Spanish Camp at Concordia Villages

 Each school year since 1963, the Spanish Concordia Language Village has welcomed thousands of students through its doors.

The village is located in Bemidji and is also known as “El Lago del Bosque.” The overnight village includes cabins that resemble authentic Spanish architecture, along with a plaza and fountain also similar to Spanish culture.

This year, four HHS students and Ms. Kimberly Foster, Spanish, visited El Lago de Bosque from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. They were also joined by around 150 other students from around the state.

Each weekend the village represents a specific Spanish country and the students spend time learning about the specific culture of that country. During the HHS visit, the village resembled Mexican culture.

Along with speaking Spanish and learning about different cultures, the students chose from various activities. These activities included art, sports, cooking, acting, singing and dancing.

At the end of each day, the village had a large meal that was customary to the country of focus. During the meals, the students that participated in the acting, singing and dancing activities performed for the others.

Foster believes that attending El Lago del Bosque not only gives the students a great experience of learning about Spanish culture, but it also correlates towards success in the classroom.

“I see that students get to meet other students who are also interested in speaking Spanish. Their speaking skills and confidence with Spanish improve greatly by the end of the trip,” Foster said.

The students that participated in the trip also had a great time. Amelia Merfeld, senior, was one of the students that went on the trip, and had great things to say about it.

“I really liked it. I made new friends, learned some new words, and learned a lot about different cultures,” Merfeld said.