How our trips are organized - Safety, control and entertainment at Ken's

When designing a program, we rely heavily on our team of educators and our international experience in foreign affairs and education. The business side is led by our Director and Head of International Projects, and publicity is run by myself, a journalist, and my web designer colleague. We are a great team and we complement each other, as everyone brings the best of themselves, doing what we love and making the most of our time.

One of the biggest concerns when deciding to participate in the exchange program is keeping the same level of studies as in Canada. We know how important that is, which is why we work with the same schools year after year, so as to make sure the curriculum is as close as possible. Even though school facilities are quite different from those in Canada (space is much more limited here), there are endless possibilities, and teachers are true professionals who will support the students with anything they need. You can find more information about education in this region in the blog entry EDUCATIONAL LEVEL IN ARAGÓN.

Many of you may think that not speaking Spanish might be an issue to study here, but nothing could be further from the truth – it is a challenge! Thanks to Spanish as a second language lessons and help from our host families, the students will be able to understand the language and make themselves understood in a couple of weeks. Whenever they go back home to Canada, they all use Spanish expressions, phrases and even intonation!  With the help of one of our partner boards, all full time students in Ontario also have access to Spanish via e-learning, providing them with access to the language before they even arrive.

As mentioned in other blog entries, host families are selected following some very specific criteria, one of the main ones being compatibility between the student and their host family. The student will enjoy full pension and laundry service. Diet in Spain is different from that of Canada. We usually have breakfast at home, have a light mid-morning snack at work/school, we have lunch at home – very important: a three-course meal! – we have an afternoon snack and then a relaxed dinner with our family.

Spain is one of the few places where lunch time lasts around 2 hours, so naps are common in many households. According to a survey published by the “Fundación de Educación para la Salud del Hospital Clínico San Carlos (Fundadeps)” and the “Asociación Española de la Cama (Asocama)” [1] (some 16.2% of Spaniards take a nap daily. It is obviously not mandatory, but still it is a time of rest respected by the whole family. Resting for 15-20 minutes helps recharge energy to continue being active for the rest of the day. According to Scientfic American [2], taking a short nap helps your mood and cognitive function.

Our schedule is always different from most countries, as we wake up later, have lunch later and we go to bed later, at around 12:30 to 1:00 in the morning. In most households, parents arrive home from work at around 19:30 or 20:00, that is why dinner and bedtime are delayed.

[1] “Primer estudio sobre salud y descanso” (2009), Fundadeps y Asocama.  www.fundadeps.org
[2] www.scientificamerican.com

In order to achieve a total linguistic immersion so the students become a part of the country’s customs, we at Ken’s designed a comprehensive sociocultural activity program for the students to take part ion. We recommend that you check out the following link: ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS COMING TO SPAIN.

We would also like to touch on the subject of greetings and physical contact. In Spain, we are used to kissing and hugging other people, shortening the distances and sometimes we even invade each other’s personal space. We say hello to everyone when we get somewhere, and we maintain eye contact with people as a sign of closeness and kindness. We understand that these habits may seem annoying or even offensive, and for that we apologise, but we also ask that you understand that we come from a culture where we like to make everyone feel at home, it is not about making anyone uncomfortable. Acting in any other way would make us feel cold and distant, and that would be foreign for us. We come from opposite cultures and from our own experience, it is better to compromise so both Spaniards and Canadians feel comfortable, by expressing our own way of being and respecting the other’s. Dialogue makes everything possible.  We also encourage students to keep in mind that when in the other country, we should try to adjust to the customs of that country rather than impose our own.

We recommend that you take a look at the blog entry “KEN’S SAFETY REGULATIONS”, where you can find the most important safety rules for the program.

In the following table you can find the steps to take in order to enroll in our programs and also an example of weekly activities (this does not fit here at all…).

Have a nice trip!