There are undoubtedly many reasons why we think we are the best junior program in New York City. In a nutshell, we guarantee the best experience to each one of our students by ensuring the highest quality of the services we provide, which include but are not limited to:
Our Junior program includes 20 lessons (15 hours) of English classes per week, which fits the U.S. Immigration requirements of studying less than 18 hours a week for a short period on a tourist visa.
Participants are required to have a tourist visa to enter the US. Those coming from the Visa Waiver Program countries are eligible to come on their ESTA.
YES USA runs a 6-week program, but students typically come to us for two weeks. Occasionally some of our groups come for as short as one week and more rarely for 4-6 weeks.
We have 3 two-week sessions over a 6-week period with fixed arrival and departure dates, as per the booking page.
Our students, aged 12-19 (the average age is 15-16 years old), come from all around the world: Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Georgia, Italy, Nigeria, Spain, Ukraine, Russia, just to name a few. The nationality mix varies from year to year.
Our Summer Camp is genuinely an intensive immersion program as we keep our participants busy at all times. Because our students come to the US for a short period, we want them to get the most out of their time here.
This is what a typical day with YES USA may look like:
During the weekdays, students attend class in the mornings and go on excursions after lunch. The excursion program is quite intense, so they return to campus at around 9 or 10 pm. On some days they may come earlier depending on the sight they visit and their energy level. Occasionally on some afternoons instead of visiting city sights, our activity leaders arrange on-campus activities in which students may choose to participate or spend their afternoons chilling out on campus.
On weekdays, there are no English lessons (yay!), so students go out to explore the Big Apple for the entire day right after a hearty brunch!
Students will be required to do a placement test, which is an essential step in the process and includes three sections:
Based on the average result of all the parts of the test, student age, and nationality, we will place them in the right group accordingly.
Students can see a considerable improvement in their speaking fluency and listening after our fully-immersion program. However, it’s really what the student makes of it. We encourage students to speak only English or as much as possible during their program to ensure their progress. By fully engaging and motivating students, our goal is for students to be able to advance their levels of English within a short period.
Students receive an end-of-course evaluation, so this is very motivating for students to try and improve their language skills as much as possible. There is no exam at the end of the course, but students do receive a certificate and take part in a small graduation ceremony (a bittersweet moment!) with their teachers and peers.
Students will get to see the most prominent places of interest and learn lots of interesting facts about them through casual and engaging interactions with our knowledgeable and friendly activity leaders who keep students involved and motivated at all times.
What makes the program unique is that we don’t just take campers to excursion sights but we share our culture with them. Not only do participants make friends with each other but also with our outgoing activity leaders. Many of our staff members are still in touch with students years after the program ended, and some even meet up in various parts of the world. YES USA helps students create life-long memories and build friendships!
Yes, there is some free time for students to buy souvenirs or explore a place a little bit more at their own pace. We give students up to one hour of free time on excursions, during which they are allowed to walk around within a designated area, specified by their activity leader. Campers are only allowed to move in small groups and never alone. Should they want to stay with their activity leaders during this time, they can also opt to do so.
We have special safety, security, and emergency protocols in place that we strictly follow while dealing with minors. Before arrival, students will be provided with a set of rules known as the Student Code of Conduct, which includes excursion rules. In addition, during the Student Orientation, we will explain the excursion rules and tell students what is expected from them when we go off campus while moving as a group, taking public transportation, going into excursion venues, etc.
Our experienced activity leaders take their jobs extremely seriously. They ensure students are accounted for at all times by taking roll calls before leaving the campus, while on an excursion, and once they are back on campus to ensure students' safety.
In case a student does get lost while off campus, we have a missing student procedure in place. Each student will have their student ID with an emergency phone number to call for this reason, so we could quickly locate them and join back to the group.
Our program is fully-inclusive, which means that children won’t need any extra money unless they want to buy souvenirs. Some students don’t want to buy anything expensive apart from a few magnets or T-shirts “I love New York” while others come with a long shopping list including pricey designer brands and electronic gadgets for their friends and family. In other words, the amount of money campers should have with them depends on the student’s shopping plans.
Absolutely everything is included apart from the participant’s flight tickets, visa fees, if applicable, and medical insurance, which is mandatory to have. Parents can choose either to book medical coverage from us or purchase it on their own.
Also, while transportation to/from the airport upon arrival and departure is included for groups of 12+, these services are not part of our fully-inclusive package for individual students. Should parents of solo travelers want to add it to the package, they must select this service upon booking the program.
Linens and towels are provided and changed weekly. There is also a laundry room in the residence halls where students can wash their clothes if they wish.
Yes, both YES USA and our hosting institution will require parents and students to complete some forms well ahead of the arrival date. There will be some liability forms, medical forms, and codes of conduct to be read and signed.
YES USA complies with guidelines on the prevention of COVID-19 enforced by our hosting institution while on campus. Therefore, everyone coming to our program must be vaccinated, as requested by the University.
There are a lot of signs across the campus to remind everyone of the importance of hand washing and sanitizing, the use of masks, gloves, etc., as well as social distancing.
When we go out on excursions, take public transportation and go inside public venues for excursion purposes, YES USA follows the city requirements which are social distancing and the use of personal protective equipment.
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