The emphasis of this programme is on fun while learning German as a new language. In the idyllic setting of Austria countryside surrounded by mountains and lakes. Campers get the opportunity to practice what they learn in class in real-life situations. The surrounding, German-speaking environment and community provide excellent opportunities for campers to practice their newly acquired German language skills.
Learning from native German-speaking teachers in class and practicing the rest of the time with other campers, staff, and locals, helps our campers to rapidly develop their vocabulary and understanding as well as their confidence and ability to engage in conversation in a language other than their mother tongue.
Village Camps has over the years ingeniously crafted language-learning programmes designed to fully engage the campers. An exciting range of projects, tasks, quizzes, competitions and games inspires the interest and ensure the involvement of every camper. Emphasis is on gaining confidence and improving vocabulary so that they acquire fluency, engage in conversation and develop the skills and confidence to make a presentation to an audience.
Campers learn from new material that takes them outside their usual comfort zone but stimulates their interest, providing them with new skills. Campers enjoy learning to speak together in class and in camp with other campers.
There are 4 ability levels:
beginner/elementary
pre-intermediate
intermediate
upper intermediate/advanced
We operate a ‘continuous assessment’ system – so students may change classes as they progress.
Lessons are Monday to Friday for 3 hours from 09.00 to 12.00 with a short mid-morning break of about 10 minutes. At the end of camp, certificates are awarded to each student and a full progress report sent independently to each family.
Campers choose projects in discussion groups which make language-learning more interesting and personal. Often they choose something that simply interests them, a topic of the day or some element of the culture of their country. Each project offers different levels of difficulty and appropriate vocabulary so that we cater for the range of ability levels.
Typical Project Topics
‘Personality poster’ - Campers make up a ‘personality poster’ about themselves and use adjectives that they think describe their personality. This is a great way to get to know new friends and to take the first steps in language learning.
‘The Great Survival Debate’ - This is an imaginary debate on the equipment necessary for survival in the desert. Everyone has to discuss the issues and learn the vocabulary.
'The Food Tasting Festival' - Encourages campers to learn words to describe food smell, texture and flavours. The reward for learning the vocabulary is to taste some delicious traditional dishes of the country, served by the teachers. Campers love it!
‘The Song Project’ - Campers choose a contemporary well-known song BUT together make up some humorous new words that will change the lyrics.
‘Holiday Brochure’ - The group discusses and selects holiday destinations finally designing a holiday brochure.
‘Film Project’ - Campers decide on an original idea, write the script, design a film poster and then go out and actually shoot a short film.
Making the Projects Work
Every morning lesson starts with a warm-up in the language with teachers and campers talking together – and a song in German playing in the background. The teachers introduce the campers to ‘tongue-twisters’ and word games such as Scrabble. Teachers start conversations in groups about what they liked about the previous day, their favourite music and the activities to which they are looking forward.
Project work facilitates the learning of vocabulary in an ‘inter-group’ way – using new words and talking between each other and gaining confidence and language skills. At the end of all projects the groups present their results often using one of their project “products” (e.g. the film, travel brochure or a song).
Campers explore the Alpine Natural World in a 360° cinema with German interactive materials.
The Kitzsteinhorn Klub is a spectacular, one of a kind, family-run hotel with numerous on-site facilities including indoor, beach volley ball courts, multiple indoor and outdoor climbing sites, Sports halls,a swimming pool, theatre and much, much more. With the lakeshore mere minutes away.
The excursion highlights include a day trip to visit Salzburg, a trek to Sigmund Thun Klam Gorge, a visit to the Welten Museum.
There are a variety of afternoon and evening activities both in camp and outdoors, which campers from all programmes participate in together. These all camp activities are organised and supervised by Village Camps counsellors.
Further details on the excursions and on the activities available at the Austria camp can be found on the Austria Overview Page.
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