Which summer camps should children not be sent to?

Good afternoon, dear parents of preschool and school-age children. I want to warn you against the mistakes that you may make in anticipation of the summer season, when many of you will probably send your children on short-term summer trips to learn English.

Today we will talk about which camps NOT to send children to. And how to avoid further demotivation.

Why it is better not to send your child to an English family

The most important thing – This is not sending a child to live with a family. Many parents make this mistake. Then they pay the price because the children never want to go to England again. And now I will explain why.

Naturally, this [homestay] is a fairly cheap option, so many people buy into it. There is an illusion that supposedly, when a child arrives at an English family, he will be greeted there with bread and salt, and he will understand how great it is to live in England. That they will start taking him everywhere and showing him everything. This would probably be the case if he came to visit a family of friends.

But, unfortunately, the majority of English families who accept children, as well as adults, to stay during courses, – these are families who need money. And, as a rule, you pay less for living with a family than for living in a residence, and of course there are reasons for this.

This is a fairly simple level, and you should be aware of it. Many people who send their children on such trips live in nicer houses and apartments. And it will be a shock for children to see what they see when they come to an English family. This is quite simple furniture, simple household utensils. But it can even be useful for a child: to live in simple conditions. Another thing is that it is an illusion that they will communicate with him, they will talk to him, they will accept him as their own. Please break up with this seriously and for a long time.

Yes, indeed, maybe one out of ten people will make friends with his family, the family will take care of him as if they were their own child, and then they will correspond. But this is a lottery, and this happens extremely rarely.

Most likely, your child will be in complete shock when he is unloaded into this family late in the evening after the flight. At best, he'll end up with a cold sandwich. He will not lie down in his own bed. All stressed because, naturally, this is a zone of discomfort. And the next morning he will have to somehow get to school, maybe his family will help him, or maybe she will just tell him how to get there. Which is also very stressful.

And again, this may not be so bad, because the child needs to somehow survive in this world, take independent steps. But the problem is that, most likely, the child will be extremely uncomfortable. And he will constantly call you and complain.

There are such things as household inconveniences. Water is very expensive, and, by the way, in England, water in the toilet costs twice as much as water that comes from the tap. Therefore, these things will be strictly regulated.

If, for example, there is a banana in a vase in the living room, most likely your child will not be able to eat it, because this banana is for the family.

In the summer, some families cram up to 12 children into their homes. Children live in rooms of 4-5 people. They have nowhere to put their things. It may happen that there is a dog living in the family, which is quite common. And naturally, the family will not adapt to the fact that, whether you like it or not, this dog lies on their beds, as well as on your child’s bed. You come, and everything is covered in wool. These are such cute little nuances.

Meals in the family

As for food. When you pay quite cheaply for the accommodation option, you can’t count on pickles. This will be the cheapest bread, simple cereal – that is, everything is the simplest and cheapest. If it so happens that you did not indicate to the agency that you do not want to live in a vegetarian family, a situation may well arise that your child will be placed in a family with vegetarians. And he will have to eat what they eat, because it is the child who adjusts, and not the family.

Or the opposite may happen. A vegetarian will be placed with meat-eaters in a family. The problem is that most often this all happens in the summer, when it’s the wild season, when everything is packed. Many people want to change families, but this is simply not possible. Because schools work with a certain number of families. And, unfortunately, they cannot meet the needs of parents who call and ask to change families.

It is better not to take the option of staying with a family initially.

Moreover, as I already said, more than “hello”, “how are you doing?”, “Are you hungry?”, that is, short everyday questions or phrases – This is the maximum that a child can expect from living in a family. Implementation into the language will definitely not happen.

If you want a real immersionthen you need to go to a boarding school, and that’s where the immersion will take place. I don’t mean for a long time, but, for example, for 2-3 weeks. This is where the child will really start talking, because there will be more than enough talking. In a family, a child is just a lodger, and nothing more.

What other unpleasant incidents could there be?

For example, you assume that the child will be placed in an Anglo-Saxon family. We all have a great idea of what English ladies and gentlemen look like. And suddenly a representative of the Pakistani nation opens the door for the child. You wonder how this is possible, because we wanted to live in an English family. Well, excuse me, this Pakistani was born here, he is a British citizen, and ethically the school does not have the right to say: “Our parents do not want their child to live with Pakistanis, so we will change the family.” In England, this is considered racial discrimination and nationalism, so changing the family on this basis will be impossible.

There are other situations. These could be black families, there are a lot of such British citizens in England, and they speak English without an accent, since they were born here. In Russia, I think, and in Kazakhstan, and in Ukraine, and in Azerbaijan, there is a situation of racist attitude towards them. And, accordingly, it will not be possible to change such a family either.

There was a very interesting incident, probably the most interesting of all that happened. This happened to a girl from Kazakhstan who was placed in a family of two gays. These gays were architects, they were actually the intelligentsia, they were very cool. And they were bursting with paternal feelings. They literally began to “circle” this girl.

They had a very rich, beautiful apartment on the banks of the Thames. She's very lucky. They took her to the coolest exhibitions, took her to receptions. They bought her a bunch of designer clothes. But can you imagine what was happening at that moment in Kazakhstan in the office of the company that sent the girl. Naturally, the parents wanted to bomb the office and kill the director. That's all. But, of course, they did not change the family, because this is also discrimination. No one will change their family on the grounds that these people are gay.

I think the girl had a great time, and the girl thinks so too. But parents have a different opinion, and I think that many parents who are listening to me now are also not entirely comfortable with this situation.

Output

Please do not send your children to live with a family if you are thinking about sending your children for a short period of time (2, 3, 4 weeks) to the UK or any other country in the summer. Although in Ireland the families are a little better, that’s true, the people there are a little different. But that's another topic.

Summer language courses in the UK

Summer language courses in Switzerland