Summer schools abroad offer the opportunity to learn how to speak a language like the natives
Camp abroad for language skills
SO YOU’VE been to the Gaeltacht for two summers in a row and you’re not keen on adventure-sports camps, where you spent most of your time putting on and taking off wetsuits. So how about taking French classes on the Cote d’Azur, learning German in Berlin or studying Spanish in Salamanca?
Languages schools that take international students during the summer months are well established on the European mainland. And whether it’s Spanish, French, German or Italian you want to learn, there’s a good choice of locations.
Most classes are held in the continental equivalents of our secondary schools; students stay in residence halls or with host families.
“Students at the schools come from all over Europe, Japan and the US, so it’s a good cultural experience as well,” says Diane Kerrigan of Stein Study Abroad. Set up by Michael and Rosalind Stein last summer, the travel company has vetted a number of schools in Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.
“Some families have properties in France and Spain and choose a language school for their children to attend while they are there,” says Kerrigan.
Most of the schools are aimed at teenagers; others offer courses for children from aged 10 upwards. One school, in Marbella, offers Spanish classes for children as young as five, with an option to stay in residence or attend classes as a day student.
Prices vary hugely, depending on whether extra activities are included. Also, staying with a host family tends to be cheaper, especially if meals are not included. Prices do not include flights.
Stein Study Abroad’s courses in Berlin, for example, cost €700 for two weeks of 20 lessons a week when the student stays with a host family on a bed-and-breakfast basis.
A package in Rome costs €775 for two weeks. Both are available only for students aged 16 or over.
Compare that with three weeks in Ascona, Switzerland, for 13- to 17-year-olds, which costs €1,950.
This includes 20 lessons a week, full board in student-residence accommodation and a full activities programme.
Three weeks in the Swiss resorts of Les Paccots, Leysin or Montreux, to study French with a full activities programme and full-board accommodation with a host family, costs €2,050.
Stein Study Abroad is also offering a scholarship for two weeks to Malaga, starting on August 10th.
[ www.steinstudyabroad.ieOpens in new window ]
Learning the lingo for Leaving Cert success
STEIN STUDY Abroad, the new company developed by Michael Stein, is blazing a trail with its summer immersion courses in continental cities for Leaving Cert students.
It is a well-timed move, as the emphasis on oral skills in the exams becomes more pronounced. From 2012 the oral component will account for some 40 per cent of all marks in Leaving Cert Irish.
Pressure for a similar marking bonus for high oral skills can be expected from those teaching French, Spanish, German and Italian.
Irish students travelling to Spain will study at the fully accredited Malaca Instituto, in Malaga, a market leader since 1971. Irish teachers, let alone parents, will be impressed by the facilities, which include a swimming pool. When we visited, scores of students attested to the high standard of tuition.
The school caters for up to 3,000 students per year. The top nationalities are German, Swiss, British and American. There are also scores of visitors from Sweden, where the government sponsors language programmes for those not proceeding to college.
While the Malaca has hotel-like accommodation, Irish students will stay with local families. It is a Spanish variation on the Gaeltacht: full immersion in the language and culture combined with formal lessons.
Stein's Bob Burger acknowledges that close family supervision will be a key concern for Irish families. "Students are hosted by families with whom we have a long involvement over many years. There is the great Spanish tradition of welcoming a student into your family as one of your own. But there is also an awareness that safety and good supervision are critically important."
