Learning Through Experience in Language Education: How Does Language Immersion Work at Funside Balaton Camp?

Experiential language learning — also known as language immersion — is one of the most effective ways for children to acquire practical language skills. In this approach, learners don’t attend traditional language classes; instead, they absorb the target language in real-life contexts and through active use — for example, during games, group projects, performances, or even digital creation activities.

Why Does Experiential Learning Work So Well in a Summer Camp Setting?

The summer camp environment naturally creates the ideal conditions for language immersion: children communicate in English every day with each other and with their teachers while taking part in exciting programs, group challenges, sports, or creative workshops. The benefits of this experience-based learning method include:

• Faster and deeper language development: Children acquire vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar through everyday use, which leads to more natural and confident language skills.

• Confidence and independence: Through self-expression, role-playing, presentations, and collaborative projects, children become braver and more fluent in using a foreign language.

• Real motivation: The language comes alive, as campers need it to navigate daily life at camp, make friends, and share experiences.

How Does All This Work at Funside Balaton Camp?

At Funside Balaton Camp, experiential language learning is an integral part of daily life. In our international camp community, children communicate in English throughout the day, making language use natural and engaging. At Funside, language education goes far beyond the classroom:

• English Drama: Campers improve their speaking skills through improvisation and theater games, all in English — culminating in a short play performed at the end of the week.

• AI Techniques in English: Students explore exciting AI tools, generating texts and images, while receiving all instructions and giving all presentations in English.

• Music Production in English: Kids create their own music using modern software. The entire process, including software use, takes place in English — helping them build technical vocabulary.

• Project-based group language classes: Campers work together on a shared project (e.g. short film, presentation, or performance), which they present in English to the other groups.

At Funside Balaton Camp, even the afternoon and evening programs are bilingual (English-Hungarian), allowing children to continue practicing English during their free time. This well-rounded, experience-based approach ensures that campers return home with real, confident language skills — useful not only in school, but in everyday life as well.