Transition Times: Adventure holidays help build self-esteem and communication skills in Transition Year students, writes Louise Holden.

Adventure holidays used to be about adventures. In the brave new world of self-help, however, they are about teamwork, building self-esteem and enhancing communication. The ambitiously titled Learn to Live programme at Trabolgan Holiday Village in Cork is a two-day action holiday which, its manager claims, builds on some core principles of the Transition Year curriculum.

Much like an episode of I'm a Celebrity - Get Me Out of Here, classmates are thrown together for two intense days of problem-solving, physical challenges, cook-offs and skill competitions. In the evening, the programme morphs into Ready Steady Cook as students are given a list of ingredients and challenged to produce a gourmet evening meal.

They then switch over to You're a Star and battle it out on the very same stage where Mickey Harte won the 2002 Trabolgan Karaoke Challenge.

The Learn To Live programme has been devised in a bid to encourage Transition Year students to develop their team-building skills in a fun and friendly environment, says manager Sean Woodgate. Daytime activities for groups include the paper-boat challenge, abseiling, archery, aeroball, cookery, go-karting and quad biking. Evening time activities include a quiz, a pool party and karaoke.

"The activities are devised to get students to work together in situations where they would never ordinarily find themselves," says Woodgate. "We try to bring quieter students out of their shells and give every student a chance to display his or her unique skills."

Trust-building exercises include the blind trail, where one student leads his blindfolded classmates, and the raft- building challenge. Teamwork is exercised through activities such as orienteering and pantomime.

If you need to learn to live, you'll have to wait until next March when the programme resumes after the winter. In the meantime, don't hold your breath.