I had previously worked for a company that organized language immersion holidays for individuals which included Summer camps for younger students. When I joined the school tours industry in 2005, I noticed that there was no total immersion tour for school groups so worked on developing the product. It launched a year later and attracted over 70 school groups in the first year. Many of the school groups returned year after year and it is very much still a part of many school’s annual trips.

The tour is designed to totally immerse secondary school students in the target language for the duration of the stay. This is achieved by our school groups attending lessons in one of our partner language schools where only the target language is spoken. After lessons students then participate in a cultural activities such as guided walking tours, cookery lessons or dance classes all delivered in the target language. To complete the total immersion experience students have the opportunity to stay with a carefully selected host family who will provide them with breakfast and an evening meal each day. 

The content of the language lessons are designed to meet the learning outcomes of the particular school group. We put the group leader in direct contact with the Director of Teaching at our partner language school so that they can discuss lesson content and the level of the students before they arrive. In class, students will experience lots of speaking and oral communication exercises. Language lessons are delivered in closed groups and if there is more than one age group or language level then a number of groups can be formed.

All host families are carefully selected and paid for and trained by the language school on how to accommodate international students. Each language school has a full-time accommodation officer whose role is to visit and select host families, use his/her experience to place students with the correct family, obtain feedback from students on their accommodation and deal with any issues that may arise. The same host families are used over and over again, and many are used to accommodating school groups from the UK.

All host families have the local equivalent of the DBS checks – so they all hold clean police records. Students will be placed in twin rooms so that they can travel to and from school together. Group leaders will receive the profile of each and every host family selected for the school group before they travel. All host families have access to the group leader’s contact details whilst abroad as well as to a 24h emergency contact number. All allergies and dietary requirements are considered before arrival.

We wanted to offer cities largely untouched by mass tourism to enhance the total immersion experience. In France we recommend Montpellier and Rouen and in Spain have a look at Salamanca, where the purest form of Spanish is traditionally spoken.

In some locations such as Nice, Granada or Benalmadena we also offer the opportunity for groups to stay in a hotel or hostel.

Students return from this tour with an increased confidence to communicate in the language having immersed themselves in the target language even for a short space of time. This results in more enthusiastic linguists and can provide an all-important boost before GCSE or A Level exams.