Games, creativity and language for kids
Our English camps run all day from 9:00 – 16:30 for children aged 8 – 14, in small groups of up to 10 children. This year's themes are English with Unconventional Games and Sports, and English with Puppet-Making and Video Clips. So there's something for both the sporty kids and the creative ones. The programme is relaxed and experience-based, led by our trusted teachers – mostly native speakers – who specialise in teaching children and do it with real enthusiasm.
The methodology and course content are carefully thought out and interconnected. Mornings focus on introducing the theme that will follow after lunch. If the afternoon involves ringo, dodgeball or footgolf, the morning covers the sports themselves – instructions, equipment names, rules, game tactics – and we watch a video together. In the afternoon we follow up with games and sports, or, in the case of the puppet course, with storytelling, puppet-making and handling, set design, and rehearsing a performance.
A language school in the heart of Barrandov
Threshold language school is located by the Sídliště Barrandov tram terminus, with the entrance from Trnkovo náměstí. We'll start out at the school, have lunch at the local primary school, and spend as much time as possible outdoors, at nearby sports facilities and in the Prokopské údolí valley. Children will learn primarily through activities. We create a natural, playful atmosphere in which children aren't afraid to speak.
English all day long
An all-day programme in English is our goal. We'll encourage the children to speak as much English as possible with each other too, though we're realistic – a whole day in a foreign language is demanding, and they're bound to slip back into Czech now and then.
Learning hidden inside games
It's the summer holidays, and we didn't want to run just another intensive English course. Instead, we do our best to keep the learning well disguised behind an experience-based approach. What I see and hear, I forget – but what I experience, I can still use later on. Here, language is a tool that lets children do things together that they enjoy. The goal might be, say, playing a game of ringo. To understand the rules, the children need to learn things like instructions and body parts along the way, watch a commentated video, split into teams, and talk through the game in English during a practice session. It's not learning for its own sake – the children are immersed in the foreign language all day and know that everything they pick up is needed for writing a script for a play or commentating on a footgolf tournament. The camps blend work and hobby for the teachers too.
The pandemic and camps: optimism and open spots
There's plenty of interest in our camps, but since we've scheduled 4 weeks, places are still available. As for the pandemic, I'm an optimist – I believe the summer will be calm. This kind of experience can't be replicated online, so if necessary, we'll refund the full course fee.
British or American English?
Today English is treated as an international Esperanto, and the countries it calls home are so multicultural that even there it's spoken in many different forms. The Queen's English is probably only still spoken by the Queen herself and BBC presenters. We see language in practical terms – as a tool for communication between people, whether in study, work or leisure.
At our camps, teaching is done by tutors from both the USA and the UK, and for the youngest children, part of the lessons are also taught by Czech teachers.
We've been running intensive courses and stays for 25 years now, not just for children but for adults too, often with a tightly focused professional angle for corporate clients. We've been running day camps for children in Barrandov for 7 years.
Our mission is to provide consistent, long-term, high-quality language services to all our students. You'll be looked after by our professional team, whose goal is your progress, satisfaction, and a first-rate experience in every lesson.
