Spanish Summer camp in Spain for Teens - Recommendations?

[Redandblue11]

Hello - we are looking at Spanish summer camps for our DC (14). We are looking ideally at a week with Spanish lessons and sports / water sports combined.
DC already has a reasonable level of Spanish. But is to improve the language plus the experience to be in a multicultural group.
Any recommendations?
Been looking at Enforex, ISC and Lenguaventura.
Thanks !

Have you looked at Don Quijote? I used them years ago, so not sure if they're still around!

But I basically learnt to sail in Spanish (in Valencia) and learnt to scuba dive in Spanish (in Tenerife) - both with Don Quijote Spanish language lessons in the mornings.

Thank you @Meredusoleil , how old were you when you went if you do not mind me asking?
i have just found don quijote and sent an enquiry.

The first, second and third times I went, I think I was around 28 years old (I spent 2 weeks each in 3 different schools)! I had already studied Spanish for awhile at Instituto Cervantes in London and had obtained my intermediate DELE.

After that I did my AS and A levels in Spanish (missed out the GCSE, but had A Level French already so that helped a lot).

Then I went with Don Quijote again after I qualified as an MFL teacher and did a teacher's course in Seville. That must have been a few years later when I was around 31/32 years old.

At all the 4 schools I have studied in, I saw lots of teenagers and young people from different countries there to learn Spanish. In fact, I would say there were less adults and more younger people tbh!

I

DD went aged just 16 post GCSE with Enforex / Don Quijote to Salamanca.
She flew out from Heathrow and was met at Madrid.
She was there for 3 weeks and came back much more fluent.

However would you be in the country too nearby, or would they be going alone? DD was ill and it was hard to find out what was going on as the quality of English of the staff wasn't great. I also had some issues over their 'safeguarding' of the older teens (who were allowed out in evenings but they didn't seem to have a system of checking them back in).

This was 8 years ago though, standards may have improved.

Thank you @TeenDivided , yes we are planning to be in Spain nearby when DC is at the camp. DC is 14, I really hope they don’t let them out on their own at that age, I will speak with the camp. Thanks

Thank you @NewNoo24 , I did look at cesa and sent them an enquiry but they have not responded… have you managed to get in touch with them?
I know what you mean about temperatures, DC loves water sports hence I was considering a camp with water activities. And I am also a worried wort (lol) so my thinking was that residence accommodation might be better … but then I started thinking if other children could be mean , etc . To be honest, most likely both experiences will be amazing for them , but I cannot help with worrying. I had friends who went abroad at that age with family hosts and they loved it.
I think we are narrowing in ISC , wit the water sport option
https://www.iscspain.com/
But I want to see if cesa and don quijote come back to me with more details, before making the decision.

Hello, We are looking for a Spanish summer camp for my thirteen year old. We are considering Enforex. Does anyone have any experience with this group? or an alternative suggestion? Thanks

As I said above, the teaching was good, but with a 13yo I would want to be on holiday nearby rather than in the UK.

Location wise try to find somewhere with a 'good' accent, speaking Spanish not Catalan.

Very pleased to see this as we're looking for something for our son after GCSEs in the summer - just a week or so.

As much as I would like to be in Spain too, I think he'd be more immersed without us.

I agree, but see my post of 17/0/23.
If he is robust of health and has common sense may be less of an issue than for us.

Enforex are fine. I know both them and Don Quijote. The former will come out cheaper, DQ have more programmes geared for teens like the kind of ESL summer courses we see in the UK.

I rather got the impression that Enforex and Don Quijote were one and the same.

www.puebloespanol.com/spanish-summer-camp-immersion/#:~:text=Pueblo%20Español%20is%20an%20intensive,challenge%20and%20encourage%20the%20learners.

Thanks very helpful. It's strange but it looks like Enforex and Don Quixote are the same companies. at least the descriptions for the summer camps in Malaga and Valencia are identical. Not sure if different target market or there is some other reason for it.

I think they are the same, and it is probably just marketing.

DD went to Salamanca, where apparently they have a nice accent, and she likes history.

My students went to Salamanca as well. Some years ago now, but it's a beautiful city (I was there for 6 months a million years ago)

I wonder if DQ is the parent company..I haven't looked at them for a few years, but I remember DQ having a snazzy website and Enforex definitely not, but maybe that's changed.

Great experience though!

https://www.topschoolinspain.com/en/spanish-courses-in-spain/juniors/summer-programme-for-teenagers/

dd went to this one when she was 17 and had a fabulous time and really improved her Spanish. Ds went when he was 16 for 5 weeks during transition year (a year of alternative education topics and approaches between junior and senior cycle in Ireland) and attended a Spanish school as well as the 1-1 classes to get him up to speed, followed by group classes with other kids. Again he had a great time and really improved his Spanish.

They stayed with host families and both families were lovely and really took care of them. I think dd met every relative the family had on hikes, at bbq's etc. They also socialised with the other kids doing the course.

The school sent me regular updates when they were over there too and I felt that the pastoral care was great too.

I can highly recommend Don Quijote. I spent 2 weeks each at the Valencia school, the Tenerife school and the Malaga one.

Oops! I forgot, I also had 2 weeks at the Seville school 🤦‍♀️

Salamanca is widely recognised to be the best place to learn the King's Spanish. Definitely stay away from Catalonia.

@Redandblue11 which camp did you pick in the end and would your DC recommend the experience. I was looking at Enforex - was wondering if teens generally choose the residential or home stay options, and for 14-18 there seemed to be options of the summer camp or junior programme (which seemed to mention more freedom and I’m not sure that’s a good thing for my 15 year old DS!)

Hi @Cuppateaneeds we went for ISC Spain at the end link
in Alicante, mainly because it offered water activities and the dates worked for us.
My ds went with a friend (which can be a good or a bad thing, not great if you want them to really speak in the language as much as they can and mix with others, but helpful for certain children to have a friendly face).
they were in university accommodation and really did not have much freedom as they were not in the middle of town, the facilities were good and the mix of kids was mainly British, Americans, Egyptians, French, Italian and a few Chinese.
DS enjoyed it, but if I am honest is good but lower your expectations on how much they will actually learn/improve their Spanish as if they are in a residential they end up chatting in English to the rest of the kids.
Also, depends on the child, they were exhausted (my son was just 14 when he went) so was very early mornings and a full day with lessons on the morning, activities in the pm, and normally taken out in the evenings. They were truly shattered by the end.
Overall I thought it was a good (not amazing) experience for ds, as I wanted him to mix with other teens and learn to be more independent.

Thanks for responding and the feedback. The others I’m looking at are Puebloingles and Enforex. What sort of level was your DS Spanish before (my son is in year 10) and did he feel more confident after?