Policies and Information

Concordia policy prohibits any individual bringing alcoholic beverages to the program site that are not intended as a part of a cultural activity.

The outdoor campfire ring is for designated program use only. Please receive approval from program leadership if you are interested in a fire outside of programmed times. Program leadership will be tuned into external conditions or factors and provide guidance.

Computers and cell phones can be useful learning tools. However, we strongly encourage you to enhance your engagement and focus with the program by “unplugging” during structured activities. Please leave your laptops, cell phone, tablet or other devices in the residential space for use during personal time. Some laptops will be available to be checked out during the program to complete your work daily using Google Classroom or Moodle. If you prefer to remain unplugged during the program period, instructors can also provide hard copies of these materials daily. Whether or not you log into Moodle or Google Classroom during the program period, all materials will be available for review or download for one month after the end of the program.

The use and consumption of all and any controlled substances/drugs, as defined by federal and Minnesota law, is prohibited on the grounds and in the facilities of Concordia Language Villages.

LTC Staff or the instructional team will advise if there are any protocols required.

Bathrooms in the residential area will be freshened on a regular basis. Please place dirty towels or linens in the provided laundry bin. The custodial staff will replace the number of towels/sheet sets that are placed in the bin. If you need extra bedding, blankets, or towels please let your program leader know and they will make arrangements to provide accordingly.

Extra towels, blankets, garbage bags, etc. can be requested from the main office. 

Meals are prepared to represent food in the region where the target language is spoken, with modifications for special dietary needs. If you have forgotten to inform us of a dietary restriction, please let us know immediately. We can only make dietary accommodations if we know about them well before the actual meal.

Food and mealtimes are a key element of this immersion. Learning to navigate culinary traditions, and developing an appreciation for, and understanding of gestures of hospitality is part of your professional training. We strongly encourage you to practice gracefully sampling and accepting as many of the dishes provided as possible.

Concordia Language Villages has well established emergency procedures and we ask you to pay close attention to instructions provided by instructional team members. On your first full day in this immersion setting, we will share essential information with you.  If you ever have any questions, please ask the program leadership. 

Automated External Defibrillators (AED) are located in the dining hall of each Village as well as in the banya (sauna) building on the Russian site. 

For inclement weather please seek shelter in the designated areas in your Village. During the summer months severe thunderstorm or even tornado watches or warnings are not uncommon. During winter months program leadership will inform participants of extreme/dangerous weather conditions and advise on appropriate responses.

In general, we follow the Run, Hide, Fight approach to immediate active shooter and similarly dangerous situations.

If you need to call anyone due to a critical life safety emergency, call 8999 to activate the Concordia Language Villages internal 911 system (or 218-586-8999 from your mobile phone). This number is answered by up to five individuals. Those answering will then call 911 and meet emergency responders to direct them to the location of the emergency.

For other urgent situations, please see the contact list included in your handout.

At each Village location hosting an LTC iso-immersion program, there is a designated place where exercise equipment will be accessible 24/7 for personal use during times when not in conflict with scheduled immersion programming. This equipment is available and shared among all who are a part of the immersion program, students and instructional team members. Please handle the equipment respectfully and maintain the exercise area clean, sanitized and orderly. Bacterial wipes are provided to wipe down equipment following use.

Use of wood stoves in program and residential areas is prohibited in order to minimize the risk of fire and physical harm.

We strive to minimize food waste. Given the industrial nature of our culinary arts operation and the regulations of the Minnesota Department of Health, any food that is brought into the dining room from the kitchen cannot return to the kitchen, but must be thrown out if not consumed. Therefore, at each meal, the family-style serving dishes should contain sufficient amounts of food for all at one table to take a regular serving. Before getting seconds, we ask that you check for left-over food at other tables, to make sure all the food that already is in the dining room is used up before getting more from the kitchen. Nobody should go hungry and there always will be sufficient food in the kitchen. Be sure to ask for more food if you are hungry.

