Teenage classes are held at our teenage school in Lisivigeen, Lisivigeen National School is situated on the outskirts of Killarney. It is a new school, equipped with the most modern facilities. Classrooms are big and spacious and there is a large sports hall for activities and end- of- week performances.

 

Courses

We offer two courses for teenagers.

• GE1 General English 15 hours per week. (only for teenagers who are staying in Killarney with their parents)
• GE3 General English 15 hours per week plus afternoon activities and a Saturday day-trip.
  

 

Testing and Levels

As with the parents & children, teenagers will be asked to complete a short written test before their arrival at the school. This will enable us to put them in the appropriate level. Again the teacher will assess their level through spoken interaction during the first morning and if they feel that the child is in the wrong level, a decision can be made in conjunction with the teenager coordinator, director of the school and parents to move them up or down a level.

 

Levels

During the summer we run 5 levels for teenagers:

 

Elementary: This is for teenagers who can say a few basic things in English and understand short, simple conversations. They have a minimal vocabulary and know how to create the present tense.

 

Pre-intermediate: This is for teenagers who can understand simple conversations and can speak a little (with mistakes) on most everyday topics. They have a basic vocabulary and know how to create the past and future tenses.

 

Intermediate: This is for teenagers who can speak quite well on most topics and understand the general sense of most everyday conversations. They have a richer vocabulary about everyday topics and know how to create the conditional tenses in a addition to those listed above.

 

Upper-intermediate: This is for teenagers who still make some mistakes but can speak quite quickly and confidently on most topics including some specialist ones. They have a rich vocabulary and may know all the main tenses and some prepositional phrases.

 

Advanced: This is for teenagers that can understand even complex topics and speak fluently with few mistakes. They have a very wide vocabulary and know many prepositional phrases, phrasal verbs and idioms.

 

Course Curriculum

The curriculum tends to follow a communicative approach focusing predominantly on improving speaking and listening techniques. The methodology then emphasizes the use of role-play, situational dialogues, discussion and games to increase confidence and improve fluency. However, reading and writing skills are also incorporated, necessary as they are in supporting the act of communication, the reading in terms of the development of a solid vocabulary base and the writing in consolidating what has been learnt previously.

 

Grammar is seen as a critical element in the development of accurate language skills; however, it is not the primary focus of the class but instead introduced through the medium of authentic materials so that the aim  of  language as communication tool is constantly at the forefront of the teaching process.

 

In order to reinforce the communicative and fun aspect of the course, there is a performance at the end of the week during which each class sings a song or performs a role play or sketch and awards are given for the best performance.

 

Activity programme

We run a specific activity programme for teenagers which takes place in the afternoons from 2-5pm. Activities includes: scavenger hunt around Killarney, trip to Cappanalea Outdoor Pursuit Centre, cycling around the National Park, Swimming, Jaunting car trip around town, Gaelic football, hurling, volleyball and rugby. There is also a day trip on Saturdays included in the price; trips to Cork, Limerick, Dingle and the Gap of Dunloe. Unfortunately we are unable to offer these activities on a pay as you go basis because of difficulties in organisation and coordination with the school being separate from the Muckross one. For that reason teenagers must decide prior to arrival whether they want to be on the activity programme or not. For a sample activity programme please CLICK HERE.

 

Class timetable

 

	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri
10:00-11:20	General English Tuition	General English Tuition	General English Tuition	General English Tuition	General English Tuition
11:20-11:40	BREAKTIME
11:40-1:00pm	General English Tuition	General English Tuition	General English Tuition	General English Tuition	Performance
1:00-2:00	LUNCHTIME
2:00-5:00	Activities	Activities	Activities	Activities	Activities

 

 

Transportation

All teenagers will be allocated a bus stop near to their host family. From there they will take a bus every morning to LISIVIGEEN School at a set time. This bus will be different from that taken by the parents and small children who need to go to the MUCKROSS School. If the teenager is staying with their parents in Killarney and is not doing activities there is a special bus to transport them from the LISIVIGEEN School to the MUCKROSS school at 1pm or to take them to their self-catering accommodation if requested in advance.