Most study tours tend to be "just traveling without studying"

Avoid the pitfalls of foreign summer camps

Once the summer vacation comes, children can have fun ? Wrong, in recent years, with the popularity of various summer trainings, children have become the busiest people during the summer vacation. However, now more and more families are choosing to send their children to overseas summer camps than in the past.

When participating in overseas summer camps, it is inevitable to increase your knowledge, adapt to unfamiliar environments, practice English communication skills, make friends with foreign children, and cultivate children's abilities in all aspects, which will become a valuable asset left to children by overseas summer camps in the summer. .

Under the trend, more and more problems are bound to arise, such as how parents choose high-quality summer camps, avoid common "pitfalls" in summer camps, the direction of summer camp selection, etc., all become Learned.

In short, it is good to attend summer camp, but it should not be blind. If you choose the right one, your children will benefit. Choosing the wrong thing or making the wrong choice will be a waste of money and money.

Children have to find some "job" during summer vacation

In the memories of most people born in the 1970s and 1980s, summer vacation is happy and carefree, especially In the early childhood education stage, during the holidays, "sheep herding" often begins. I’ve finished my summer homework, okay, let’s go do whatever you want.

Today’s children no longer have such “freedom”. "The more vacation we have, the busier we are. We are always around our children and sending them to training classes. I have never had any leisure time this summer!" This is the sentiment of most parents today. I see all the parents complaining, but when the holidays come, everyone is still willing to pay and send their children to various classes.

Some data reveal how much Chinese parents hope their children will succeed. Children’s education accounts for an increasing proportion of Chinese family consumption expenditures. According to the "China Business Education Tutoring Market Consumption Power Report", the national extracurricular tutoring market revenue will reach 475.1 billion yuan in 2019, and is expected to exceed 560 billion yuan in 2021. The demand for extracurricular education will create a revenue growth of 100 billion yuan industry.

The "Report on Consumption Power of China's Business Education Tutoring Market" points out that with social and economic development, the education market is expanding year by year. On the one hand, families’ investment in their children’s education continues to increase; on the other hand, the demand for personalized and diversified education has emerged. On-campus education can no longer meet the training needs of many parents for their children. Off-campus commercial education provides a wider range of segmented education. services and are active in the Chinese education market.

Overseas summer camps have become "hot cakes"

Since there is no time for leisure during the summer vacation, parents begin to worry about how to "recharge" their children. The "eighteen kinds of martial arts" of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting are very tempting. For today's children, it is almost "standard" to be proficient in one of them. Many parents also focus on cultivating their children's comprehensive adaptability. Therefore, it is not surprising that overseas summer camps have become increasingly popular in recent years.

So what is an overseas summer camp like? Is it worth it for children? Recently, Xinhua News Agency reported that parents are relatively satisfied with overseas summer camps. One parent said in an interview, “Comparing short-term summer camps with Chinese and American education may only give a glimpse of what is going on. But as a mother, I still have some concerns. Some experiences. First of all, American parents are more relaxed. They leave after dropping off their children in the morning. Those who linger are often Chinese parents. Of course, this is also due to the worry of foreigners participating in camps. Secondly, American children are more independent. , and their physical fitness is also better. Judging from the design of children's play equipment, American children get more exercise, and they generally have stronger climbing abilities. Chinese children are not often exposed to outdoor camps, and they feel that they are physically exhausted and have poor climbing abilities. There is room for improvement. Third, the purpose of participating in the camp is not only to learn English, but more importantly, to allow children to experience a world different from their original living environment, learn to live in harmony with nature, adapt to dealing with different people, and broaden their horizons. Before leaving, the parents of Arden, the child's new American friend, told me, "Maybe we'll see you next year." If I have the chance, I would choose a similar summer camp for my children in the future.

”

According to some media reports, there are many benefits of overseas summer camps. Overseas summer camps are different from overseas travel. The focus of overseas summer camps is on personal feelings and experiences, traveling in different environments, and personally using your own hands. Explore the world with your legs and feel the world with your own eyes.

In addition to experience, children go to strange places with different cultures, stay away from familiar parents, and come into contact with unfamiliar people they have never seen before. The host family members, teachers and classmates use language that is not commonly used in daily life. From being timid and shy at the beginning, the child gradually begins to boldly communicate with others. The growth the child has experienced is immeasurable.

