Language schools are for those who want to learn a local language without enrolling in formal study abroad programs.  These days, many language schools are adding internship placements to their programs.  Coupling language study with an internship can not only help you learn the language better but will also add to your résumé.  An international internship can help you get a job back in the States, or maybe even in Spain, using those well-practiced Spanish skills (“Una cerveza, por favor.”).

The Spanish language school in Heredia, Costa Rica arranges internships all year round in all subject-areas for its students, providing an environment for them to practice their Spanish skills and gain global work experience.  For more information check out www.spanishabroad.com.

If you have a flair for fashion design and want to spout fabric and fit in Italian, the Centro Linguistico Italiano Dante Alighieri (www.clidante.com) will tailor an internship experience to your language courses.  Placement fields include art, fashion design and even law. 

Yamasa (www.yamasa.org), a non-profit language school in Japan, will combine six or eight weeks of intensive classes with six weeks of unpaid placement in a Japanese-speaking workplace.  What better way to practice your hard-learned vocabulary and subjunctive verb tense while adding international flavor to your résumé?

Like salt and pepper, Hall and Oats, Lilo and Stitch, language schools and internships are a match made in heaven.

—Nattida Samanukorn