Welcoming a French, German or Spanish school group into your school will significantly increase your students’ motivation for language learning while the buzz created from the visit will raise the profile of MFL in your school. A group of your students will benefit from putting their language skills into real-life practice as they make French, German or Spanish friends. The entire experience is 100% free of charge and includes in-school language activities and out-of-school social activities. All families in the Host School are given the opportunity to act as a Host Family and are paid for this. Everything is fully organised and led by Combination Languages.
From putting into practice what they have learnt in the classroom and seeing it work, to learning new words and expressions from new French, German or Spanish friends, the real-life contact with native speakers of their own age is a very exciting motivational tool. Realising that they can be brave enough to communicate in a foreign language means that your students gain confidence and want to learn more as they can see the reason behind the hard work of language learning. It often ignites a passion for language learning that stays with the students for life!
The buzz around school that a French, German or Spanish school group visit creates is a great chance to show off and share the excitement of language learning with the whole school. It will broaden the horizons of all students in the school as they become aware of a different language, culture and of the possibility that travel has to offer. Hosting a French, German or Spanish school group really makes MFL stand out!
Our in-school activities are usually spread over 3 sessions over the course of a week’s visit. We begin with carefully planned ice-breakers before moving onto bilingual projects in small mixed teams. Everything is designed so that all students have to use the target language while having fun and making new friends.
During a week’s visit, we offer 2 social out-of-school activities for your students to join the French, German or Spanish group free of charge. This is usually a day trip including linguistic and cultural activities and the second activity is the ‘end of visit’ social event which is either an evening of Bowling or a Party. These activities are the perfect way for all students to develop their new international friendships in a more relaxed social setting.
As part of the experience, all families in your school are offered the chance to be a Host Family for the French, German or Spanish students and teachers. The experience offers a range of benefits by giving children and parents alike an opportunity to learn about a different culture and practise their language skills (if they wish!), while making new friends. We visit each Host Family before they host and support them carefully during the visit. Our competitive rates of pay per student are an additional bonus.
We want this opportunity to be available to all your students regardless of ability or financial background, so all the activities are free of charge. We are experienced teachers and have been running Language Immersion Trips since 2009 so you can rest assured that we have the necessary experience and expertise to fully organise and run all the activities, with just a member of your staff to support your students and to be a point of contact for them. Lesson Plans, Risk Assessments and Team Lists are provided before the visit in good time for you to suggest any changes that you might like to see. We bring all photocopies and resources with us so that you don’t need to worry about any of the organisational details.
We need your energy and enthusiasm for languages and your excitement for the project which will connect your students with French, German or Spanish youngsters. Your passion for languages is infectious and will encourage your students to want to join in. We promise to add very little to your workload and just need you to be our point of contact in your school.
We match up the same number of your students with the incoming French, German or Spanish group so that everyone has a Pen-Pal and so that the teams are of an even size for the activities. The group size can range from 20 to 50 students with the usual number being around 40. The age range is usually Years 9 and 10 but again this can vary with each visit. Your students would need to be excused from approximately 6 lessons over the week for the in-school activities and possibly for another whole day for the joint day trip. They are responsible for welcoming the French, German or Spanish students into school and to say thank you for their efforts the out-of-school activities are free of charge for them.
Ideally, the school hall or similar is the best place for us to work with all students together. A buzzing bilingual atmosphere is created with everyone conversing in each other’s language as they work through the exciting activities. Alternatively, we can divide the group up and spread over approximately 3 classrooms in the same area of the school. Care is always taken not to disturb other lessons!
Host Families for the French, German and Spanish students and teachers come from your school, but we organise all of this and take full responsibility for vetting, supporting and paying all Host Families. All we need from you, is that you send out an email to all parents letting them know about the opportunity to host. After that, all communication is between us and the Host Family directly.
We arrive at your school fully prepared with all the necessary resources for our bilingual activities which are usually run by Suzie and an assistant. The accompanying French, German or Spanish teachers are there to help supervise and all we need from you, is a minimum of 1 member of your school staff who can be a point of contact for your students and who can lend us a hand with the general organisation. Suzie, Tom and all our regular staff have a DBS enhanced certificate and are First Aid Trained.
We want this opportunity to be available to all your students regardless of ability or financial background, so all the activities are free of charge. We are experienced teachers and have been running Language Immersion Trips since 2009 so you can rest assured that we have the necessary experience and expertise to fully organise and run all the activities, with just a member of your staff to support your students and to be a point of contact for them. Lesson Plans, Risk Assessments and Team Lists are provided before the visit in good time for you to suggest any changes that you might like to see. We bring all photocopies and resources with us so that you don’t need to worry about any of the organisational details.