In addition, for many families who plan to study abroad in the future, the importance of overseas summer camps becomes even more obvious. Many students have fallen deeply in love with world-class universities such as Oxford University and Cambridge University after attending an overseas summer camp. After children return home, their yearning for a prestigious school will become their motivation to work hard.

There are some pitfalls to be careful of when attending summer camps.

Overseas summer camps have many benefits for children, but once In the summer, parents still have a headache, that is, they are afraid of falling into the "trap" of overseas summer camps. With the increasingly popular trend, summer camps of various countries and types appear in front of parents. The quality of them varies, and if you are not careful, you may spend your money "wasted".

As the summer camp craze becomes more and more popular, many parents are blindly following the trend. With slogans such as "Immersive English Conversation Environment" and "Experience American Education", I saw other people's photos of their children with international friends in their circle of friends. I gritted my teeth and stamped my feet and spent tens of thousands of dollars to enroll my children. , the child went to the United States, "travel" is more important than "study", and the actual time of participating in the course may be less than 24 hours.

According to industry insiders, most of the study tours currently on the market are often unsuccessful. "Traveling without learning". Many parents save money and spend tens of thousands to send their children to so-called "elite summer camps". In addition to the short class time, they spend the rest of the day visiting Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Starlight. These are all free projects at Avenues and Silicon Valley. Therefore, you must understand the specific content of each project before signing up to determine whether it is a quick tour of the attractions or a unique in-depth immersion and experience.

< p> In the course descriptions of some summer camps, various lofty words are used, such as "cultivating children's future leadership" and "fully closed immersive English environment"... while the content has quietly shrunk, pretended to be false, and even "Transfer"...

Some summer camps claim to be "transfer classes to American schools." But if you think about it carefully, if 10 Chinese students are suddenly placed in a class, which regular school would agree to this? Wouldn't this disrupt the normalcy of the school? Are the classes in order? Sometimes, those summer camps that are branded as prestigious universities, such as Harvard and Stanford, are actually just renting classrooms from Harvard and Stanford, and the teachers have nothing to do with these universities. So where do the summer camp teachers come from? Some schools have their own teams operating and recruiting summer camp teachers, with teachers from the school and summer camp teachers working together. Most of the summer camp teachers who work part-time during the summer are relatively young and energetic, and many are college students from the Department of Education. It’s not that these teachers are bad, but parents should not think that a summer camp with the name of a famous school in Silicon Valley or Berkeley must be the teacher of that school.

In order to make money, some summer camps have almost no restrictions on the age of the children. There are also classes for two and three-year-olds, but most of them are in the form of "parent-child travel together." According to experienced parents, it is not that they do not support young children spending tens of thousands of yuan to travel all the way to attend summer camps. After all, it has a subtle effect on the temperament cultivation and cultural edification of young children. However, for younger children participating in overseas camps for the first time, it is recommended to choose comprehensive camps that include sports, exploration, and art projects. Children will not be bored and language communication barriers will be lower. However, it is best to control the number of Chinese students in the same group, and it is not recommended that younger children register together with friends or relatives of similar age. Once they are placed in the same class, the two children often play together all the time. In this case, participating in the summer camp will not achieve the originally desired effect.

Overseas summer camps are too expensive and become a "pain point" for parents

For parents, overseas summer camps not only have many pitfalls, but their inflated prices are also difficult for many families to accept.

Take a summer camp with a good reputation in the United States as an example. It lasts for three weeks per week and the price is around US$2,200-2,500. You can pay for your own accommodation. If parents rent a house, they must have a budget of at least 100,000 yuan for a one-month summer camp, which is relatively expensive.

In fact, if you sign up through an agency, the group fee will be higher. Parents are not clear about the price of overseas summer camps. A report released by Ctrip shows that judging from the booking status of Ctrip’s study tour platform for the 2017 summer and 2018 winter vacations, the number of people signing up for overseas study tours increased by 50%, and the per capita tour fee was as high as 29,000 yuan.

Overseas summer camps are too expensive, but there are also many domestic summer camp products. However, the quality of domestic summer camps varies greatly. At the same time, this is an industry with no clear entry barriers, and there is often a mixed bag.

