To find out if the Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages is the right study abroad program for you, take the following Self-Inventory:
If after taking the Self-Inventory and reading through the sub-questions, your are able to answer an enthusiastic '
yes' to all of the questions above, then we invite you to consider applying to the IUHPFL. Check to make sure that you meet the Honors Program qualifications for participation before registering for the IUHPFL Testing, the first step in the application process, which takes place in October.
Am I able to pledge the Language Commitment, vowing to speak only the foreign language for the duration of my stay abroad?
Speaking only the foreign language for the duration of the Honors Program is a hearty challenge, no matter how advanced you may be in the language. After all, giving up your language is in some ways giving up your identity. But you will take on a new identity with your new language, which is an exciting prospect! By pledging the Language Commitment, you will be led to full immersion both linguistically and culturally and you will progress significantly in your language proficiency.
- Why the Language Commitment?
The Language Commitment sets out to create an environment in which you are constantly exposed to and engaging in the foreign language. Such an environment enables you to maximize your language proficiency gains. By being immersed in the foreign language, you will start to internalize it and stop relying on your native language, truly beginning to think, dream, live and acquire the foreign language!
It is imperative to understand that the full immersion experience and language proficiency gains cannot be achieved without faithfully keeping the Language Commitment. The extent to which you maintain the Language Commitment is the extent to which you succeed in making significant progress in your linguistic abilities.
- What does the Language Commitment imply?
Agreeing to the Language Commitment means that you not only give up speaking English (and your native language, if English is not your native language) with your host family, peers, instructors, and all members of the host culture for the duration of the Honors Program, it also means that you agree to make only one call to your family at home upon arrival, pledge to limit your access to the Internet to one hour a week, and forfeit the use of cell phones and laptops in an effort to culturally immerse yourself in the host environment. While it may seem that you will 'sacrifice' much making the Language Commitment, you will gain more than you ever could have imagined in doing so.
You are expected to maintain the Language Commitment at all times, but are also to hold your peers accountable for maintaining the Commitment as well by encouraging them in their efforts to speak only the foreign language and by asking them to correct their behavior should they slip into English or any other language that is not the target language. The support of your peers in this Commitment is invaluable; in the IUHPFL model, the strength of the Program as a whole is only as strong as its individual constituents. This means the Language Commitment is as much an individual pledge as it is a group pledge.
- How do I keep my pledge to the Language Commitment?
If accepted into the Honors Program, strategies to keep the Language Commitment will be discussed thoroughly at your IUHPFL Orientation as well as in the IUHPFL Student Handbook so that you are equipped with tools to navigate the foreign language well enough without the assistance of English or your native language.
What is needed from you at the initial application stage in terms of your dedication to the Language Commitment is the courage to adopt the Commitment, and the will to carry it out. Do you have such courage and will?
Am I able to faithfully commit to follow the IUHPFL Honor Code for the duration of my stay abroad, a series of norms set forth to maximize my learning abroad and ensure my personal safety?
The IUHPFL Honor Code gives the Honors Program a unique structure and is aimed to set you up for success abroad. The norms outlined in the Honor Code were established for you to maximize your immersion experience, help you to focus on academics, and to keep your safety as the Program’s top priority.
- How does the Honor Code contribute to total immersion and the Program's academic focus?
The norms of the Honor Code that reflect the IUHPFL's total immersion objective and academic focus include: the Language Commitment, the Restrictions on Dating pledge, the pledge to adhere to host family norms, the pledge to adhere to the weeknight and weekend activities and travel regulations laid out for you, and the Honors Program Pledge to Excellence. Instead of potentially looking at these norms as being prohibitive in nature, try to understand the reasoning behind them.
For instance, rather than look at the Language Commitment as 'depriving' you of your native language, think of it as an incredible motivator to encourage you to speak only the foreign language, which will in turn lead to increased proficiency gains in your language.
Similarly, rather than look at the Restrictions on Dating pledge as a means to 'prevent' you from becoming romantically involved with other IUHPFL students or individuals from the host culture, ask yourself 'Why would you want to limit your IUHPFL experience to concentrating on one person, when you are presented with this unique opportunity to get to know so many individuals who are both alike and different from you?'
If you are able to understand the logic behind these norms, you will see that they are setting you up for success, rather than restricting your behaviors for the sake of being restrictive.
- How does the Honor Code contribute to maintaining my personal safety?
The norms of the Honor Code that are set forth to ensure your personal safety include: the Prohibition of the Use of Alcoholic Beverages, Drugs, and Tobacco, the Prohibition of Risky Activities, regulations on your weeknight and weekend activities, as well as regulations on your travel opportunities. Again, we encourage you to explore the reasoning behind these norms.
For instance, if you know that the use of drugs, tobacco and alcohol can significantly impair your decision making capabilities, why would you want to experiment with such substances in an environment that is completely new to you?
Similarly, if you would be hesitant to ride passenger on a motorcycle in the U.S., why would you want to do so in a culture in which driving practices have the potential to be dramatically different from what you are used to?
