LITA: A Unique Approach to Language Immersion in Spain

When I was planning my summer last year, I decided that I wanted to find an immersion camp to advance my abilities in Spanish. However, I wanted to make sure that this camp would be fully immersive and filled with other people with the same enthusiasm for language as me. That's when I found LITA.
From the very beginning, the LITA staff I met were welcoming, supportive, and friendly. After my initial meeting with Mari, along with an informal placement test of my speaking abilities, my excitement immediately grew.
This program is particularly exceptional due to its complex application process. In the application, you respond to a series of questions about yourself and your language abilities and aspirations. The most incredible thing, however, is the matching of a host family to a student! After you fill out a series of personal preferences, whether those be preferences on the number of siblings in your host family, pets, or even your food preferences, the LITA team finds the perfect family for each student through a complex vetting process (including meetings with Jordan and Mari, the leaders of LITA, and LITA liaisons within the individual towns). I, for one, loved my host family, and we still keep in touch, and we plan to meet again next year. Throughout my entire group, I did not find a single person who was unhappy with their host family and not sad to leave them when the time came!
One aspect of LITA that was particularly important to me was the fact that it was totally immersive. Even at the airport, where we all met before flying to Spain, we began to speak within our group in Spanish. Although it was difficult, the group monitors were able to help us whenever we needed it, whether that was in translation, grammar, or even just Spanish customs! LITA encourages total immersion at all times, bringing its groups to small towns in Spain (where the tourist and English-speaking presence is limited) and having each student live with their own Spanish-speaking host family. However, before this portion of the trip, there is a transition period in which the students and group monitors stay in another town and develop basic vocabulary, get accustomed to speaking solely in Spanish, and do various activities to bond and learn together. I found this particularly helpful, as it allowed me to establish a bond with my group while also making the transition to the immersive environment much easier (as I knew that I was surrounded by others who were attempting to learn Spanish, just like me).
Another wonderful thing about LITA is the fact that during the homestay (the time with students living with individual host families), there are still classes in the morning, during which we (the LITA students) were able to reconnect and learn, mostly through engaging activities such as a scavenger hunt through a nearby city (which required us to ask passerby questions in Spanish in order to find the locations of various pictures), a tour of an olive garden (followed by an olive oil tasting), and even an interview on a local radio show! And then, despite all of the activities of the morning, we were still able to spend the rest of the day with our host families, who had cleared their schedules for that time simply to accommodate us (for which I am forever grateful).
All in all, my short three week trip to Spain with LITA was a fun and meaningful immersion experience, and I hope to participate in this program again next year! I would definitely recommend this program to all eligible students who are avid Spanish learners and looking for an immersive experience in Spain that captures a perfect balance between language, history, exploration, connection, and fun!

LITA was a life-changing experience for me this past summer. I was a part of the 2024 South 5 trip. We started in Teruel, in eastern Spain where we spent the first week of the program connecting with our group members and leaders, and had activities with the community everyday to start practicing our Spanish and immersing ourselves in Spanish culture. This first week was designed very well to get us comfortable with each other in Spain. I remember my first full day, we went on a bike route through the beautiful Spanish scenery, then we had a guided tour through a bunker used during the Civil War, and finally we went to the beach where we had an amazing paella lunch by the water. This day had everything, from academic learning about Spanish history in the bunker, to enjoying Spanish food on the beach, to building time for all of us students to connect and have fun with each other on bikes and in the Mediterranean. This is how most days of the first week went. The bulk of the trip, though, was the middle where all of us spent three weeks living and connecting with host families in Andalucía. This was a transformative experience like no other. Not only was it a way to facilitate incredible language growth, but also a way to form deep connections with a family that lives their lives completely differently than you. I was able to build an incredible relationship with my host family. They welcomed me, provided me a place to sleep, food to eat, and all of that with a smile on their faces because they wanted to build that relationship just as much as I did. It was immediately obvious to me how much thought and care everyone involved in the program at LITA puts into selecting families that they know will not only provide a safe and comfortable environment for students, but also people that will be a good fit for each student. I am fortunate enough to say that my host family pairing was perfect and I am still in close contact with all of them and hope to stay in touch with them forever because of how connected I feel to them: I feel like a part of their family. During the homestay, our group leaders facilitated daily activities where we experienced and engaged with different parts of our homestay community. These were all good ways for us to connect with our host siblings through activity, and it helped bring all of the American students together. Those three weeks spent living with a new family completely in Spanish formed an "única" experience, the best single adjective in Spanish or English to describe it. It was truly special and the most impactful three weeks of my life bar none. The final week of the program was bittersweet because, instead of building relationships with group members to last the next five weeks, we had the end of our trip looming over us. The group leaders were aware of this though, and encouraged us to reflect on all of the goals we set for ourselves at the start of the trip and how we had met and exceeded them, and focus on making the most of our last few days. We had another series of awesome agendas and there was clearly so much effort put into organizing everything so that we really could make the absolute most of our time in Spain.

I really was fully immersed in Spanish during this program, both the staff and my homestay community were very welcoming and patient. It was hard at first, to adjust to the culture language, and new people, but everyone was understanding and I got comfortable in the community fast. We did a variety of activities, like hiking and talking to locals, learning more about Spanish History, or just hanging out and eating ice cream. Overall I improved as a Spanish speaker and learned a lot about Spanish culture, while also having a super great time.

