Australia is a dream country for many. Situated at the other end of the world, warm and adventurous, full of natural paradises, endless expanses and surrounded by the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. 186 times larger than Switzerland, this continent fascinates with its uniqueness and above all with its 47,000 kilometers of coastline, which makes water sports of all kinds so attractive for locals and tourists alike. And English is spoken, which makes the fifth continent an ideal travel destination for the Swiss. In short, a trip to Australia promises to be a unique experience. So why not make it a language study trip to Australia and combine the pleasant with the useful?
Learn English on the side
English is considered THE language when it comes to communicating worldwide and making new contacts. But to actually master a language well, it takes time and practice, motivation and also the opportunity to use it regularly. Student language trips are therefore the ideal complement to school lessons and a much more attractive alternative to tedious private tuition. After all, English is so much easier to learn in a place that you can enjoy. And that's exactly what Australia offers. Explore this exciting country, meet interesting people from all over the world and get to know life from a completely different perspective. A language study trip to Australia offers you the opportunity to do just that!
While you enjoy your time away from the school routine, you will learn English along the way. Because you will use it almost all the time, every day in class and in your free time, with your host family and on all the fantastic excursions that await you. You will immerse yourself in the language and have an unforgettable time with all the other language students, with whom you will explore the Great Barrier Reef, soak up the sun, celebrate beach parties, explore the exciting nightlife of major cities such as Sydney, Perth, Melbourne or Brisbane or take your first surf lessons on the beautiful beaches of Noosa, Byron Bay or Airlie Beach.
You learn for yourself!
You'll see that learning English is effortless on a language study trip to Australia, because you're not learning primarily for school, your teachers or parents, but for yourself. So that you can go surfing with the guys from the Netherlands or chat with the girls from Spain about the coolest stores in Sydney. Because learning English, speaking a common language with young people from all over the world, opens up so many new, incredibly exciting opportunities for you. You will make new friends, get to know new cultures, marvel at miles of white dream beaches, experience incomparable sunsets, see kangaroos and koalas, immerse yourself in breathtaking nature and certainly have an unforgettable time.
For young people, the adventure, the unique experiences and the unforgettable time that awaits them are clearly the main focus of a language study trip to Australia. For their parents, it's usually about learning English. But Australia is a great place to combine the two. All the experiences your daughter or son will have in this diverse country will shape him or her for life, give them self-confidence, strengthen their independence and significantly promote their development. Being allowed to have their own experiences, try things out and take on responsibility, away from home and without parents, will confirm your child's self-efficacy and will certainly have a positive effect on their learning at school. Because they will learn what it means to apply knowledge in reality. And that it is up to them to acquire and develop this knowledge.
In German-speaking Switzerland, English is compulsory as a first or second foreign language and is introduced in year 7 at the latest. Children and young people generally find it easy to learn a new language, especially if they are motivated and their learning success is visible. But the best way to learn a language is to speak it. And that is usually a problem here in Switzerland with English. As a non-national language, we have to learn English at school but cannot use it in our own country. This is why pupils are taking remedial action and improving their language skills in English-speaking countries. And that's a good thing, because a language study trip to Australia is usually a great motivation for students to improve their language skills before the trip and develop them during their stay. After all, you want to be able to make contacts with young people from all over the world and not lag behind the others in terms of language skills. The prospect of a language study trip to Australia is therefore in itself an incentive to learn English better.
But why does it have to be Australia of all places? Why not England or Ireland? Wouldn't that be more obvious and cheaper? So why Australia? Clearly, it definitely doesn't have to be Australia to improve your English language skills during the summer vacation. But it can. And many people want to, anyway.
The biggest advantage of a language study trip to Australia is obvious: the weather. But also the Australians' zest for life and the relaxed lifestyle, even in the big cities. The really good language schools are another plus point for Australia, as are the great leisure activities and fabulous excursion options. The multiculturalism is also an advantage, as young people get to know people from other cultures and with other mother tongues, gain insights into the lives of others and, despite all the English lessons they spend during a language study trip to Australia, don't feel like they are actually learning. It's easier, much easier, than at home or in rainy London and feels more like a vacation than school. And that boosts motivation again, which in turn leads to increased learning success, which motivates ...
A language study trip to Australia has many other advantages. But there's another that particularly stands out: the opportunity to explore this fantastic continent with the whole family. After all, why should only the children go abroad and the parents stay at home at the mercy of the daily grind? A language study trip to Australia is therefore the ideal complement to a vacation. There are various options. On the one hand, you can book a family language stay as a family, where you live together in the same accommodation and everyone attends an English course tailored to their individual language level. On the other hand, instead of a language course, you can also hire a private teacher to improve the English skills of all or part of your family. With both options, you are together as a family and can brush up on your foreign language skills at the same time as you look forward to your upcoming tour of Australia.
Alternatively, you as parents can also take a vacation while your children or your child completes a language study trip in Australia. During this time, your son or daughter will have the opportunity to experience this adventure all to themselves and then round off their vacation in Australia together with you. In this way, each of you will get your money's worth: Your children, you as parents and all of you together as a family.
For those who do not have the time to spend several weeks at a time away from home, there is of course also the option of sending their child to Australia alone or with a friend. In most cases, however, age restrictions apply. For some language travel providers, the minimum age limit is 18 years, for others it is 13 years. It is therefore essential that you obtain sufficient information on this point.
The main purpose of a language study trip is, of course, to learn English and improve your existing language skills. However, as the needs of each individual are different in this respect, the language schools in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth or elsewhere offer different language courses to choose from. The main difference between language courses for teenagers in Australia is their intensity, i.e. the number of lessons per week. As a rule, children and teenagers have fewer weekly lessons than adults. A standard course therefore comprises between 16 and 22 lessons, although this varies greatly depending on the language school. Intensive courses have correspondingly more lessons, but in most cases no more than 28 weekly lessons. The duration of the individual lessons can also vary from 40 to 55 minutes. This should also be taken into account.
As already mentioned, there is usually a minimum age for language courses, which varies depending on the language travel provider. In addition to this lower age limit, the individual programs are also divided into age groups, such as 13-17, 16-18 or 16-21 years. Think carefully about which age group your child should be placed in during the language study trip in Australia, as this is also the age group with which he or she will spend the organized leisure activities. As a 16-year-old, your daughter or son could therefore sit in class with 13-year-olds in some language programs and with up to 21-year-olds in others. Depending on your child's personality, this allocation should therefore be chosen carefully.
For youth language trips, the supporting program is almost always included in the booking. This means that all excursions and visits are included in the price and are also organized and supervised by the school. Outside of the organized leisure activities, young people can organize their own free time depending on their age, but must then also pay for it themselves. An organized leisure program during a language study trip in Australia usually means that various activities are offered in the afternoon after lessons have finished, such as beach volleyball, zoo visits, didgeridoo games, surf lessons, an afternoon at the beach, various games and similar activities. Alternatively, with some organizers it is also possible to focus on just one sport, such as tennis, diving or surfing, and receive daily lessons.
On youth language trips in Australia, language students usually live with a local host family. There they either have a single room or share a room with another language student of the same gender. In this case, care is taken to ensure that the two young people do not come from the same country so as not to hinder their foreign language development. With the host family, the young people receive meals and spend the evenings and weekends together. In this way, language students can immerse themselves not only in the language but also in the culture during their language study trip to Australia.
Some language schools also offer young people aged 16 and over the opportunity to stay in a residence or shared flat. There they cater for themselves and are more or less responsible for themselves. This may seem tempting for your son or daughter, but a host family is far more suitable for learning English.
Linda, deine Weiterbildungsfinderin
