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10. Why a language study trip and
not an exchange?
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Why study abroad?
At Cactus we are firm believers that the best way to learn
a language is in the country where it’s spoken. Studying
abroad allows your students to immediately practise what they
have learned in the classroom, helping them to reinforce the
learning process and, most importantly, to place the language
in the right cultural context. And to top it all off, it's
a lot of fun… |
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| What is normally included in the
programmes we offer?
Unless stated or discussed otherwise, our programmes
include a closed group or general group language course,
7 nights full-board in either host family or residential
accommodation on a shared room basis, a supplementary programme
of activities & excursions, return airport transfers,
and a free place for teachers or the group leaders for every
8-10 students. |
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| When can we go?
Our schools are open throughout the year and your group
can start a course on any Monday. However we do recommend
travelling outside the busy summer months wherever possible. |
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What type of schools do we offer?
Our schools are all internationally-recognised private language
schools specialising in teaching languages to non-native speakers.
The schools attract students of all ages from all over the
world. All teachers are native speakers and are qualified
to university degree (or similar) level. |
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What does the language course consist
of?
Our programmes for school groups are always tailormade around
the needs of your particular group. We normally recommend
a programme of either 15 or 20 language lessons, 5 days per
week. However, you can opt for more or less lessons, or choose
to take your classes over 4 days, for example, with a break
midweek to allow you to take a full-day excursion. Our sample
programmes throughout this brochure reflect the different
options available. Each language class is 45 to 60 minutes
in duration, depending upon the location and school that you
choose. |
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Do teachers speak English during
the lessons?
Very rarely, because the most effective way to learn or
improve your language skills is through complete immersion
in the language. However, the occasional explanation or vocabulary
term may be explained
in English. |
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Do students receive a qualification
or certificate?
For each of the courses offered through our schools, students
will receive an end of course certificate. For more formal
qualifications, students will need to take an exam course
(available in many of
our schools). |
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How do we select our schools?
Each school that we work with must pass our internal Cactus
Quality Stamp. This is a 12-point criteria which covers everything
from the quality of the teaching to the facilities available
at the school and the standard of pastoral care available
to individual students. |
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How do we select our accommodation?
In all our locations we offer either host family or residential-style
accommodation, or both. The host family option offers full
immersion into the language and each of your students will
be placed in a host family that closely reflects the needs
of you and your students. Two students of the same sex will
normally share a twin room. Choosing to stay in a student
residence, again normally in rooms for 2 to 4 students,
enables you to easily look after your students as they will
all be on the same site. Staying in a student residence
generally offers students more independence.
All our host families are carefully selected by our schools.
Many of them have been working with our schools for many
years. The families are selected according to their ability
to provide students with a comfortable and friendly home
environment, and their readiness to involve students in
everyday family life. |
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| Why
a language study trip and not an exchange?
We think that exchange trips work very well when they are
the product of strong links between two schools in different
countries, based on a long tradition of exchange programmes
or possibly a town’s twinning arrangements. This is
one area, however, where we feel that for Cactus to act
as an intermediary would dilute not intensify the working
arrangements.
If you are thinking of organising an exchange, the biggest
concern to our mind is ensuring that your pupils’
parents will be ready and available to host international
students when the reciprocal aspect of the programme occurs,
and the pupils’ counterparts come over to the UK.
We find that as time becomes increasingly precious to families,
this is the hardest thing to guarantee, and can cause the
most embarrassment if a foreign student does not have a
UK pupil to stay with.
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