Can anyone recommend a decent ski school for young teenager

[Happygargoyle]

Can be anywhere, but has to have lessons in English, we want to go at Christmas but also open to anywhere good between feb and April.

Dc is 12 going on 13 and hasn’t skied for 18 months but last time we went she skied for a whole month and she got up to a fairly decent level (took part in a race was on mid- difficult slopes can jump etc) (excuse my ignorance I don’t ski we usually go annually for dd but haven’t been for 18 months this time)

She’d really like English speaking lessons as last time most of the dc spoke German ( in Switzerland) and she wants to be more social if possible.(she did try to learn German but it wasn’t great!)

thanks so much from a terribly uninformed non ski mum!

Im confused.

where do you live?
where are you going on holiday?
when are you going on holiday?
have you booked?
how long are you going for?

To the average person on MN I would assume you lived in the UK and were going on a ski trip to Europe somewhere. That’s a hell of a lot of different tuition opportunities based on the vague information you have supplied.

Our family had lessons at indoor ski centres in the UK, both in the lead up to holidays as a refresher but also booked ski periodically throughout the year for self practice. All
English speaking 😉 - never went to ski
school in a resort. Our nearest was Snozone in Castleford but Trafford in Manchester was also accessible.

Sun Peaks in Kamloops Canada, great hill lots of options English speaking. Equally Whistler.

Snow isn’t guaranteed anywhere in Europe at Christmas time or at anytime between Dec-April. I would suggest Americas - Big Bear Lake is very good. My DC learnt to ski in France and all the big resorts I.e Morzine, Les Arcs, Courchevel etc have English ski schools but I chose ESF ski school over English speaking instructors.

When is she 13? I think I’m right that, from 13, ESF put them in adult lessons so that might be something to factor in.

Thanks for the help. Sorry don’t have a budget or a time limit as open to all suggestions. We live between the U.K. and US, dc is at a rather laid back international school so can take more time off than in uk (we’re from uk) will probably be back Europe way over christmas holidays but happy to travel anywhere. Didn’t realise dc might get put into adult classes.

we have done indoor skiing in the uk but only when dd was little, I didn’t think it compared to ski lessons on a mountain but it was fun. I also selfishly want my hot chocolate up a mountain though!

I was worried about 13 year old DS going into an adult ESF class but it turned out they had ados groups for 13 - 17 year olds at the school we used. However this was during French Feb / Mar holidays so don’t know what they do out of peak season.

Thanks she’s not 13 until next summer so will be 12 for this season and hopefully still be in her age groups classes as I don’t think she’d want to be in the adult groups. I found that a lot of the English speaking dc classes are in the main school holidays so maybe I’ll have to limit it to this .Canada looks good as well and might make the English speaking bit easier.
I’ve never been there.

Try Finland. We were in Levi and had great snow and everyone had lovely English. Just avoid Christmas as it dark 20 hours a day.
Otherwise try the Italian resorts Cervinia is high and fairly snow sure. My DC enjoyed thr lessons there too.

Best ski school we’ve used has been Oxygene at Val d’isere

in other French resorts I’d always use Evolution 2 over ESF

I was going to suggest Canada too. Great skiing and English speaking tuition!

This company is great for tuition https://www.skinewgen.com/kids-ski-lessons/

If she skied for a whole month and got up to a decent level, she isn’t going to need much tuition. Kids pick it up again so easily, it’s like riding a bike.

All instructors in Austria speak English but the main language of any given group lesson is determined by how many children come from each country. If most of the kids are German-speaking, then the lesson will mainly be in German and the instructor will translate and repeat for the non-German kids, who might be English, Danish, Dutch or whatever. All-English groups are rare because outside of February half-term there are usually not sufficient English-speaking children to make up a group for themselves.

Having said that, by the time they get to 12 or 13, many European children are beginning to get a good grasp of English and are happy (and even keen) to speak English, so for the social side of the lessons and for making friends, the OP's daughter might find it easier the older she gets.

As for Christmas skiing, any of the major Austrian resorts would fit the bill. Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Kitzbuhel, Ischgl, Wagrain, St Anton would all be good options. Snow on the pistes is guaranteed, as all of these resorts have extensive snow-making facilities that supplement the natural snow.

Why would Austrian or French children speak English in their own countries? Why aren’t the English children learning foreign languages?

Otherwise, the US or Canada will guarantee English speaking teachers and other children.

@Lemonadepie Austrian kids generally don't need to go to ski school. They are traditionally taught by their grandparents or learn at the weekend at the local ski club. Kids from the cities go on regular school trips to the mountains with their PE teachers, who are invariably qualified to instruct.

A typical childrens' ski class in an Austrian resort will have Dutch, German, Scandinavian and British kids. The instructors will also mainly be Dutch or Scandinavian and will instruct in German, English and Dutch/Danish/Swedish. There may also be some Czech, Polish and Slovakian kids, who will be assigned to a group with an instructor who speaks their language.

In my experience, young teenagers in Europe can understand and speak English quite well and often find it "cool" to speak English. They learn from computer games, cartoons, films and YouTube videos - and of course from school as most northern European schools teach English from 8 or 9 years old.

Meanwhile, back at the OP's question. Obviously lessons in the USA or Canada will be in English. When I was in Whistler the ski school had an excellent course for teenagers (I think it was called "Ride Tribe" or something similar) which seemed to consist of a gang of about a dozen teenagers zooming around the pistes and off-piste in pursuit of their instructors and having a whale of a time. Prices in the USA and Canada are however far higher than in Europe.

Thanks for the suggestions and advice. She mainly wants to be in a ‘school’ because otherwise she’d be on her own which none of us want.

Club Med ski could be an answer? They have teen groups during the holidays and if she makes friends, you might not see her til its time to go home.

@turkeyboots thanks that’s what I’m hoping she can achieve, she goes and enjoys herself all day and I get to sip hot chocolate up a mountain somewhere :)