This is just one of the many activities that we encourage our students to participate in, in order to build their confidence, have fun and learn to speak English.

The first bridge is a kind of ’stepping stone’ type affair and the second one is a very long traditional rope bridge. Due to the length of this bridge, it is prone to swaying quite a lot.

First of all (as you can see above) they are given lessons in tying knots (in English). The activity takes place near Brixham, which is traditionally a fishing town – so being able to tie knots is a part of the local culture.

The climbers are attached to a safety rope, which allows them to hang upside down without fear of falling. As you will see from the photos below, the aim is to get everyone to the top, but it is virtually impossible for the whole team to do this without assisting each other at some point – so it’s a great team-building exercise.

There is also a ‘leap of faith’ at the end. Even though the climbers are attached to the safety rope, it still takes some guts to make this jump -

Our students enjoy this activity and as always the instructors are English locals – therefore it’s not just about having fun, being brave and developing team skills – it’s also about learning to speak English.

We would like to expand the amount of students who visit Torquay on our English language courses and we are particularly keen to encourage more visitors from a variety of European countries – which of course would mean a variety of different native languages. If you are looking for a language activity course, or if you are already sending groups over to England to learn to speak English, then we would love to talk to you and see if we can take your students on one of our courses.

If this is the case, please use our contact form (the link is the ‘contact us’ graphic at the top right of the page) and we would love to answer any questions that you have about our English language courses.

The students use safety ropes at all times, although it’s easy to forget this when you’re actually up there! We like to encourage our students to to take on challenges that push their limits somewhat, but at the same time the student is free to decide which challenges they want to attempt and at what sort of height they are comfortable with.

This tightrope challenge is great for developing the strength of the team as they are encouraged to help each other and provide moral support for anyone who is feeling the effects of vertigo. There is a wonderful sense of achievement gained from completing tasks that you never thought you would be able to by using the encouragement of others to surpass your own boundaries.

Here is the video clip, filmed in beautiful woods deep in the heart of South Devon.

We believe that personal development is a vital part of education and that these type of experiences will be invaluable in a person’s future challenges. Youngsters spend much of the early part of their lives in education and we believe that by combining development and education with having fun is the very best way to increase retention of information and to help them to learn a new language while their mind is focused on the fun aspect.

Although there is a lot of information and many photographs on this website we feel that videos of the activities on our courses are a great way to give someone the big picture of what our English language courses are all about. Therefore, in this section of the website we will present some video clips of the students enjoying some of the activities we provide on our language courses.

The course is conducted by a fully trained drama instructor (trained in London) on a real stage that normally hosts typical plays and other types of drama. This is convenient because if there is a play currently running at the theatre, our students are allowed to use the props and the costumes.

Some of our students take part in a two week long theatre course which involves planning and preparing to present a one and a half hour long play. They are also encouraged to go out and promote this play to local people. It’s quite an event and sometimes the Mayor of the town turns up to watch the show! As always, our bi-lingual leaders are always on hand and often participate in the play themselves, but mainly they are around in order to make sure that everyone is comfortable and happy with their role in the performance.

Not surprisingly we find that this experience is very rewarding for the participants and is a memorable part of their visit to England. It’s a team activity so of course it develops team-building skills within the group. The students also find that it develops their ability to concentrate. One of the ways in which the instructor instills confidence in the actors is to explain to them that because they are playing a role, it is not really them who is delivering the lines, but the character who they are portraying. I’m not an actor myself, so I can’t comment on the effectiveness of this technique, but according to the students it works!

The students are also taught about ‘voice projection’, which as you can imagine is a very useful skill for someone who is learning to speak in a foreign language. The course also helps them to display emotions, which again, is of benefit to someone learning a language – although it’s not the kind of area you would expect to find covered in a typical ‘run-of-the-mill’ English language course.

We include these type of activities in our English language courses in England not only because they are great fun, but because they also develop a type of confidence in the student which we feel is not only particularly helpful in their ability to speak fluent English but also for the inevitable challenges that life will provide for them.  We believe that this sets our Interactive Travel courses apart from the rest and we hope that you feel the same way about them too.

A great example of this is the ‘balti‘ which is a type of Indian curry that was actually invented in Birmingham (England – West Midlands) and is now exported from England to the Indian sub-continent! There are now many different types of balti but the traditional style is served in a balti dish which in Hindi/Urdu is the word for ‘bucket’ (balty). The word actually derives originally from the Portuguese word ‘balde’ which also means ‘bucket’ or ‘pail’ and this word arrived in India via the Portuguese in the late fifteenth century during their seafaring days.

