Local language camps, offering a foreign language learning experience in a client’s home country, are a popular option with parents who want to expose their children to language, culture and self-development during the holidays but don’t want to send them overseas. For some education agents, this is a lucrative business stream.
Universally, all social classes think it is important to learn a second language, according to Patrice Journé, director of Camp-Sport in Switzerland. This may explain why, on the whole, global demand is rising for children’s local language camps.
Since 1996, Camp-Sport has run sports-only camps for Swiss children, as well as two camps which provide three hours of English, French or German tuition followed by an afternoon of sports activities. Around 280 out of 700 clients will attend language courses this year, a ten per cent increase since 2010. Journé believes that in the future, the language camps will receive the greater proportion of visitors.
And Cifel in France celebrates similar success. Spokeswoman Elodie Ughetto claims roughly 75 per cent of business comes from the language camp, which offers French and English tuition to French and international children, aged from seven to sixteen. The other quarter of income comes from adult language courses. Ada Djumisic, the director, launched the language camps two years after the adult courses started in 1997.
She explains, “I used to live in the US, where they have summer camps, and noticed that they did not have them in France. I wanted to create a camp where language, sport and culture were combined, and where language is used as a means to do other things, so students can learn language in practical situations.” Visitor numbers at the camp rose by 15 per cent this year, according to Ughetto. With children of varying nationalities participating in activities together, language learning is encouraged.
Students at Concordia Language Village, Canada
While demand is growing for language camps, according to various operators, so is supply. There are 341 language camps on the American Camp Association (ACA) database today, compared with 113 in 2007. “Although the data criterion has slightly altered [since 2007], it is clear we have seen growth in the camp community – camp is a global process,” says Peg Smith, CEO of the organisation that ensures the quality of camp programmes in the USA.
Nathanial Poerio from the English Camp Company (ECC) – which operates in Italy and Austria – notes that this is hard to notice on an international scale. Although he says, “[The ECC runs] in nine Italian towns, and it is hard to pinpoint the number of new businesses, but I often hear new companies running English tuition with golf, or a similar activity. Competition varies within each region though.”
Poerio worked at another language camp company before launching ECC and explains that ECC’s day-camp programmes are promoted via schools and town halls, and families who host native English teachers can send their children to the camp at a discounted price.
With competition in mind, it is important that local language camps have a unique selling point. Eurobridge International camp in Spain – which is also a study travel agency – rents a four-star hotel in July for its campers aged from seven to 14. This year, 96 children will visit the two camps running in July. With a long waiting-list for places, there are plans for numbers to rise to 120 next year.
“The camp is of a very high quality and the hotel has its own lake for canoeing, a large swimming pool and excellent facilities,”
The camp is of a very high quality and the hotel has its own lake for canoeing, a large swimming pool and excellent facilities, says Tony Gamble, camp director. “We are planning to set up an English and sailing camp next year.” Currently, Eurobridge International runs English tuition with drama and other activities.
This is an interesting business avenue for education agencies to consider – many of which may already organise foreign language training as one of their suite of services. They can, of course, capitalise on their existing customer base when marketing a language camp.
Poerio says native language teachers are favoured by parents, as they give children greater exposure to natural language usage. Cristina Roccaforte, an Italian mother who sent her 10-year-old daughter to an ECC camp, reports, “English camps with native teachers [give children] a unique opportunity to exercise concepts learnt in school and [talk to people] of difference cultures.”
Some camps like ECC offer a daily format, but most organisers reveal that most parents prefer residential camps, with the children away for a few weeks and using their language socially over an extended period. Ada Djumisic from Cifel, which also runs day camps, says, “children are emerged in the language after class, which encourages them to practise further” at residential camps.
In an attempt to enhance clients’ language abilities, many organisations run after-class activities in the foreign language. The ECC often hires teachers who only speak English, encouraging children to communicate in the same language. Albert Llorens Albareda at the English Summer camp (ES), based in Spain, says, “All the information about after class activities is written in English [at ES], and the co-ordinator of studies tells children when it is time to go swimming or to get their lunch in English.”
At the ES, children are taught four hours of English by students from British universities, and there are ten pupils to one teacher. While the staff responsible for monitoring activities are not always native English speakers, they have a good grasp of the language. Activities include sports, crafts and hiking. The company also offers intensive courses for older children, with five hours of language tuition.
Albareda ES highlights the real value of repeat business in this sector. “[It shows] that business is going well and that students enjoy the camp. They will tell their friends about it, which is the best way to sell the experience.” The company sees half of clients returning each year and 15-to-25 per cent return for three years or more in a row. And Gamble underlines, “[Roughly] 70 per cent of the children repeat the camp, and many go on to study courses abroad with us.”
Naturally, repeat business is the result of happy parents and children. Some organisers take the children’s progress seriously, many using formal frameworks to grade children. Eurobridge International, for instance, runs tests linked to the European Framework, a guide to measuring language ability created by the Council of Europe.
Smith at the ACA thinks that while grading children might be useful, it is not the most important aspect of language camps. She says, “If you send your child to a language-focused camp, I am sure you want to see an improvement. That being said, camp is a classroom without walls – teaching 21st century life-skills such as creativity and communication.”
Many businesses use the internet as a marketing platform, but as an established camp, ESS is able to primarily rely on word of mouth, says Albareda, and he believes that this is a powerful tool. “Language camps are an emotional experience, which is hard to sell using traditional methods, even the internet,” he claims. “Although the internet has its benefits, as virtually everybody in the world can see the website. It is also good for measuring fan numbers, and during camp, parents can see that their children are ok through videos and blogs that are posted by them during their stay.”
Gamble says he often jokes with parents that he will run an adult camp next year, but “realistically, adults want to go abroad to learn languages,” he says. Although he reports of a company in Spain called Pueblo Ingles, where adults spend time secluded in holiday destinations, communicating only in English. He believes the future of language camps lies in international camps, but warns, “They are complicated to set up, and it is important to make sure thought goes into all language courses so none of the campers get a raw deal.”
“One day I might consider setting up a camp with a similar model to Girls on the Run in America, which encourages self-esteem in girls through physical activity,” says Poerio. “It would be interesting to see if language could be incorporated. Local language camps have the potential to develop in any direction.”
