Academia Uruguay

Placement organization

Name of organization: Academia Uruguay
Town/city: Montevideo
Country: Uruguay
Website: http://www.academiauruguay.com

Student

Name of student: Lindy Zonneveld

Specialist area: ITMC
Placement period: 2012-2013

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Language school
Organization’s activities: Develop Spanish language programs, teach Spanish to foreigners, organize extracurricular activities for the students and when necessary help them with housing.
Target group of the organization: All foreigners
Company culture: Everybody is very open, there is a horizontal structure and everybody is treated in the same way.
Number of employees: 16 (7 in the office, 9 are teachers)
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? They have a horizontal structure. The main departments are: Human Resource, Housing, Administrative and Marketing.
I worked in Marketing, Administrative
Brief description of your daily activities: Student contact, marketing assignment, contact with potential business partners (Ranches and international companies).
Brief description of your company assignment: Develop new products called “Classes in-company” and “Spanish and Campo”
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Very good, my supervisor was always there for me. Beside I had a lot of colleagues who always could help me as well.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Flexible, social, representable and open for other cultures.
Additional company requirements for this placement? Excel, Word, Internet, Outlook, Access
English: Advanced
Spanish: Advanced
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Family / relatives
How did you go to work every day? Public transport / bus

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No, but I had to leave the country after 90 days. (I had a tourism visum)
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance? It’s not really necessary but recommendable. Don’t know how long in advance

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? Yes
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Yes, although I did it during the placement.

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 1600,00
Accommodation (monthly): € 0,00 (I lived with my family)
Local transport (monthly): € 32,00
General costs of living (monthly): € Don’t know, but it is expensive
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Spanish lessons

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I have family there.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 101649@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Be open-minded. Try to find a homestay with an Uruguayan family/ or Uruguayan students.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Colonia del Sagramento, Punta del Este, Punta Ballena (with Casa Pueblo), city tour, rambla, etc.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link