Family English Summer Camp in Cambridge

I spent a month at St. Giles Language School in Cambridge. During the four weeks, I had many positive experiences and made wonderful memories. The school has a family atmosphere and wishes and suggestions are respected. I attended the intensive course and was able to learn a lot. The teachers taught with a varied teaching style, from which I benefited greatly. Cambridge is also a great place to learn English, as it is a perfect mix of a historic city, lots of shopping opportunities and a wide range of leisure activities. If you have any problems during your stay, for example with your host family, you will be helped immediately.

I recently had the opportunity to attend St Giles school with my family for a two-week English course. Unfortunately, my experience was not what I had hoped for, and I feel compelled to share my thoughts with other potential customers. We signed up for the family course, with one adult and three kids of different ages and English levels. My main goal was to attract my kids to the language and help them lose their inhibitions when speaking it. I expected to receive uncompromisingly professional lecturers with tons of experience, and immersive and entertaining afternoon/weekend activities. I also expected the lecturers to adapt specifically to different levels of English of different kids, especially my 5-year-old who hardly expresses herself in her mother tongue compared to my 10/12-year-old who has already spent many years studying English in school. Unfortunately, what we received was far from our expectations. In the first week, all three kids were in a group with a child from a very different culture, and the other kid was even unable to read the English alphabet. It was impossible to prepare a meaningful program for such a group, and it ended up with the youngest watching YouTube videos while the elder kids were scared by irregular verbs the same day. The teacher was very unprofessional. She often used her personal mobile phone, which is unacceptable for a teacher, and was not able to immerse the kids in the activities. The kids were never looking forward to seeing her again in the morning and were so happy when the course finally ended every day. In the second week, the kids were split into two groups, and the elder two got a new lecturer, who was very entertaining, able to play guitar, and having fun with the kids. However, compared to the previous lecturer, he was the opposite. It's a mystery to me why he did not teach the first week, while we’ve seen him there the first week. Afternoon activities were an absolute disaster both weeks, and the lecturer obviously never visited those places; she used Google maps to navigate every site, including the botanic garden, which is basically on the same street as the school. She always seemed like she wanted to go home and was tired of the place and work. Weekends were just outsourced at some external agency, and the lecturer never came with us. We had to develop some effort to get information about the weekend activity; it never came automatically. The way of organizing activities for customers might have been proper 20-50 years ago when there were no internet and no mobile phones with any information at your fingertips. Weekend/afternoon activities were different from the schedule we were provided in advance. The accommodation service was satisfactory, and we loved the hosting ladies, but the food provided at the canteen was horrible. Giving kids a sandwich with potato chips every day is dangerous for their healthy development. Even after a complaint, I was told that it’s an external service, and the school cannot do anything about it. Overall, I paid an incredibly high amount of money for a course that I could have organized myself. I will probably do it again next year, but hardly at St Giles. I cannot recommend this institution to other potential customers.

I strongly recommend this school to learn and practice English. The small size of the school enables students to have more proximity with teachers and the principal. The atmosphere is friendly and gives a sense of belonging to this family. I had a great experience !

What a great place to learn English! My daughter was thrilled about the teachers and the kindness of the whole team. I didn't expect such a success and highly recommend that school.

Great memories there. It was 6 years ago. Honestly, the best school training students to speak fluently. I may visit this school in a week.