There is at least one first aid kit located in the Village area. Please let us know if you use any of the supplies so that we can replenish them. If you cannot find the necessary supplies, please let us know. Individuals are responsible for providing their own medicines, including over-the-counter, cold and headache medicines. Instructional team members are not authorized to distribute to others.

Automated External Defibrillators (AED) are located in the dining hall of each Village as well as in the banya (sauna) building on the Russian site. 

As adults, we are all responsible for maintaining our own health and well-being. Please pace yourself and ‘listen to your body’. This is an intensive program and requires self-care of boundaries and energy.  

While we do not have medically trained personnel on the instructional team or available otherwise at the Village, we strive to confidentially support whatever health concerns arise and we will support trips to the clinic as needed. We understand you are away from home and cannot easily, independently access medical care.

Throughout the Village facilities different heating systems are in place. During the heating season, we strive to maintain an indoor temperature of 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit (20-22 degrees Celsius). The temperature in indoor spaces can be controlled either via a central thermostat or with controls on individual baseboard heating units. Please be aware and consider the following:

To minimize fire hazards, please do not cover or block the baseboard heaters with pillows, blankets, clothes or other items.

If an indoor space is too hot, please do not simply open windows or doors. Instead, turn down the thermostat or the baseboard heat controller.

While this remote village setting is generally very safe, it is always important to be aware of one’s surroundings and environment. We occasionally get unexpected visitors curious about Concordia Language Villages and its facilities. Please approach anyone who you do not know with proper care, asking who they are here to see and what they are looking for. Then introduce them to a member of the instructional team. If you do not feel comfortable approaching an unknown person, please tell someone else about their presence right away. Remember, you can also always call 8999, or 218-586-8999, or the phone number for the program leadership.

All buildings at the Village are unlocked throughout your stay. We are unable to issue individual keys. If you lock yourself out of your living space, classrooms, etc., please contact an instructional team member. They will help you unlock it. If this happens at night, please call the program leader 24-hour cell phone listed in the Emergency contact section.

If you prefer to lock your living quarters at night while sleeping, please remember to unlock the door in the morning, so that you are not locked out of your room or cabin.

Concordia Language Villages is accredited by the American Camp Association (ACA). ACA standards require that a certified lifeguard is on duty during swimming and canoeing/boating activities. We do not have a lifeguard on duty during this immersion program. Therefore recreational use of the lake is off limits.

In the deep winter (January/February), the lake freezes over and it can be OK to walk on the lake, but only with approval and consent of the program leader. People may never walk on the lake alone, as there are springs along the edges and there is always a risk of falling through the ice in certain spots. In the early winter (November/December) and later winter (March/April) the lake may seem frozen over and safe to walk on, but is often not. Please do not walk on the frozen lake unless it has been approved by the program leader and only when accompanied with a buddy. Please inform the program leader when you are leaving and check in with the program leader when you return.

Participants and instructional team members have access to limited laundry facilities at the Village site where their program is held.  Please be aware others may also need to use the appliances and keep the general laundry area clean and inviting for the next person to use the space and appliance. We provide basic laundry soap for all to share.

Please bring any Lost and Found items to the office. If you are looking for a lost item, please check in the office if your missing item has been turned in.

You can receive mail at:

[Your Name]

attn: [Your Language] LTC

Concordia Language Villages

8659 Thorsonveien Rd NE

Bemidji, MN 56601

Should any mail be delivered for you to Concordia Language Villages, it will be delivered to your Village site within 24 hours, likely more quickly than that. Feel free to let your program leader know you are expecting something in the mail (via UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc.)

Please let us know right away if you have any concerns regarding the facility, notice something that is broken or not working right. We want to fix it! Do not wait until your end-of-program evaluation. Please inform any of the instructional team members and/or complete a maintenance service request slip. These are located near the entrance to the office or the kitchen and are picked up daily.