These safety norms have been put in place to provide you with as safe and as structured an environment abroad as is possible. They are not meant to restrict your cultural experience, rather were established to allow you to experience the culture within safe and reasonable limits.
- What happens if I break the Honor Code?
If you are accepted to the IUHPFL and you break the Honor Code, your infraction will be recorded in an Incident Report and will be kept on record. In the Incident Report, you will be asked to carry out a set of consequences fitting of the infraction. It is important to note that receiving an Incident Report will jeopardize your ability to earn the IUHPFL Award of Excellence and will be noted on your Honors Program evaluation.
As with the Language Commitment, you are expected to maintain the IUHPFL Honor Code at all times as well as to hold your peers accountable for maintaining the Honor Code. This means the Honor Code is as much an individual commitment as it is a group commitment. Consequently, in the event that the Honors Code is violated by a large number of students collectively, the consequences may apply to the entire group of students.
- Are you willing to pledge to the Honor Code?
Before applying for the IUHPFL, contemplate seriously the Honor Code and your willingness to fulfill it. Also contemplate your willingness to defend the Honor Code onsite, in the event you are confronted with a situation in which one of your peers is not fulfilling the Code as he or she should. If you have every intention to pledge the Honor Code and possess the subsequent motivation and dedication to follow through with it, then we encourage you to apply for the IUHPFL.
Am I enthused to attend intensive classes daily while abroad?
The IUHPFL is not a tour-oriented program, nor is it considered solely a cultural exchange program, rather it is an intense study program that will have you in class and activities for four to five hours a day. Class attendance for the Honors Program is mandatory.
The Honors Program is academically focused, and aims to attract academically motivated students. Though the IUHPFL has many components, at the heart of the Program is its academics. The remaining components of the Honors Program (the host family experience, the excursions, optional cultural activities) complement the Program’s academic focus.
- Are you not just ready, but enthused, to commit to an intense summer abroad of classes and activities?
What are IUHPFL classes and activities like?
The classes you will attend (phonetics, grammar, literature, conversation and culture) have been designed exclusively for you by Honors Program instructors. You will be expected to complete daily assignments in your classes, as well as write compositions and prepare projects throughout the length of the Program.
In addition to formal classes in the morning, you will engage in an afternoon activity (either theater or choir), during which you will prepare pieces for the farewell show that is performed for the host families at the end of the Program.
- How will the IUHPFL evaluate me?
You will receive feedback from your instructors onsite intermittently throughout the Honors Program. At the end of the Program, your instructors will assess your class performance, as well as your performance during the afternoon activities and excursions, and your integration into the host family, in a formal evaluation. You will receive the evaluation and your school will receive a copy for their records as well. If you have exhibited exemplary performance in the classroom and have faithfully abided by the Honor Code, you will earn the IUHPFL Award of Excellence.
Am I open to living with a host family whose customs, habits, and daily life are likely different from those of my own family?
Students who study with the IUHFPL live with host families. While we believe that the host family model is the most conducive to the structure and focus of the IUHPFL, it is one of the greatest challenges any student can face.
Time and time again, you hear what a positive and life-changing experience living with a host family can be. While that is no doubt a true statement, such a positive experience is not ‘automatic,’ rather it requires hard work and effort. It is unrealistic to think that you will arrive to your host family’s home and simply ‘fit in’ from the beginning. Making a host family situation ‘work’ is a two way street: both you and the host family have to be open to working out small differences and miscommunications.
Before applying to the IUHPFL, take some time to think about your willingness to live with a host family and all that it entails. Are you open-minded, flexible and communicative enough to take the host family plunge?
- How do I live with a host family?
- Integrating well into a host family is a multi-step process that, first and foremost, requires you to know yourself well. Think about the following scenarios and how you might react:
- Are you a person who is more independent in nature? And if so, how will you handle structured meal times, being assigned household chores, asking permission for certain things, and being expected to consistently communicate your whereabouts?
- If you are the kind of person who prefers to be around people all the time, how will you handle it if there is a misunderstanding between you and a member of your host family, or if you and a member of your host family do not see eye-to-eye on certain topics?
- What if you are a ‘shy’ person who does not verbally express yourself well – how will you relay your needs and your gratitude to your host family?
- When living with a host family, it is extremely important to communicate with them and vice versa–the challenge in the Honors Program is that you will be expected to communicate entirely with each other in the foreign language, which means you have to be willing to make mistakes and take risks. Are you willing to do so? If so, the rewards will be well worth it.
- Another integral step in adjusting well to a host family is to manage your expectations. Keep in mind that not all host families are the same in terms of their composition and their housing arrangements. You may end up living with a widow, a single parent with younger (or older) children, a mother and a father with many kids, or an older couple whose children have moved out of the home. You may also end up living in an apartment complex, in a modest home, or in a two story home outside the city limits. Think about the following scenarios and how you might react:
- What if you were hoping to live with a couple who had children your age, but instead end up being matched with a couple with no children–how will you adjust your expectations?
- What if you end up living outside the city limits and must commute by bus or train to your classes, when you were hoping to be able to walk–how open-minded will you be to your commuting situation?
