Every summer, Tropical Palms is filled with the sounds of young people. They’re hanging poolside, playing volleyball, riding bikes, listening to music and generally having a great summer vacation.
This summer promises to be like summers of the past, only with a slightly different accent – and that accent is French. That’s because we’ll be playing host to approximately 160 13- to 17-year old French students who will be staying here while they take English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and visit many of the nearby attractions emblematic of American culture.
They’re part of an ongoing program run by an organization called Anglophiles Academic, a British educational organization that for 35 years has run English language courses and activity programs for students studying overseas in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Cyprus. While many of these youngsters usually visit our sister resort, Butlins, in England, they’ve decided that this year they wanted to add America to their list and have chosen Tropical Palms to act as their host because of our unique location so close to the magic and far from the ordinary.
The young students will spend three days a week for three weeks attending classes heavily immersed in speaking English. That will be supported by the interaction they have with you, our guests and team members at Tropical Palms. This is our chance to show off not only the resort and all that it offers, but just as importantly, the people that make America such a great and welcoming country. You’ll be acting something like tutors for them by speaking English.
Of course, they’ll also be busy exploring the wonders of Florida. The group will spend a day at Daytona Beach, swimming, playing, and picnicking. Whether they’ll have a chance to see a race is still up in the air, but let’s hope so. Also on their itinerary is Melbourne Beach, a wonderful small town on the state’s east coast, where they’ll have a chance to soak up the atmosphere of beautiful “Old Florida.” And they’ll travel to Cocoa Beach, the small barrier island that is our link to the dawn of the Space Age, where they’ll tour the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral and get the chance to learn about our exploration of space.
And what would any trip to America be for young (or old) folks without a trip to visit the “Happiest Place on Earth”? So our French guests will spend a few days at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, meeting its beloved characters and enjoying its classic attractions. They’ll safari through the park’s Animal Kingdom, home to some 250 different species sprawled across more than 500 acres of lush landscape, and they’ll get the chance to play at the DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive theme park, that one-of-a-kind gaming experience where they’ll discover 5 floors of cutting-edge technology and virtual reality, experiencing 3D encounters with the Pirates of the Caribbean, take a Virtual Jungle Cruise, climb CyberSpace Mountain, and encounter Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblasters.
This cross-cultural visit is something new for us, and of course, for the young people who will be visiting. If you have youngsters, it’s a chance for them to make new friends and hopefully share some great experiences. But even if you don’t, we hope that meeting these young people and having the opportunity to talk with them will prove as educational and interesting for you as it is for them.
You can learn more about the British educational organization Anglophiles Academic at anglophiles.com.
