Students book an all inclusive package of transport, accommodation, food, morning English lessons, afternoon activities and excursions and evening activities (residential centres only). They travel with adult leaders from their own country and usually arrive at our centres at the weekend. The usual length of stay is two weeks, but some students stay for three. From Monday to Friday students have English lessons for half the day and then activities and excursions for the other half of the day. A 'zig-zag' timetable operates in most centres, which means students will have one week of morning lessons followed by a week of afternoon lessons (or vice versa). At the weekends there is a full-day excursion and a free day. In residential centres there is an evening activity organised for every evening Monday to Saturday.
Overall responsibility for the centre at local level is in the hands of the Centre Manager. The Centre Manager is assisted by an Activity Co-ordinator who is responsible for the smooth running of the Activity Programme, and a Director of Studies, who is responsible for managing the academic programme. The zig-zag timetable means that staff can teach a group for 3 hours in the morning and then take another group for 3 hours in the afternoon. Teaching staff are not generally involved in the supervision of the activity programme in these centres.
Students take a placement test on their first morning to assess their language ability and are then put into classes based on their level of English. The average class size is fifteen. The language content of the course has a strong oral bias, and every effort is made to capitalize on the fact that the students are in an English-speaking country being taught by native speakers. In practice this means learning by doing stimulating tasks and projects while using English, instead of placing too much emphasis on grammatical correctness. The students all have a course book, and this provides the basic framework for the course. In addition to the course book you will also have a Teacher's Guide which contains more ideas for interesting lessons. The Director of Studies will also be on hand to offer advice and guidance.
Prior to the start of the course a Teacher Training Day will be organised which all teachers are expected to attend. This will provide a great deal of information about the academic programme and plenty of helpful tips for teachers.