- It is important to realize that no matter what your host family composition and housing arrangements might be, situations are bound to arise in which you will have to be open-minded and flexible, regardless of what your initial expectations for your host family might have been.
- In addition to knowing yourself well, finding a way to communicate effectively with your host family and being prepared to manage your expectations, a solid effort must be made to respect your host family and their home. Your host family has offered their hospitality and will likely tell you to make yourself at home, but you will want to be more considerate in your host family’s home than you would be in your own home—after all, you are a guest! Keeping your room tidy and your bed made, helping to set and clear the table, and taking brief showers are small ways that you can show respect and gratitude for your host family. In turn, they will undoubtedly respect you.
Am I flexible enough to adapt to a culture that is not my own, trying new foods and adopting a new schedule?
This question goes hand-in-hand with your openness to living with a host family, as living with a host family implies adapting to a culture that is not your own. You will encounter foods and customs that are ‘different’—it is unrealistic to think that you will go abroad to find your exact diet and routine from the U.S. waiting for you.
It is important to realize that you may have to make some sacrifices to your usual diet and routine when studying abroad, no matter which country you are studying in. Are you willing to make such sacrifices, and open to trying new things?
- Are you willing to try new foods?
Your host family is likely to offer you typical foods from the region you are studying in. For instance, if you were to study in Brest or St. Brieuc, two cities in France whose cuisine depends largely on seafood, your host family is likely to often cook fish. But what if you’ve never tried fish before? Provided you do not have allergies to such food, your host family will at the very least expect you to try a dish before deciding whether or not you like it. After all, why would you have gone half-way across the world to France only to eat the same foods you eat in the U.S.?
- Are you willing to alter your daily routine?
Your host family is also likely to expect you to conform to the schedule that they keep in their house, which is often reflective of the culture outside of the home. For instance, if you were to study in Valencia, Spain, your family would likely maintain a very 'Spanish' meal schedule for the weekend, having a small breakfast upon waking up, a snack around 11:00 a.m, and a large lunch around 2:00 or 3:00 p.m., accompanied by 'sobremesa,' then 'siesta.' Then you may not have dinner until 10:00 in the evening. Would you be willing to conform to such a schedule, though it may interfere with your own scholastic and social agenda?
- What other challenges might I face abroad in a new culture?
Culture shock refers to the flurry of emotions that you experience, ranging from depression to elation, happiness to sadness, confusion to clarity, when you find yourself in an unfamiliar cultural and social environment.
Culture shock arises from the difficulties of acclimating to a new culture, as you no longer know what is appropriate and what is not for a given cultural context. The people that surround you in the new culture may have grown up with values and beliefs that are not the same as yours, which means they likely express themselves in a different way and have ideas that may be new to you.
Culture shock is normal and is only temporary, but nonetheless is a difficult hurdle to overcome when you first arrive abroad. The good news about culture shock is knowing about it and preparing for it is half the battle!
Classes, extracurricular activities, work, social obligations–all of these stressors are familiar to you in your home country, and they do not go away when you study abroad. In fact, stress tends to be exacerbated while abroad, considering you are juggling so many things all the while in an entirely new environment and speaking a language not native to you! Your stress level will likely be heightened while abroad, and thus you should prepare accordingly. The IUHPFL student should know how he or she responds to stress and should have a reasonable plan to manage stress before going abroad with the Honors Program.
- Homesickness:
In the midst of experiencing culture shock, you will undoubtedly miss your family and friends, as well as the comforts of your own home. Such nostalgia for your familiar surroundings is normal, and often lessens in intensity with time, but when it hits you, it hits hard. The IUHPFL student should spend some time mentally preparing for how he or she plans to combat such homesickness before going abroad with the Honors Program.
Am I willing to raise money to help me cover the cost of the program, airfare, and personal expenses?
The IUHPFL is not only a major commitment academically, personally, socially, and emotionally, it is a significant commitment financially as well.
- How much does the IUHPFL cost?
IUHPFL programs in Europe have program fees of $4,500 plus airfare, which you are to pay directly to our travel agent upon acceptance into the Program. You will also be expected to pay for non-group related meals (i.e., meals on certain overnight excursions) out of pocket.
The IUHPFL in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, carries program fees of $3,500 plus airfare, which you are to pay directly to our travel agent upon acceptance into the Program. You will also be expected to pay for non-group related meals (i.e., meals on certain overnight excursions) out of pocket.
Each of the IUHPFL programs requires a non-refundable down payment of $500 and will require personal expenses (see Program Fees for more details). If you are accepted to the Honors Program and have not paid your balance in full by the last payment deadline, you will not be able to participate in the Honors Program.
- How can I pay for the IUHPFL?
Financial aid is available for students who qualify. If you wish to apply for financial aid, you will be asked to submit a Financial Aid application by early 2010.
Many students solicit sponsorships to help offset the costs of the Program, while other students fundraise on their own with bake sales, yard sales, etc., to cover the Program costs. Still, other students pinch pennies and work extra hours to be able to pay for the Program. We advise the following: if you plan to apply to the IUHPFL, begin saving money to cover the program costs now. Every little bit of money helps!
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