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Vaughantown In October I had one of the most amazing and rewarding experiences of my life. I traveled to Spain for a week to teach conversational English to corporate business people in and around Madrid, Spain. By the end of the program as we all exchanged hugs, tears, addresses and memories to last a lifetime, I realized what I had done was one of the most rewarding things, next to giving birth to three beautiful daughters, I had ever done in my entire life. So, how does that have anything to do with family travel you may be wondering? Well, Vaughantown offers a very similar experience for families to travel to various locations in Europe and while the adults in the family “teach” conversational English to the grown-ups, the kids mingle, socialize, play and “teach” the children. What a better way to experience culture and international human experience, than as a family, while staying for free at a four star resort, and dining, living, and playing with Europeans? When my friend and I went in October to be a part of the Vaughantown program, we stayed in Gredos, Avila, Spain in a gorgeous ranch in the countryside a few hours from Madrid, where we dined three meals a day, socialized, played, created skits and projects, and forged lasting friendships with eager Spaniards. After our trip, my friend and I elected to visit other parts of Europe such as Italy and Germany at our leisure, visiting friends, as some Vaughantown attendees sometimes choose to do when their teaching is over. Waking every morning to native birds and watching colts frolic in the pastures as far as the eye can see, walking along centuries old rock walls and castles, and dining and relaxing with fine local wines every night till the wee hours of the night (yes, they have siestas every afternoon), were just a few highlights of the Spain portion of the adventure while we stayed at a charming sprawling ranch resort in the Spanish countryside. There we “worked” every day helping our new Spanish friends with their conversational English. We now have more than two dozen new Spanish friends welcoming us back to their country anytime, who feel they are indebted to us for improving their corporate performance in their jobs. Many of them worked for Oracle, HP, solar energy firms, law, aviation, and other high profile jobs where our helping them to improve their English, was invaluable to their lives. Did it feel like work? Not for a moment, since we all had fun every day, all day and we had meaningful group and one and one activities planned through out each day. Our new friends even threw all of us Anglos (English speakers) a huge dance party the last night. It was a moving and tear jerking gesture to see about 40 people, half Spaniards and the rest of us Anglos from Australia, England, Texas, San Diego, Florida, the Carolinas, and South Africa, all come together and blend as a group with one common goal to help one another and form a lasting bond as friends forever. If teaching your family about another culture’s food, customs, laws, and human emotion is of interest, you need to consider a family program with Vaughantown. Vaughantown is expanding to
new locations around Europe. They prefer people who do not speak the local language. I had to promise never to use my Spanish with the Spaniards since it is an immersion program for them, aimed at helping them improve in their corporate jobs with things like conference calls and meetings and presentations. But I did use my French and Spanish when we left Vaughantown and traveled in other parts of Europe. Much like the old military enlistment slogan: It certainly was not what I’d call a job, but definitely an adventure! To learn all about their
programs for families and teenagers, go to: www.vausys.com Submitted by: Carmel L.
Mooney
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