Duala is the language spoken by the Duala people of Cameroon. The language belonges to the Bantu language family, and a subgroup of it called the Duala languages... , a Bantu Bantu languages The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages... language |
|
| 1990 | World Without Walls | ? | ? | ? |
Notable visits
Over the years, Concordia Language Villages has been visited by numerous dignitaries and supporters, including:- SpanishSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Consul General Rodrigo Aguirre de Cárcer (1983) - German AmbassadorGerman Ambassador to the United StatesThe United States has had diplomatic relations with the nation of Germany and its predecessor nation, the Kingdom of Prussia, since 1835. These relations were broken twice while Germany and the United States were at war....
Peter HermesPeter HermesPeter Hermes is a German diplomat, and was German Ambassador to the United States from 1979 to 1984.-Life:He is the son of Andreas Hermes....
(1983) - German AmbassadorGerman Ambassador to the United StatesThe United States has had diplomatic relations with the nation of Germany and its predecessor nation, the Kingdom of Prussia, since 1835. These relations were broken twice while Germany and the United States were at war....
Günther van WellGünther van WellGünther van Well was a German diplomat, Secretary of State from 1977 to 1981, and German Ambassador to the United States from 1984 to 1987.-Career:...
(1987) - MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
Governor Arne CarlsonArne CarlsonArne Helge Carlson, Sr. is an American politician and the 37th Governor of the state of Minnesota.-Early years, education and family:...
(1991) - ArkansasArkansasArkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
Governor Bill ClintonBill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
(1991 and 1992) - FinnishFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Ambassador Jaakko LaajavaJaakko LaajavaJaakko Laajava is the Finnish Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Security Policy. He was Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Security Policy from 2001 until 2005, when he became Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2005. In 2010 he returned to his previous Under-Secretary position...
(1998) - GermanGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Ambassador Jürgen ChrobogJürgen ChrobogJürgen Chrobog is a German jurist, diplomat, and German Ambassador to the United States from 1995 to 2001.-Life:...
(1998) - AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Ambassador Peter Moser (2002) - Ambassador of NorwayNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
Knut VollebækKnut VollebækKnut Vollebæk is a Norwegian diplomat and centrist politician . He is educated from the Norwegian School of Economics and the University of California, Santa Barbara....
(2003) - Ambassador of the Federal Republic of GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Wolfgang IschingerWolfgang IschingerWolfgang Friedrich Ischinger is a German diplomat. He was Germany's ambassador to the Court of St. James's from 2006 to May, 2008...
(2003), - ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Consul General in Chicago Eugenio Sgró (2003) - FinnishFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Consul General in New York Jukka Leino (2003) - FinnishFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
Ambassador Jukka Valtasaari (2004) - Ambassador of the Principality of Liechtenstein Claudia FritscheClaudia FritscheClaudia Fritsche is the Ambassador of the Principality of Liechtenstein to The United States.-Biography:Fritsche began her public career as the personal secretary of Liechtenstein's Prime Minister, Dr. Alfred Hilbe, serving in that capacity from 1970 until 1974. In 1978, she entered the...
(2004) - Deputy Chief of Mission of the Federal Republic of GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Klaus-Peter Gottwald (2005) - Deputy Chief of Mission of SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
Caroline Vicini (2005) - Counsellor of the Royal NorwegianNorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
Embassy Kirsten Hammelbo (2005) - Ambassador of the Federal Republic of GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Klaus SchariothKlaus SchariothDr. Klaus Scharioth is a German diplomat. From 2006 to 2011 he served as Germany's ambassador to the United States.Scharioth was born in Essen, located in the Ruhr Area in western Germany. He studied law in Bonn, Freiburg and Geneva and political science, sociology and psychology at The College of...
(2007) - Second Secretary for Cultural Affairs at the RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n Embassy Irina Khortonen (2007) - SwissSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
Ambassador Urs Ziswiler (2008) - United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Kiyotaka AkasakaKiyotaka Akasakais the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. He was appointed to the position by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in February 2007. Akasaka also serves as Coordinator for Multilingualism in the UN Secretariat....
(2008)
International patronage granted
His Majesty King Harald V of Norway has granted royal patronage to SkogfjordenSkogfjorden
Skogfjorden is a Norwegian language village and campsite affiliated with the Concordia Language Villages. It is located at the Concordia site at Turtle River Lake near Bemidji, Minnesota....
, the Norwegian Language Village. Patronage is an affirmation from the Royal Family of Norway of the quality educational programming of Concordia Language Villages.
In 2009, Tove Irene Dahl,the dean of Skogfjorden, was named a Knight of the First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit, by His Majesty King Harald V of Norway for the advancement of Norwegian language and culture in the United States.
Mr. Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau was a German politician of the SPD. He was President of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004, and Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.-Education and work:...
, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany has also granted personal patronage to Waldsee
Waldsee (camp)
Waldsee, "Lake of the Woods," is the German immersion program offered by Concordia Language Villages. Located near Bemidji, Minnesota, Waldsee is also the site of North America's first certified passive house, which uses 85% less energy than a house built to the Minnesota Energy Code.Waldsee is...
, the German Language Village. This patronage is symbolic of the strong bonds between the people of Germany and Concordia Language Villages.