Destinations
Choosing a destination is one of the most exciting parts of imagining an exchange. It shapes the language your child will hear, the school and community they may enter, the traditions they will experience and the everyday life they will come to know.
But an EFI exchange is not built around a destination alone.
The right family, exchange partner and environment can matter far more to the success of an exchange than the name of the country.
That is why EFI encourages families to tell us where they are interested in going while remaining open to other possibilities. A destination you had not initially considered may offer an exceptional match and ultimately become exactly where your child belongs.
No Prior Language
Is Required.
Students Do Not Need to Arrive Speaking the Language
Some EFI students begin their exchange with little or no knowledge of their host language. Others have studied it in school or participated in an immersion program for years.
Either can be a starting point.
EFI exchanges are built around full immersion, where language is learned through daily life. Students hear and use the language with their exchange partner, around the dinner table, at school where applicable, during activities, with friends and throughout the ordinary moments of family life.
At first, communication may involve simple words, gestures, repetition and a good sense of humor. As students listen, participate and find real reasons to communicate, they begin to understand more and express more themselves.
Already Studying A Language?
Your School Language Does Not Have to Determine Your Destination
A student who has studied Spanish for several years does not necessarily need to choose Spain. A student studying French might discover German. A student with years of classroom language experience may decide to begin something entirely new.
There can be real value in doing exactly that.
Learning a foreign language does more than teach vocabulary. It develops the brain's ability to recognize new sounds, identify patterns and understand how words and grammatical structures work together.
Once a child has begun building these language-learning pathways, learning another language gives the brain another system to explore, compare and connect.
Beginning a new language through immersion challenges students to listen carefully, look for patterns, communicate creatively and become comfortable not understanding everything immediately. They learn that communication is about much more than knowing the right vocabulary or grammar, and that they are capable of finding their way in a language they did not know before.
Learning an additional language does not erase the one your child has already studied. Instead, it can broaden their understanding of how languages work and strengthen the confidence and learning strategies they can carry into future language study.
The language your child studies at school can open one door. An exchange can give them the confidence to open another.
EFI Destinations
Every EFI exchange is shaped by the particular family, school and community a student joins. But each country also brings its own languages, traditions, rhythms and ways of looking at the world.
Where might your child feel curious enough to call home for a while?
This version gives each country a different central selling proposition:
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Canada: English + outdoors + seasons + approachable North American adventure
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France: French as a global language + sophistication + regional culture
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Spain: usefulness of Spanish + social energy + outdoor lifestyle
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Germany: independence + transportation + innovation + Central Europe
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UK: global English + iconic cultural influence + history and contemporary Britain
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Italy: beauty + food + art + history + expressive Italian
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United States: the iconic school experience + global English + discovering the reality behind American popular culture
Explore EFI Destinations
Every country offers something different: a new language, a different pace of life, unfamiliar traditions, new freedoms and sometimes an entirely different way of looking at the world.
You may already know exactly where you want to go. Or one of these places may surprise you.
Where could you imagine calling home for a while?
Canada
Big landscapes. Four seasons. A distinctly Canadian way of life.
Canada is an English-speaking destination with a personality all its own. It is a country where outdoor life is woven into the culture, hockey is practically a language of its own, and lakes, forests, snow and wide-open spaces are never far from the Canadian imagination.
For students coming from Europe, Canada offers an introduction to North American school, family and community life while providing the opportunity to learn or strengthen one of the world's most useful languages. Its multicultural communities also offer a window into a country shaped by people and traditions from around the world.
And then there is winter. Depending on where they are matched, students may discover skating, sledding, hockey, deep snow and the peculiar Canadian art of simply getting on with life when the temperature drops.
Canada offers English, adventure and a taste of North American life with a character that is unmistakably Canadian.
France
Discover the language of diplomacy, culture and joie de vivre.
French opens doors around the world. Spoken across Europe, Africa, North America and beyond, it remains an important language of international relations, education, business, travel, art and culture.
And there may be no better place to fall in love with it than France.
France rewards curiosity. A student can encounter medieval towns and contemporary cities, neighborhood bakeries and bustling markets, world-famous art and local festivals, football and fashion, centuries of history and a modern culture that remains fiercely its own.
Perhaps most interesting is discovering that there is no single version of France. Brittany has little in common with Provence; Paris moves differently from a small town in the Loire. Food, landscapes, accents, architecture and traditions change from one region to another.
France offers students a global language and the chance to discover the culture, history and unmistakable art de vivre behind it.
Spain
Spanish, sunshine and a culture built for joining in.
Spanish is spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Learning it can create connections across Spain, much of Latin America and countless communities in the United States, making it one of the most useful languages a young person can carry into adulthood.
Spain makes learning it particularly memorable.
