We take our students to two different parts of Devon so that they can indulge in a little fun and some team-building exercises on the water. The students are fully prepared and kitted out with safety equipment. They are also supervised at all times by trained canoe instructors and also their team leaders (who are from their native country but also bilingual.)

As always, we arrange for the canoe instructors to give all of the instructions in English, and if there is anyone who is still not clear on the instructions, then they are repeated by our team leaders in the students’ native tongue. We find that this is an excellent method of combining fun and developmental activities with learning to speak English.

First of all we teach the students how to handle and propel a canoe, as a team (obviously, this requires some co-ordination by the team and also requires one of the team to take the lead and set the pace.) We teach them (again, as a team) how to steer the canoe. They also get the mandatory dip in the water when we show them how to capsize a canoe, and how to right it and then get back inside safely.

Next the students indulge in some educational games. We get them to stand up in the canoe and learn how to keep their balance. Of course, if they don’t get it quite right the lesson is compounded by another dip in the ‘not so warm’ Devon sea. We find that this helps the students to learn to balance a lot better, quite quickly!

Of course, we encourage them to have races once they have mastered their craft. The whole experience is designed to encourage friendship, trust, leadership and teamwork. And of course, we take every opportunity to help our students to become more proficient in their use of the English language. ‘It’s freezing’ is a popular phrase learnt during this particular activity.

The race winners get bragging rights for the day, until the next day and the next round of challenging activities. How many other language courses in England have this amount of challenging and fun activities?