Meals in this immersion setting are served family style, meaning serving dishes are given out to each table. The food has been thoughtfully prepared to add a key cultural immersion experience for all. Meal times are a key time for engaging in informal conversation with those around the table, allowing for anything from casual chit-chat to intense discussion to telling jokes to talking about events of the day inside and outside of the Village setting. This approach provides a rich opportunity for communication and for learning.

Learning and living in a Village setting means you are surrounded by people most of the day. The immersion nature of the program is intense. We know different people have different needs for privacy and personal space and strive to support everyone in this regard as part of our overall effort to optimize the learning environment for all. Please respect personal and private spaces by not intruding on them. As a general rule, private residential quarters are off-limits to anybody but the people assigned to that space. Our goal is to provide a safe and healthy living and learning community that is equally respectful and supportive of all.

This is an intense and fast-paced program. In order for everyone to be able to get the necessary rest, please respect the quiet hours beginning at 10 PM by minimizing noise and lights after that time. There is no enforced “lights out” time, but we encourage you to give yourself the necessary rest time to fully engage in the program during daylight hours.

For each immersion program we provide access to a variety of recreational and exercise equipment, such as a ping pong table, a foosball table, cardio exercise equipment, and weights. They are accessible to all to all each day in the early morning, during breaks and personal time, as well as in the evenings. Please consider others’ needs to exercise as well. If self-monitoring of sharing equipment and such proves to be difficult, we may implement a sign-up schedule.

We strive to recycle as much as possible. Paper recycling can be found in the office or you can give it to your teacher who will bring it to the office. Recycling for containers can be found in the dining hall. Please do not throw recyclable items into the trash. If you cannot find recycling containers, please ask an instructional team member.

At some Village facilities there may be a sauna that can be accessed by students and instructional team members. Please do not use the sauna unless such has been cleared with the program leader. There may be special instructions for use of the sauna as well as various cultural considerations related to sauna use.

When using the sauna, a group of three or more people is required for risk management.

Given the intensity of this immersion program, focusing on self-care, pacing oneself, and maintaining healthy boundaries and a healthy balance of diet, rest, work,exercise, etc. is critical for all. Follow your regular routines as much as possible and/or modify your daily routine with your personal primary self-care practices around the immersion program schedule.

Concordia College is a Title IX institution and as such its sexual misconduct policy follows related standards. The full policy can be found on the college website at https://www.concordiacollege.edu/directories/offices-departments-directory/human-resources/title-ix/  . We take any concern regarding sexual misconduct very seriously. A summary of the policy as well as resources that are available for in support of participants and instructional team members can be found here: Sexual Misconduct Policy and Resources 

The facilities and ground of Concordia Language Villages are a smoke-free environment. As such, smoking is prohibited in all buildings and each Village has a designated outdoor smoking area where smoking is permitted.

Instructional team members employ technology as appropriate and necessary for program implementation. However, in the interest of building interpersonal communicative skills in a community learning environment, we strongly encourage that the use of smart phones, tablets, electronic notebooks and laptops be limited to instructional purposes, such as note-taking, homework, research projects, etc. and not for recreational use, especially during the various elements of immersion programming.

The use of outdoor trails for recreation and learning activities is strongly encouraged, no matter what the season. Information about outdoor activities available in the region and on site, including trail maps, can be found here: Outdoor recreation 

Please let someone else know if you are going on a walk/hike beyond the immediate Village grounds. Ideally, walk or run with a buddy and take your Village name tag with you. Please respect the borders and premises of the neighboring Village facilities and grounds. 

During the rifle hunting season, primarily in November, we strongly encourage all who walk on the trails beyond the immediate Village facility to wear bright orange vests, which will be available in the Village office.

Personal visitors or guests of participants or instructional team members are typically not permitted during an immersion program. 

Generally, each Village facility provides Wi-Fi internet access in all instructional and living spaces. Given the remote and rural nature of the Village settings, there may be disruptions at times and the signal may vary in strength from location to location, especially with multiple users accessing the network at the same time. Should persistent access issues arise, please notify the program leader so that we can explore if external assistance to address the concern is necessary.