Summer English Programme for Teenagers in Dublin

The teenage course is a task-based general English programme that has run every summer since the school opened its junior campus. Classes meet Monday to Friday from 9:15 to 12:30, fifteen hours a week, in small groups matched to each student level. Every week has a theme, combined with grammar and vocabulary chosen for that level, and the week closes with a project the students present on Friday. Past projects have included an election campaign for a teenage party, a travel agent stall at an international travel fair, a television programme and a short play. Students learn through games, quizzes, drama, posters and comic strips, and each day ends with a thirty-minute session on Cambridge exam tasks covering KEY, PET, FCE and CAE.

Two booking routes are offered. The full package covers the whole stay from arrival at the airport to the farewell on departure, and brings together the classes, the afternoon programme, the Saturday trips, half-board host family accommodation, a hot lunch on weekdays, course materials, a Dublin public transport pass, a welcome pack with a city map and an optional free SIM card, accommodation registration fees, airport transfers both ways and a course completion certificate. The selective route suits students who are already staying in Dublin with their own family or with a relative or family friend who looks after them outside school hours; it covers the classes and the afternoon programme, with the Saturday trips and the weekday lunch available as separate additions.

Students on the full package stay half board with an Irish host family, in a twin or single room. Breakfast and the evening meal are taken at home with the family, while the school provides the mid-day meal. All the houses are in a safe residential area of west Dublin and are served by the city public transport system with a direct connection to the school. The school personally visits every host family before placing a student, and runs a twenty-four hour phone service that students, parents and host families can reach at any time.

The full package covers breakfast and an evening meal with the host family and a hot lunch on weekdays. The lunch is served in a local pub a ten-minute walk from the school and is eaten together with classmates under the supervision of a youth leader. Students who prefer to bring a packed lunch can eat in the school canteen, which has a microwave and a tea and coffee station. Soft drinks and biscuits are provided free of charge at break time. Lunch is also provided by the school on the Saturday trip days.

Afternoons run from 13:30 to 17:00, Monday to Friday, and mix sport with culture: hiking in the mountains, team sports and swimming sessions, city tours, museum visits, cycling trips, drama and dance workshops, games and quizzes. Everything is organised and closely supervised by the school team of experienced teachers and youth leaders. On Saturdays there are full-day trips outside Dublin to places such as Glendalough, Kilkenny and Malahide, along with hiking trips and visits to an adventure centre in the Wicklow mountains where students can try climbing, orienteering and archery.

The junior programme runs on a campus in Stoneybatter, Dublin 7, with the entrance on Manor Street, four tram stops from the school year-round site in the city centre. Class and opening times are synchronised between the two locations so that families with children in different age groups can drop off and collect at the same times. Teaching moves beyond the classroom when it suits the lesson: the campus has a sports hall and outdoor playing pitches, and classes also visit nearby parks and museums. There is a canteen with a microwave and a tea and coffee station for students who bring their own lunch.

The programme is built for teenagers who want to use English rather than only study it. Groups are deliberately small and mixed by nationality, so students spend the day speaking English with peers from other countries in class, on the sports field and on the bus to Glendalough. The teachers work on the summer courses year after year and bring the energy that keeps a room of teenagers engaged through a long day. Between the morning classes, the afternoon programme and the Saturday trips, students can spend up to eight hours a day in English, and go home with a course completion certificate and a much steadier sense of their own fluency.