How can you help short-term groups to improve their English, especially when they want to do sightseeing rather than spend hours in the classroom?
English UK member centre Broadstairs English Centre found a great answer to this problem after one of their groups made video diaries of what the students did every day.
They are now offering Discovery Weeks, where teenage student groups spend time out and about in tourist highlights and meeting English people, accompanied by staff from the centre – and film themselves explaining in English what they’re doing. At the end of each day, the group will put together a short film for parents, using the centre’s facilities.
“Realistically, we can’t teach a lot of language in five days, and the teachers recognise that. But we can help the students to put into practice what they’ve learned and build their confidence, and interact with native speakers, and experience more places,” says Chris Chris McDermott, principal of the centre.
He says the video means that the students have something tangible from their time in the UK, and it also encourages them to use their English during the day and in the evening. Staff can provide useful vocabulary at the start of the day and also create special worksheets and questionnaires for the students to use when they’re out and about in destinations such as Brighton, Oxford, Canterbury and London.
“The students from the original group absolutely loved it, and it was brilliant that their parents could see what they’d been doing every day just hours later. The kids might not be very interested sitting in a classroom, but they’re really interested once the camera is there and people might watch them,” said Chris.
This technique also takes it away from being yet another school lesson, and helps them understand the purpose of language English. He says that there is an increasing demand for more than “standard General English courses” or programmes of a morning in a classroom and the afternoon for activities. The Discovery Weeks are tailor-made for each group, and the centre also offers its normal range of other courses.
- From English and volunteering, leadership courses and English negotiating skills for entrepreneurs, to clarity of spoken communication, a centre where you can learn legal English with a lawyer, and one with its own golf course, English UK members offer a huge range of courses.
Do you offer an usual course or activity? Let us know by emailing Sue Young, our communications consultant.