Children become cleverer, more able and happier when combining study and vacation
The reason to enrol your children in summer courses is not to harass them with unnecessary studying in a season traditionally used for recreation. With summer courses you give your children additional opportunity to develop their abilities in an area of their affinity and to benefit from it. Sometimes, summer courses are essential for strengthening children's knowledge from the last school year or to build up their studying habits. The best option is when the parents’ ambitions and the interests of children match, this is the easiest way the learning process to turn into amusement.
Perhaps the most popular choice for study activities during the summer holiday is language courses. They could be twice a week or could be intensive. Many schools in Bulgaria offer studying of English, French, German, Italian and Russian at high level. Due to the emergence of China as a global leader, Chinese language in also interesting for many parents, but the courses start when there are enough children to form a group. Other rarer languages becoming popular are Greek, Turkish and Serbian.
Summer courses are good for even the youngest children. The best schools offer three meals every day, and even opportunity for an afternoon nap.
The older students can benefit from preparation courses for certificate exams. Amongst the most preferred in English are TOEFL, IELTS, GMAT, GRE, SAT taken for applying to universities abroad. In case your children are to study in universities where the language of instruction is different, other certificates could be required.
It is best that the preparation for an university exam to start well in advance. Usually, a reasonable period is considered to be around a year or half a year ahead of the final date when the results have to be sent to universities. This means that the summer before the deadline is a good time to start exam preparation or put a stress on it.
Studying in the sunniest and most carefree of the seasons has one challenge – it should take into consideration the children's need for rest and playing. But with careful selection of the summer school, studying and having fun can indeed be achieved.
THE CHILDREN’S ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND SPORTS: More than a vacation
If you want the vacation of your children to include not only recreational activities and playing games but also the acquiring of valuable knowledge, The CHILDREN’S ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND SPORTS (Sofia, 19 Buzludzha St and Hristo Tzenov St, block 9-13; www.childrens-academy-bg.com) has an offer for you. The Academy organises a whole day programme and intensive courses for children aged 3-19 years old between May and September, taught in small groups. They are suitable for everyone with interest in mathematics, Bulgarian language and literature, computers, board games, foreign languages and music. The classes can also be organised together with a children's camp at the seaside or in the mountain. The day programme is based on the official educational standards where apart from the studying, there are three meals daily, and the smaller children enjoy an afternoon nap. Each Friday the children visit a place of interest near Sofia.
ALLIANCE: To play and study
The ambitious programme for summer 2014 of the prestigious school for foreign languages ALLIANCE (Sofia, 1 Kapitan Andreev St, www.alliance-bg.com) gives you the opportunity to choose between half-day nursery or the daylong summer study of English and German, with an afternoon amusement programme included. The qualified team applies innovative and highly successful methods of teaching. Another possibility is learning English or German through singing and dancing. This way children would master various vocabulary in an easy, fun and effective way.