Whatever you may be expecting of a language immersion program abroad, LITA provides, and so much more. My three week south trip dramatically improved my Spanish, exposed me to a new culture, and gave me life long memories of the people who impacted me. From cooking to swimming to hiking to biking, there really was so much to enjoy every day. This was all made possible by the LITA staff who carefully planned and organized all of our activities. The philosophy of the program can be felt so strongly. Rural areas really do offer the most authentic and immersive Spanish experience, linguistically and culturally. Being entirely in Spanish, it's true that the program asks a lot from students in that way. Once I accepted that challenge, I found myself speaking Spanish much more fluidly. I made mistakes, but every day I learned something new. I learned new words and phrases, but also new ideas. It was like tapping into a whole new side of myself; I learned so much just by being around my homestay family while they had casual conversations, and by engaging in their dinnertime debates. My homestay family was incredibly generous and welcoming. My "hermano acogido" showed me where we could play basketball, football, and go swimming in town. On the weekend, we took a trip to the beach, and another time, a day trip to the capital of Andalucía. They always prepared classic Spanish foods for me to try, and shared stories with me about their family history. It was cultural exchange at it's finest, and an experience I will never forget.

Coming back from LITA truly allowed me to see how much growth I experienced. I connected with so many amazing people from different parts of Spain and the US. Being immersed in another culture for three weeks while only speaking different language is an experience like no other. LITA was filled with so many incredible activities and you can find yourself doing things you never would have imagined. LITA allows you to discover and learn about so
many things from another community while also growing as an individual.

We had heard amazing things about LITA from prior participants, and so had very high expectations. It exceeded our already high expectations. For the student looking for an authentic Spain experience and language immersion with a home stay, we would highly recommend LITA. It stays true to its mission and has given our daughter a unique life changing summer. LITA doesn’t try to be all things to all people - but what it does do - it does incredibly well. They have great enthusiasm, a deep understanding of Spain and a very hands on program with a director who is extremely involved [including being physically present in Spain!] and a staff that is engaged, knowledgeable and dedicated to the students having the best summer experience possible. Given the popularity of the major cities in Spain for tourists, LITA’s approach focused on more rural and off the beaten path experiences gives the students a more authentic experience. The mix of the homestay with hand picked families that were an excellent fit, with a thoughtfully designed travel program at the start and end were a perfect combination. The program is extremely organized (including pre-departure briefings) and very professional. Would HIGHLY recommend for the motivated student seeking an immersion and homestay experience.

Are you extremely passionate about Spanish—you’ve been learning it for a few years and are serious about taking it to the next level? Are you responsible, social, and want to explore? If so, LITA is for you. LITA is a program with some of the most amazing resources and opportunities, but you must be willing to step outside of your comfort zone and put forward lots of effort to really take advantage of it (talking to locals and host family members of all ages, staying in Spanish at all times, navigating unfamiliar social situations, memorizing new vocab). The first and last weeks of the program are an amazing opportunity to bond with other motivated Spanish students and really learn about the rural cultures of the towns you’re staying in. Get ready to learn 20+ new vocab words a day, learn about the region's history, and spend lots of time in gorgeous nature hiking, swimming in lakes, etc. During the first week, my group had the privilege of interviewing town elders, attending various cultural workshops (basket-making workshop, for example), practicing yoga at an ancient monastery, etc. The homestay can be an amazing or challenging experience (there are so many factors—such as host family compatibility—that you can’t control), but it will be transformative nonetheless. This is the true immersion of the trip, both culturally and linguistically. I truly had such a blast hanging out with other teens (both Spanish and American) and getting to know my host family. Many nights of my homestay were spent wandering the streets with friends, watching football, or participating in activities like karaoke. Be resilient, be humble, be grateful, and be open to any situation—I found myself in so many unexpected random social situations, but those were the moments where my Spanish improved the most and I made some great memories. Classes/internships can be challenging and not always the most exciting, but are great ways to learn the language and culture with a little more guidance. Overall, I highly recommend LITA to motivated learners. You’ll eat some of the best food of your life almost every day, the monitors are knowledgeable and supportive, the housing (at least during the first and last weeks in hotels/AirBnB's) is great, and the experiences you’ll have are once-in-a-lifetime (I’ll probably never again witness a private flamenco performance in a countryside mansion while eating Iberian jamón!). En general, ¡aprovecha esta experienca y experimentarás unas cuantas de las mejores semanas de tu vida!

This trip was one of the best things to happen in my life. Although it was an exchange trip primarily meant to grow our Spanish knowledge, it was a super fun trip that literally felt like a five-week vacation with amazing people. The group was super fun and we all blended really went, and the group leaders felt like a part of the group rather than just teachers. The first week was amazing since we spent the week making ourselves accustomed to the lifestyle in Spain such as diet, and we did amazing activities every single day. The three week homestay was super duper fun. I loved the mix of quality time spent with our host families and the time spent with the rest of the community in that small town. In my opinion, the last week was the best as we did a hiking route in a beautiful part of southeastern Spain and then spent the last 3 days in Sevilla. I personally loved the food on this trip. Every single meal was amazingly prepared, especially during my homestay as my family put extra effort into creating delicious food. Overall this experience was amazing and it didn't even feel like I was learning anything, even though I greatly increased my fluency in Spanish.