The Emerald Bay Ridge Homestay Program provides students with the best opportunity for full language and cultural immersion.

The program has been running for two years now and while offering the same sort of schedule and program as that of Emerald NY at Wagner College, there are some basic and important differences. Classes are held at Xaverian High School (www.xaverian.org), a prestigious private school in beautiful Bay Ridge, Brooklyn facing the Hudson River, Lower New York Harbor and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

Being a home stay program the students will be hosted by American Families during their stay in New York City. This not only increases their exposure to spoken English but also offers a unique cultural experience by allowing the students to live New York life first hand. The general structure of the program is the following: the students go to class every morning during the week and tour the city in the afternoon, they then return home and spend the evening with their host families. On the weekends the students will be busy from morning till night with sightseeing and cultural outings organized and supervised by the Emerald staff.

Students should arrive on a Sunday and should leave on a Sunday.

English Lessons

This course covers the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing and is focused on helping students to communicate effectively in spoken and written English. The textbooks, work methodology and supplementary material are innovative and designed to suit the students’ needs and expectations. Classes are given by fully qualified and experienced teachers using the most up-to-date and approved teaching methods.

English Class Hours:
3 Hours per Day / 15 Hours per Week

Social and Cultural Activities

The Bay Ridge Home Stay program includes daily afternoon activities. The students will gather after lunch at the school and travel in groups to several destinations. These include visits to Brooklyn’s most fascinating locations, like the Promenade, Borough Hall and Downtown, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Botanical Garden, the Museum of Art, Prospect Park, Coney Island. On weekdays the students will gather at the school in the evening and return home to the host families for dinner.

One evening per week, students will return to Xaverian after the daily activity and gather for dinner in the cafeteria. Afterwards in the Xaverian High School Auditorium they will have the chance to experience a variety of classic American cultural activities such as presentations on TV Commercials, Blues and Jazz Concerts, Sing-alongs, and American movies.

Weekends will be spent enjoying NYC’s most famous attractions: The Empire State Building, Trump Tower, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Times Square as well as museums such as the Metropolitan, Natural History and MoMa. On these days the students will meet in the morning and be accompanied to Manhattan for a full day of activities. They will return to school after dinner where they will be then picked up by their host family for the night.

Housing and Meals

Students will be assigned to Host Families mostly in the Bay Ridge area who will provide the proper accommodations: these include breakfast seven days a week and dinner four times a week. During week days students will be served lunch in the school cafeteria after class. Meals on weekends will be dealt with according to the program chosen.

Enrollment Age

The Emerald NY Junior Summer Program is open to students from 13 to 18 years old.