Teens: why go on a language study abroad trip ?
Encouraging your children’s bilingualism today is more than a priority. To facilitate their entry into the world of work, to give them a maximum of opportunities for development, speaking another language is essential. To encourage your teenager to learn English or Chinese, among others, consider language stays.
There is nothing more effective, after all, than real immersion. We explain why.
A complete immersion to improve your language
On a daily basis, you can easily accompany your child in his or her language learning. With the internet, after all, it is more than easy to have access to programs in all languages. They watch series in English or Spanish, listen to podcasts in Chinese, and surf on their TikTok page full of foreign videos.
However, this does not quite achieve true linguistic fluency. In order to understand all the subtleties of a language, your teenager must be able to really immerse himself in it.
Being in contact with native speakers, discovering their way of life, taking part in their cultural activities: it’s all part of learning a language. Educational organizations have understood the value of total immersion, offering language travel for children and teenagers in many countries. In a group or solo, your child can take off for a short or long stay, starting at age 12.
By meeting locals, one’s ear gets used to the accents. They gain fluency in speaking, forced to use the language at all times. Progress is guaranteed.
Intensive and complete language courses
If language stays are so interesting for a child or a teenager, it is also because they offer an intensive learning of the language. It is difficult to be immersed in the heart of a foreign city and to get by if, at the same time, you do not continue to learn the language. Thanks to these stays, the teenager is supervised by a professional team. It is a way to continue learning Spanish or English, among other languages, through a series of intensive courses.
The days can be organized according to your wishes and the courses you choose.
Some students, for example, take advantage of these stays to carry out intensive language exam preparation camps. It is a way to prepare for entry into universities abroad, for example. Your teenager will attend classes in vocabulary, grammar, speaking and listening skills. The language school dedicates blocks of time each day to learning the language.
The availability of the teachers is greater than in school, giving your child more freedom to ask questions and go into more detail. With confidence, the teenager will see his progress day by day.
Gaining autonomy during the language stay
There are many reasons to encourage this type of teenage language program. One of the most important benefits for parents is the autonomy that children gain. These students gain in maturity, far from the family circle, forced to confront new people, new habits. Their minds open up, their resourcefulness improves.
Although they are still mentored by teachers in the language structure, it is still a leap into the unknown that shapes their personalities. They learn to know themselves, to impose themselves, to trust each other. Immersed in a new environment, they come back from their language stay with a wealth of experience.
It is an asset, concretely, for their CV and future life. However, it is above all a trip from his adolescence that will bring him a lot of personal enrichment. Friends from another country, fluency in the language, a deeper knowledge of the culture, a more adaptable personality… Your child is shaping. It is a crucial phase in the development of one’s identity, adolescence being often a time of creation of vocations.
After this first attempt in another country, they will be more comfortable with the idea of expatriating and living elsewhere. You will then have encouraged dozens of life opportunities from childhood.