Language Holiday in Ireland, Summer 2013.

[KatieMcHugh]

Hello everybody,

My name is Katie McHugh, and I am an English teacher from Ireland. I live with my husband John on our farm in County Laois in the midlands of Ireland. We are a host family who offer language holidays to international students of English during the summer months. We welcome students aged between 12 and 17 into our home, and treat them as family members.

I offer a unique homestay- with three hours of English lessons every morning ( Monday- Friday), a range of fun activities every afternoon ( horse riding, surfing, go kart racing, hiking in the mountains, cinema, bowling, shopping, archery, clay pigeon shooting, Irish cookery and baking, and more.) Every weekend, we go on excursions to see different parts of Ireland- Dublin, Kilkenny and Wicklow.

In our home, we have four spare bedrooms, so we can take four students at any time, but guaranteed only one of each language ( one Dutch, one French speaker, one German speaker, one Spanish speaker etc.) to ensure that English is the only language spoken.

Our home is 80 kilometres from Dublin airport, and we meet each student at the airport and return them there at the end of the trip. In our home, you will have your own room and access to a laptop for Skyping/ emailing your family.

The cost of the holiday is all inclusive- all lessons, activities, excursions, airport transfers etc. are included. In other words, you will not need money while staying with us.

We have French, Italian, Spanish and German bookings taken already for this summer, but still have some places remaining, and would love to welcome our first ever Norwegian student!

I can send you photos, references and copies of my qualifications if you are interested.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. My email address is cpe_oneill @ hotmail.com.

I am also available to speak with you on Skype or on the telephone.

Best wishes,

Katie.

[crazylazyboy]

This is a really great offer! There are a lot of Norwegian teens who would love to do something like this But I know, compared with some of the other countries you mentioned, Norwegians are good in English. English is a larger part of the school here than in many other European countries so I would probably think the market would be bigger for German and French students rather than Norwegian even though some would be interrested

 

I am a 16 year old boy and this is just my thoughts There are guaranteed people out there who would contradict me.

[KatieMcHugh]

Hi Crazylazyboy,

I find it unbelievable and so impressive that you can reply to me in such excellent English! Well done to you and to the Norwegian education system, you are streets ahead of most other countries. You're 100% correct- the major demand for this type of holiday is is the French, German and Spanish markets. I' m just trying to branch out a little Is this a good place to advertise my holiday offer? Any advise would be appreciated!

Katie.

 

[crazylazyboy]

Hi Crazylazyboy,

I find it unbelievable and so impressive that you can reply to me in such excellent English! Well done to you and to the Norwegian education system, you are streets ahead of most other countries. You're 100% correct- the major demand for this type of holiday is is the French, German and Spanish markets. I' m just trying to branch out a little Is this a good place to advertise my holiday offer? Any advise would be appreciated!

Katie.

Thank you very much I do think another factor of the success actually is media, about every movie and every TV-show we watch are English. In Germany all the movies and TV-shows will have the spoken English translated to German.

 

Diskusjon.no is in the top 100-list of worlds largest forums, a lot of people will read this so I think you have found the right place. Have you tried sites only for language holidays to advertise your offer? It would also be a great idea

Endret 28. mars 2013 av crazylazyboy

[Intox]

Wonderful offer, would've loved to do this when I was that age. Also great that you're so focused on the quality of the english lessons that you recruit kids from different countries to ensure english being the spoken language! Assuming your references check out of course, I would have no inhibitions letting my future child travel to you.

 

Are you part of some organization? If so could you give us a link to that, and also some pictures of your house and surrounding area posted here might increase your chances of finding someone!

 

Good luck, and thanks for providing this service!

Endret 29. mars 2013 av Intox

[Ned]

I'd look for a suitable sub-forum at reddit.com aswell - lots of potential students there from all around the world, http://www.reddit.com/r/languagelearning for instance.

[KatieMcHugh]

Intox- thank you very much for the positive feedback, it is much appreciated.

I'm not part of an organisation, I am arranging this independently.

I will definitely try to post up some pictures to give people a better idea of what I'm offering.

Thanks for your kind comments.

 

Ned- a great Irish name!! Thank you for the link, I am just going to check it out now.

 

Katie.

[jjkoggan]

Hi Crazylazyboy,

I find it unbelievable and so impressive that you can reply to me in such excellent English! Well done to you and to the Norwegian education system, you are streets ahead of most other countries. You're 100% correct- the major demand for this type of holiday is is the French, German and Spanish markets. I' m just trying to branch out a little Is this a good place to advertise my holiday offer? Any advise would be appreciated!

Katie.

 

I have never heard the expression "streets ahead" before. Is this an Irish or British expression and do you know the etymology per chance? Just curious, I'm an American who practices my Norwegian in these fora.

 

Would you consider an American student? Maybe not for language reasons, but cultural reasons. We have much Irish blood in our veins and I have a daughter who is interested in Ireland

[KatieMcHugh]

Hi JJkoggan,

"Streets ahead" is used in Britain, Ireland and Australia!

I had never considered the expression until today, but I found this explanation online;

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_origin_of_the_idiom_streets_ahead#page1

 

We would love to welcome Americans into our home, your daughter would be very welcome. Irish people feel a real affinity for Americans, your country has been very good to us.

Send me an email on [email protected] and I can send you some photos and more details.

Best wishes,

Katie.