Can I Send My Child To A Summer Camp To Learn English?

There are summer camps that have resources to teach children English who speak another language at home. This is especially the case in the UK, where there are numerous summer camps and summer schools that cater to non-English speaking Europeans and non-Europeans who send their children to Britain in order to immerse them in the English language and culture. It is, however, very important to ask ahead of time if the summer camp offers English language instruction, or if it has appropriate staff and facilities to teach children English. Some camps do take it for granted that children who decide to attend all have an adequate command of the language, and thus the focus will be more on fun activities than on language instruction.

Camps that do offer English language instruction will always have qualified EFL or ESL teachers. In most cases, these teachers are over 21 years of age and have completed some, or all of their university education. Moreover, they will almost always be required to have completed a TESOL course.

As director of a family of arts camps, I can say with confidence that the American summer camp experience improves English language skills even if there is not a specific English language curriculum. We have campers from all over Europe and Asia coming to our camps to improve their English in an arts environment, and families have been extremely pleased with their children's language acquisition even though we don't offer ESL instruction. We do offer a strong theater program, in which almost all of the non-native speakers participate, and this certainly goes a long way to improve language skills. Also, as an individual-choice-camp, children must communicate with adults to express their wishes with regard to programs and activities. This also encourages positive language development. But it is the immersive English-language social environment that really does the job -- nothing we formalize in the camp structure could provide such a quick and self-reinforcing language acquisition program as making friends in a new country!