Teaching

Pre-Course online language teaching:

For beginners, or those who need practice in English language skills before coming, we can now offer individual teaching via Zoom before the Course starts given by director Paddy Douglass who is CELTA-qualified at the highest level requested via our Application Form.

Teaching on the Course:

• Teaching is every morning except Sundays and when there is a full-day trip
• One Sunday during the month may become a weekday and one weekday may become a Sunday for an optional trip
• There are 15 'taught hours' each week*
• Lessons are from 09.00 until 12.50 with breaks
• There is a 'Digest' period with teachers after lunch
• Class size is no more than 14
• An optional Masterclass is designed for advanced learners during Digest
• Optionally (at cost) we offer the Trinity Graded Examination in Spoken English
• Each class has a formal 'Board Meeting' with the Director in the boardroom for the first three weeks
• 'Board Meetings' become an optional Public Speaking Event in the last week
• Prefects and Senior Prefects (see Student Progression) will receive fewer 'taught hours'. They will gain language by using it. They will also gain independence

'Task-Based Learning' = using English as a working language. In 2025, the 'task' is creating a video, Students will:

1. Create a film script
2. Use the script as a basis for language-study
3. Film the script with themselves as actors and film crew
4. Edit the film using computers
5. Take ownership of a film uploaded to Vimeo which can be enjoyed by family and friends at home.

* Note: Some theatre and other trips in the afternoon may reduce the number of taught-hours.

Masterclass:

Those aiming at Proficiency in the future can choose to join a 'Masterclass Tutorial' group.

• New for 2017 and continued from then, this is aimed at those who aspire to Proficiency. This is a 40-minute small group session on three occasions each week at 'Digest' embracing English literature, vocabulary and pronunciation at an advanced level taught by Ian Mucklejohn, Joe Wallis and others on the teaching staff.
• Subjects covered have included Shakespeare's 'Macbeth', seventeenth century metaphysical poetry and rap lyrics.
• This is a FREE option in addition to the regular teaching programme.
• We decide on students' suitability for Masterclass.

Trinity Examination:

• As an English Summer School examination, we offer the Trinity GESE Examination in Spoken English as an option at cost price. GESE is 'Graded Examination in Spoken English'.
• Just check the 'Trinity' box on the Application Form and we choose the Level.
• Ultimately our Director of Studies will decide on the correct level of entry.
• This is an international certificate that is calibrated to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), regulated by OFQUAL (The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation - a UK government department) and which is accepted by employers, trainers and universities around the world. There are 12 levels (from Beginner to Proficiency) and three grades ('Pass', 'Merit' and 'Distinction') within each level. This is a qualification and another addition to the CV.
• We recommend this option (which we offer at cost price)
• It's a 'graded' English Summer School examination so, if candidates are entered at the correct level, they should succeed and achieve a qualification
• Candidates receive valuable small group preparation sessions at no extra cost
• Children can be entered each year
• It gives a specific focus to the Course
• It's an English summer school examination that students find enjoyable
• It's a CV-enriching qualification

The teachers:

• Are led by a DELTA-qualified Academic Manager
• Joe Wallis is our Academic Manager (see and hear him here).
• There is also a Senior Teacher
• Other teachers work in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and ideally have a CELTA (Certificate of English Language Teaching to Adults) certificate or similar or have qualities we consider suitable for a teaching role with us..

The students:

• Most of our young visitors come to us on personal recommendation
• Numbers are kept quite small so that staff can get to know everybody and treat each person as an individual
• Many of the children who came to us in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are now sending their own children so they can have the same international experience with the feeling of independence in a safe and secure environment.
• Former students of any age keep in contact via our Facebook pages.

To have motivated young people:

• We request a brief 'letter of recommendation' for those new to us before acceptance
• This is written by their own teacher and tells us they are well-behaved and positive about studying
• It need only be an e-mail from the teacher who knows the child best to vacstuds@vacstuds.com saying 'X is well-behaved and has a positive attitude towards studying'.
• Students and parents must read the 'Notes for Students' and 'Notes for Parents'.

Our staff:

• are resident in the School
• are checked for suitability to look after young people
• are made aware of their responsibilities to exercise pastoral care
• are initiated into safeguarding

Management staff have advanced level safeguarding training.

The staff:pupil ratio is better than 1:6.

Contact parents (some of whom are former students) to talk about our work.

Still uncertain? Read 'A letter from Louise' here... See more of the fun here, here and here...

And what last summer's participants say here.

There are 15 'taught hours' per week. Here is the Timetable.