Has anyone sent their teen to a Summer Camp for languages?

[CurlyTop1980]

My 14-year-old is driving me crazy as she needs a certain standard of Spanish to be able to proceed to the IB programme at her school- it is her most disliked subject and is really holding her back. However, she is super sociable and loves being in the thick of things. I am thinking of enrolling her in a 2 week langauge prgramme in Spain. Maybe we will rent an Airbnb locally and take her each day or even have her board. Has anyone does this, was it worth it and any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

When my kids were little we used to spend our summers in Spain and enrolled them in activities according to their preference.
DD1 did windsurfing, diving and sailing courses, DD2 did horse riding.
it was great for them, they made friendships with Spanish kids and learnt a huge amount without even noticing.
it did take a bit of persuasion but they both (now in their 20’s) look back on it fondly.
DD1 went on to do MFL at uni.

It sounds like a great idea. My niece did this for two summers but for Classics and it worked out well. Her parents stayed nearby for one week and I asked a friend in the area to be a contact just in case the other week.

I did it when I was studying Italian, although I was older (21). Definitely worked well because I was forced to use language all the time at school (4 hours of classes everyday) and living 5 minutes from Duomo in Florence was very motivating.

dd did it a little older but you can go younger. Language school in Barcelona something Carmina? Was really good

Sent ds for a week when he was 14. It was really good for his Spanish, he came back saying he finally understood what a reflexive verb actually was (at this point I wondered what the hell his school had been teaching him for 3 bloody years).

If I’d known what the setup would have been like, I wouldn’t have sent him but actually I’m glad I did. And it was ok, just not what I thought it would be. He went for a random week in the summer holidays to a small recommended school and there were no other teenage students!! They literally drafted in a couple of adults who were learning at the school to be in his class, and for the afternoon activities they dug up cousins of the teachers to come out surfing with him. The family he stayed with was supposed to have one teenager and one nine year old, but the teenager was away.

So I think he was lonelier than I would have liked. But he did learn quite a lot of Spanish, with no other English speakers to talk to. And when he got back he proudly showed me all the bus trips he’d taken in the town on Google maps and all the sights he’d visited. He definitely grew up a bit.

Costa Rica do family camps if you want to learn as well!

Thanks all- i am also thinking of doing this. I have seen one in Malaga called Exspanish. Has anyone heard of this?

I can recommend carmino Barcelona

Thanks, I will have a look at both camps recommended.