MINI-STAY PROGRAMMES
Our year-round mini-stay programmes (also known as Educational School Tours) are a great way to explore Ireland with your school friends and teachers. Future Learning mini-stay programmes are the perfect way to learn English in a fun and innovative environment. Visiting school groups take part in project based lessons (morning or afternoon) which can be linked to your chosen activities. Each group has the option to add additional activities and weekend excursions where they can explore the beauty of Ireland. Our mini-stay courses are extremely popular and designed to focus on the aspects of Irish life, culture and society which are of most interest to our students. Through ‘learning by doing’ these courses develop language skills and promote cultural awareness while enhancing teamwork, collaborative problem solving and the use of technology
Mini-Stay Introduction
Future Learning programmes are project-based, technology-enhanced and use active and authentic learning activities. These projects enable our students to explore the places they are visiting and articulate the aspects that most interest them. It is very important to us that students feel that they have travelled and encountered a different culture and all our projects are about students engaging with the world around them and are not the sort of classes that they could just as easily do at home. The projects are inspired by what they observe in the classroom as well as out on their tours and where they are staying.
Technology-enhanced, which means that the students work on a digital product in which they describe their experience and what they have learned. These digital products can include: presentation slides, blogs, interactive maps, and videos. The video part of the project is either a scripted scene, which the students prepare, practice and produce or, where the students’ level is sufficient, it can include on-street interviews with locals. Over the course of their mini-stay programme students research, record and edit a video on the aspect of the topic which they have chosen to investigate. Using digital tools includes looking things up, checking ideas, and finding visual material, but it is primarily about students creating something for themselves that they can publish and show to parents and teachers back home. Internet research is targeted, time-limited and is used by students to check and add to what they already know.
Students on our mini-stay programmes work with experienced project leaders who are qualified in a variety of social and cultural areas relevant to the projects, including languages, literature, drama, history, geography and sociology. All of our project leaders are experienced in working with groups of young people and working through the learner’s second language as all of them hold recognised certificates in English language teaching, in addition to their primary degree. Having a team with such a variety of backgrounds enriches our programmes and allows us to give students insights into all areas of Irish life, culture, history and landscape.
Mini-Stay Projects
Young Learners (12 to 16 years old)
Digital European Citizenship
Our Digital Footprint
Explore the technological transformation of the world you live in and learn about the extent of the digital footprint and its consequences.
Environment and Sustainability
The Irish Landscape
Explore the living landscape of Ireland’s towns, cities, and countryside and the impact that people have on it.
Identity and Culture
Irish Life & Culture
Investigate what it means to be Irish and the differences and similarities with your own culture
Stories and Drama
Irish Legends
Immerse yourself to Irish culture through its most famous legends and folktales.
Future Work Project
Future Work and Creativity
Work together to develop a marketing campaign for a new product and in the process discover what qualities they bring to their teams.
MinI-Stay Projects
Young Adults (17 to 24 years old)
Digital European Citizenship
Society and Media
Weigh the facts and test the evidence behind online news stories that are current in Ireland and publish your findings on your own news website.
Environment and Sustainability
Exploring Sustainable development
Develop an awareness of how sustainable development goals impact your daily live and local area.
Identity and Culture
Irish History & Identity
Explore Irish history and the questions around their identity.
Stories and Drama
Irish Drama & Film Making
Discover different aspects of Irish story-telling from ancient legends to modern drama and create your own original story, and perform it.
Future Work Project
Future Work and Career
Explore the skills and qualities where you will rely on in the future when entering the world of work and higher study.
Mini-Stay Programmes
Project based learning
IrelandACTIVITIES AND EXCURSIONS
At the mouth of the Glendalough Valley is the 'Monastic City'. This is the title given to the remains of the famous early Christian monastic settlement first established by St. Kevin, a hermit monk who died about 618 AD. The extensive ruins of Glendalough include several early churches, a graceful round tower, and various sites associated with the life of St. Kevin. The monks abandoned the settlement centuries ago due to religious and political upheavals but many of their hand-built stone buildings still stand testament to their way of life.
Glendalough
Gaelic sports include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball, and rounders. Gaelic football, similar to soccer, rugby and American football, consists of the ball being passed through the other team’s goals to score 3 points or through upright posts separated by a crossbar to gain 1 point. Players are allowed to carry, bounce, kick, hand pass and ‘solo’ the ball. Gaelic football along with hurling and camogie are controlled by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). Gaelic football is the most popular sport in Ireland with tens of thousands of people traveling to Croke Park in Dublin to watch the games.