Stones from Other Mountains

What do foreigners think of overseas summer camps?

United States: Europe is the preferred destination

According to the latest Open Doors survey report, Europe has always been the preferred destination for American students, accounting for more than half of American students. The UK ranks first with nearly 40,000 American students, accounting for 12% of the total number; Italy ranks second with approximately 35,000 students; Spain ranks third with approximately 31,200 students; and China ranks sixth with approximately 11,000 students. Among other countries, U.S. students showed the largest increase in interest in Cuba, with an increase of 21.8% to about 4,600 students. Greece, India, Mexico and Australia are also among the most attractive countries for American students.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professional study programs are the most popular among American students, accounting for 26% of the total, followed by business (21%), social sciences (17%), and 7% Foreign language and international studies courses, and 6% in fine and applied arts.

The American Institute of International Education (IIE) encourages students to exchange and study in foreign countries. Educators have long seen the value of international student exchanges.

UK: Study tours are more common in private schools that encourage extracurricular learning

In modern British primary and secondary schools, overseas study tours are not popular. Most students will go on vacation with their families or join tour groups during the holidays. When going abroad, it is mainly for fun.

A few middle schools, especially private schools, may organize students to visit abroad during holidays. The duration varies and the students are responsible for their own expenses. For example, a private school in England organized 44 holiday activities requiring accommodation in one year, half of which were overseas activities, ranging from 1 day to 10 days. The themes of the activities included field biological expeditions, music, history, and art. and sports etc. Depending on the type and duration of the activity, the fees required range from 50 pounds to 2,900 pounds (approximately RMB 433 to 25,000 yuan).

For a wider proportion of public school students, activities such as field trips during the semester have become the main form of enriching daily learning experience.

Australia: The overseas study tour market is heating up

Australia is one of the popular places for overseas students to study abroad. At the same time, study tours to other countries are also quite popular in Australia. A recent study released by the Australian Universities International Council Forum shows that the number of Australian university students with overseas study experience has doubled in five years. In 2017, nearly 50,000 students went on overseas study tours, ranging from two to ten weeks. wait.

As the trend of economic globalization intensifies, the overseas study destinations of Australian students also tend to be diversified. In 2017, China and the United States became the most popular study abroad destinations for Australian students. Among all students who study abroad, about 22% choose to go to China or the United States. In addition, 8% of students chose to go to the UK, Italy, Japan, India and Canada accounted for 4% each, and Indonesia, Germany, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and France each accounted for 3%.

South Korea: Overseas study tours may no longer be a necessity for education

At present, most of the Korean study tour market is organized and operated by overseas study agencies, media companies, travel agencies, education and training centers and other institutions. A small number of schools or government agencies directly organize study tours. Most of the study tours focus on language learning and last from one to eight weeks. During the study tour, students will have more than 3 hours of one-to-one or multiple-to-one language learning courses with local people every day, and then visit famous local schools, browse famous attractions, and experience local culture.

Old English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada have always been popular destinations for Korean students to study abroad, but the costs are also very high. Take the quotation of a large educational institution in South Korea as an example. The cost of a 4-week summer camp in Pennsylvania in the United States is 6.6 million won (approximately RMB 39,000), and 8 weeks is 13.2 million won (approximately RMB 78,000); a 4-week summer camp in Boston The cost is 6.8 million won (approximately RMB 40,000) and 13 million won (approximately RMB 77,000) for 8 weeks. Not only that, round-trip air tickets and pocket money will need to be paid extra. According to a comprehensive estimate, it costs approximately 10 million won (approximately RMB 59,000) for each student to study abroad for one month.

Russia: Parents are hesitant about study tour programs

As the summer vacation approaches, advertisements for some summer camps in Russia and abroad frequently come into people’s sight. How to spend a meaningful summer vacation has become the most concerned issue for parents of Russian primary and secondary school students and college students at this stage.

There are not a few Russian parents who are hesitant about summer camps and many other study tour programs. These projects are often far from “cost-effective”. But low-priced programs often fail to guarantee high-quality food and accommodation for children. In addition, safety issues have also become a concern for many Russian parents.