So as you can see, typical food that is eaten in England has a distinct international feel to it, although there are also many mainstays of English food which have a much more familiar and home-grown feel to them – such as fish and chips.

Here at Interactive Travel though, we are particularly keen for our students to sample the outstanding foreign food that is available in Torquay which is why we have established the best Indian, Chinese and Thai restaurants and have close ties with them. We encourage our students to indulge in economically priced but authentic and delicious meals where they go as a group and socialise together.

Our leaders and many of our staff (the writer of this article included) enjoy joining our students for these meals, which not only provide opportunities for the students to develop their English language speaking skills, but also to learn a few new Thai, Indian and Chinese phrases as well!

Because we are regular visitors to these restaurants and know the staff there well, we also get the opportunity to allow the students to visit the kitchens, observe the food being prepared and cooked and pick up a few tips on how this is achieved.

The feedback we receive from our students is that they thoroughly enjoy and look forward to these outings and it’s another great way to let off steam and allow them to enjoy themselves while also conversing in English. As you will know if you have read the rest of this website we pride ourselves on our unique approach to our English language activity courses where the pressure of learning the English language is displaced by activities and having fun.

This isn’t accidental, as we believe (and have observed the proof) that this approach produces better results and also means that as well as learning the English language the students also make gains in the area of personal development, confidence and maturity. We feel that this sets us apart from the many other organisations that offer courses which provide the opportunity for students to learn to speak English in England. We also feel that our non-profit status sets us apart as well because we have observed the pressures that are applied on other organisations to make a profit which appear to detract from the quality of the courses that they offer.

We hope that this appeals to other organisations who are perhaps already sending students on English courses in England and we invite you to use our contact form to contact us in order that we can answer any questions that you might have or send you more information about our courses, with a view to hopefully developing a relationship between our organisations in the future.

Please click here if you would like to use our contact form to contact us.

There are a series of exercises which get progressively more difficult as they are completed. A safety line is used at all times to ensure that anyone who slips does not actually fall, but if you have ever tested your own fear of heights you will know that when fear strikes, the mind seems to blank out the fact that you are harnessed to a safety line and cannot fall.

For example, one of the exercises is rope walking – where the person has to walk along a single rope using two other guide ropes to support themselves with their hands. An instructor is always present while the tasks are completed, and as usual, the instructions are delivered to the language course students in English while there is a bilingual leader on hand to translate the instructions into the students’ native language if they don’t quite understand the English version.

This is another team building exercise and the students are divided into small groups at the start. Once the first person completes a challenge, they are required to pass on the instructions and advice to the next person in their group. The exercises are designed to push the person so that they can at first find their limits and then try to push past their fear and achieve things which are beyond their usual level – but of course, none of the activities are compulsory and it is entirely up to each individual how far they push themselves. These tests also develop problem-solving skills as well as improving their balancing ability.  Our students enjoy these challenges and of course an element of competition is employed in order to encourage each team to get better results than the next one.

As well as challenging their fears and team-building ability development, it’s another great way to help our students to learn to speak English, while enjoying themselves in the great English outdoors in a vibrant and beautiful natural environment, deep in the rural heart of South Devon.

Interactive Travel doesn’t use Kent’s Cavern within it’s courses, but we do have access to some other caves that are ideal for ‘caving.’ There are many challenges for the students to overcome while caving, one of which is coping with areas that are extremely dark.

As you can see from the picture, another challenge is the muddy water which collects in the caves. There are also sections which involve some challenging obstacles that need to be climbed over. As with all of our activities, there is some initial training and guidance provided from a seasoned caver, who of course delivers the training in English. If any of the students don’t quite understand the training in English, bilingual leaders are always on hand (and taking part in the activities) and they will make sure that everyone understands the instructions and the safety rules.

The students are split up into groups of six based on their level of ability and need to work as a team in order to complete all of the challenges. When it comes to squeezing through very small spaces, there are a variety of different sized holes so that the student can choose which size they are most comfortable with. Near the end of the activity, there is a large underground lake which is a great experience, and can be enjoyed while the students take a well-earned break.

Each team has a designated leader chosen from the students, and it is this leader’s responsibility to pass on instructions to the others once they have initially navigated through a section of cave. Obviously, this is a great leadership and team-building exercise. Below you can see one of our students thoroughly enjoying the underground mud.

While in the caves, the instructors (who work permanently in the caves) will give lessons (in English) all about the geology of the area, how the water creates and continues to erode the caves, and how stalactites and stalagmites are formed (and which one appears on the ceiling, and which one appears on the floor.)

Caving is a great experience for our students and gives ample opportunity for them to practise listening to, comprehending and also speaking the English language.