Gaelic sports
Our Future Learning mini-stay courses are designed to focus on the aspects of Irish life, culture and society which are of most interest to the students. Through ‘learning by doing’ our courses develop, language skills and promotes cultural awareness while enhancing teamwork, collaborative problem solving and the use of technology.
Interactive classes
As the home of Ireland's largest sporting and cultural organisation, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) - Croke Park has played host to iconic moments in Irish sport & history and to major cultural and international events. The GAA All-Ireland Football and Hurling Championship Finals, draw an estimated 82,300 fans to see the pinnacle of Gaelic games action in this world-renowned cathedral of sport every September.
Croke Park
Phoenix Park is one of the largest walled public parks in any capital city in Europe. The park is the home of the President of Ireland as well as the famous Dublin Zoo. If you are lucky, you may be able to find the wild deer and take a selfie with them in the background (from a safe distance, of course). Right by one of the entrances you will find Wellington Monument, a 53-metre-tall obelisk. On hot summer days the area around Wellington comes alive with people having a great time with their friends and family.
Phoenix Park
Traditional Irish Dancing has become popular worldwide through the Riverdance show. Irish dancing is characterised by precise, rapid leg and foot movements, with the body and arms kept rigid and controlled. Irish dance can be grouped into social and performance dancing, with social dancing including céilí and set dancing. Set dances consist of four couples arranged in a square, while céilí dances can be danced by groups of two to sixteen individuals.
Traditional Irish Dancing
Step back 1,200 years and join the Vikings on a replica Viking Ship. Cruise up the River Shannon to Lough Ree or down river to the monastic settlement and round towers of Clonmacnoise whilst hearing live commentary on Viking hoards, the beauty of the river, its flora, fauna, bird and fish life.
Viking Boat - Athlone
Get down to Ireland's largest inflatable waterpark! Made up of the biggest collection of original, one off, award winning floating slides, rockers and challenges, entertaining and delighting people of all ages and abilities
Baysports Waterpark - Athlone
Mini-Stay Sample Schedule
Mini-Stay Testimonials
Mini-Stay Testimonial
I came to study English in Ireland to improve my listening and speaking because it’s useful for everyday life. I packed a lot of jackets and trousers when coming to Ireland, no summer wear! In my course, we are all friends, and in my host family, my host father and brother are so funny and are gentlemen. I use English as soon as I wake up with my host family. I also use it in school and with my teachers. We talk English as much as we can to practice. Once I finish my course here, one day I want to travel away from Italy and live in another country, so this opportunity is great to help grow my English. Future Learning is fun, interactive and open-minded. I’d recommend Future Learning to others because it’s fun and you can do so many things, like Irish dancing!
Giuliano
Italy
Mini-Stay Testimonial
I like to write and to travel. In Ireland, I find people speak more slowly, they let me understand what they are saying. I wanted to improve my English and to learn more about the languages, I also thought I could evolve my speaking skills. I packed jumpers, jumpers and more jumpers when coming to Ireland. Everything to keep me warm! I’m a bit shy, so in the beginning it was difficult for me to speak in English because it’s not my native language. I’ve met fantastic people in my host family, the father and brother are great, and the mother and the sister are so gentle and polite. I use English when I talk to my host family, when I go out shopping and I also have friends from all over the world whom I talk to in English too. Next year is the last year of school for me, so my objective is to go to a University abroad, maybe in England or Ireland or Australia maybe. Future Future is innovative, interactive and… orange! 🧡 I’d recommend Future Learning to anyone who is looking to improve their English skills as Future Learning is the way to do it.
Davide
Italy
Mini-Stay Testimonial
My host family are really impressive, they interact with us all the time, they want us to be comfortable as possible, and they always are trying to do everything for us easier and asking us like if we are comfortable all the time I would definitely recommend FL. it is a great experience. you get to know many people and other cultures
Ivan
Spain
Mini-Stay Testimonial
Our host families are so nice and they take care of us. We watch a movie with our host family while having dinner. Ireland is so beautify, we love the houses they are so cute. Future learning is a great opportunity, its fun with so much learning and different. You learn with fun and it is great, nothing is like it back home in our country, this school is more interactive
Laila & Helga
Spain
FL ACCREDITATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
We are an accredited language school offering top quality courses for juniors and adults. Our accreditations show that we are a professional school with an exceptional level of teaching and services.
