School advice for a teenager?

[Peter Rosenblum]

Can anyone recommend a school that is likely to take a American high school sophomore for the first term of 2019? We are going to be in BA from January to July, and would like our daughter to be in a school where she gets exposure to interesting people, language and culture. We aren't concerned about curriculum, per se, and don't want to send her to one of the international schools. We have written to a number of schools in Palermo and Belgrano which have blown us off. One has expressed interest, but is full at the moment. Any advice welcome.

 

[sergio]

Why do you reject the idea of an international school?

 

[julian63]

San Andreas in the northern zone (San Isidro). As you appear to be Jewish, have you tried ORT ?

 

[mmoon]

I can understand why they might be blowing you off...you’re looking in two neighborhoods that are full of foreigners and looking for a spot for your teenager for less than half the school year (schools start in February or March). Most schools aren’t going to want to give up a spot for just a few months and potentially have to spend a lot of resources on a student who doesn’t speak fluent Spanish (I’m assuming here since you didn’t mention it). You might try and expanding your search, offering to pay for a full year, and emphasize what your family and teenager can offer the school rather than just what you want to get from it.

 

[sergio]

I imagine the Lincoln American school would accommodate you. They run on a US calendar year. Expect to pay wildly high fees.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

I can understand why they might be blowing you off...you’re looking in two neighborhoods that are full of foreigners and looking for a spot for your teenager for less than half the school year (schools start in February or March). Most schools aren’t going to want to give up a spot for just a few months and potentially have to spend a lot of resources on a student who doesn’t speak fluent Spanish (I’m assuming here since you didn’t mention it). You might try and expanding your search, offering to pay for a full year, and emphasize what your family and teenager can offer the school rather than just what you want to get from it.

It's not just the resources being poured into a new student who is going to flit away before they've even had time to settle in and adjust, it's the disruption it will inevitably cause to the rest of the school.

When we were on a short term stay in Australia and when the kids were still kids, we negotiated with the local school. We arranged for our kids to attend classes, just like the locals, for One Day. Because we organised it several weeks in advance, the school were prepared for us and used our kids as a teaching resource; in return our boys got some idea of what it was like to go to school somewhere vastly different from the English village they were growing up in. It was a win-win for everybody.

You might even say it was win-win-win since the local kids now knew who we were and our boys' social lives took off at evenings and weekends. So did the adults. We even raised scratch teams for a cricket international which ended abruptly when the siren went off and the half of the opposing team who were members of the Volunteer Fire Brigade ran off the field to man the tender. A draw. Bush Fire Stopped Play.

Forgive the meandering: I'm just trying to inspire the OP with alternative ways of interacting with the schools and the community.

Though you might have to go to Hurlingham to get a decent game of cricket

 

[MarkArgentina]

I have my three children in BAICA. It's like Lincoln School but cheaper. All the subjects are in English, except for Spanish lessons.
I'm Argentinian. Also part of the children, so your child will be exposed to Argentina culture, if that's what you like.
And I think they accept students for half year. The students in the class are from Argentina, USA, Korea, several Africa and Latin America countries.
We are really happy with the school. As is a small school (15 students per class), the teachers know their students and the treatment is kind.
And the teachers and management team, are much happier than other schools. Isn't the typical "industrial machine to deliver knowledge and make all the students equals like an army", which is the common way in Argentine schools. For instance, they have the "Spirit week", when each day all (secondary, primary and teachers go with a different custom (Superhero, Love, Oldies (like 50,60,70's), etc.).