Life often spills outdoors. Plazas fill in the evening, meals stretch later, football inspires fierce loyalties, festivals transform towns and cities, and time with family and friends occupies an important place in everyday life. Students may find the daily schedule surprising at first, and soon discover that adapting to a different rhythm is part of the fun.
Spain also offers extraordinary variety, from Mediterranean beaches and historic cities to mountains, countryside and communities with traditions stretching back centuries.
For students drawn to Spanish, Spain offers something difficult to recreate in a classroom: a language connected to a wonderfully social, expressive and energetic way of life.
Germany
Independence, innovation and a country made for exploring.
Excellent transportation and walkable communities can give young people a different experience of getting around and navigating daily life. Trains connect cities and regions, bicycles are part of everyday transportation in many communities, and students may discover a level of independence that feels noticeably different from home.
German itself is a valuable gateway into Central Europe. It is one of Europe's most widely spoken native languages and is closely connected with fields including engineering, science, technology, research, music and business.
But Germany is hardly all efficiency and engineering. There are castles and Christmas markets, football rivalries and festivals, Alpine landscapes and Baltic beaches, medieval towns and some of Europe's most creative modern cities.
Germany combines a powerful European language with independence, innovation, tradition and the excitement of learning to navigate a new world.
United Kingdom
Discover English in the country where its story began.
English connects people across international education, science, technology, business, travel and popular culture. For students coming from non-English-speaking countries, the United Kingdom offers the opportunity to discover this global language at its roots.
And what roots they are.
This is the country of Shakespeare and Harry Potter, the Beatles and Adele, Premier League football and Wimbledon, afternoon tea and fish and chips. Castles, cathedrals and centuries-old traditions exist alongside global universities, contemporary music, and some of Europe's most dynamic cities.
Students also discover that British English has a personality of its own. Accents can change remarkably quickly from one place to another, expressions can be wonderfully unfamiliar, and British humor may require a little cultural decoding.
The UK brings together one of the world's most important languages with history, creativity, sport and a culture young people have often encountered long before they ever arrive.
Italy
History is everywhere. And so is something delicious.
Italy has an extraordinary ability to make history feel present. Ancient ruins stand in the middle of modern cities. Renaissance masterpieces hang in buildings people pass on an ordinary afternoon. Town squares that have been gathering places for centuries are still filled with life.
Then add football, fashion, music, festivals, Mediterranean landscapes and a food culture that changes dramatically from one region to the next.
Italian is equally distinctive. Expressive and musical, it is also the language behind much of the world's vocabulary of music and is deeply connected with art, cuisine, fashion and design. Students may be surprised by how much Italian they already recognize before they begin.
And Italy is wonderfully regional. Milan is not Naples. Tuscany is not Sicily. Venice is not Rome. Foods, landscapes, traditions and local identities change as you travel, giving students the chance to discover an Italy far richer than the familiar images of pizza, pasta and the Colosseum.
Italy offers a beautiful language and the irresistible experience of living somewhere art, food, history and everyday life have been mingling for centuries.
United States
Step inside the America you thought you already knew.
For many international students, the United States feels strangely familiar before they ever arrive. They have seen the yellow school buses, lockers, football games, diners, Halloween celebrations and high school dances on screens for years.
Then they get to discover what is real.
American school culture can be one of the great attractions of an exchange. Sports, clubs, music, theater, school traditions and extracurricular activities can make school a significant part of a student's social life and offer countless ways to try something new.
The United States also provides immersion in the language that dominates much of global entertainment, technology, higher education and business. Students encounter the English of actual American life, along with the expressions, humor and cultural references that rarely make it into a textbook.
And there is no single America. Minnesota winters, California beaches, New England towns, Southern traditions, enormous cities, farms, mountains and suburbs all belong to the same country.
An American exchange is a chance to step beyond the movies, strengthen a globally important language and discover what everyday American life is really like.
Interested in a Country That Is Not Listed?
New Destinations Can Begin With the Right Families
EFI is open to developing exchanges in additional countries when they can work successfully within our reciprocal model.
That requires more than finding a place for a student to stay. We need to be able to create a thoughtful reciprocal exchange in which both students can travel, both families can host and both sides can receive the preparation and support an EFI exchange requires.
If your family lives in a country that is not currently listed and is interested in both hosting and travelling, we would be happy to hear from you.
Have a Destination in Mind?
Tell Us Where You Would Love to Go. Then Keep the Door Open.
It is completely natural for a student to begin with a particular country in mind. Maybe they have studied the language for years. Maybe they have family connections there. Maybe they simply cannot stop imagining themselves in France, Spain or Italy.
Tell us.
But when it comes time to match, we also encourage families to look beyond the map.
A wonderful exchange partner in a country you had not expected can be a far better opportunity than an imperfect match in the country you originally chose.
After all, your child will not simply be going to another country.
They will be joining another family.
And that is where the exchange really happens.