Everything parents ask before booking

Speak Teens is a residential English language immersion summer camp in Italy for students aged 10 to 17. Students spend 8 days and 7 nights at Centro Turistico Valbonella, in the Foreste Casentinesi National Park in Emilia-Romagna, alongside native-speaker Teen Anglos from the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and Australia. The programme combines outdoor TEFL lessons, daily One-to-One sessions, group activities, sport, excursions and evening events — all in an environment designed to make English feel natural, not like a lesson.

Students aged 10 to 17. The Teen Anglos are aged 13 to 17. Groups are organised by age and level, so younger and older students have the right peers and the right lesson group throughout the week.

Speak Teens students come mainly from Italy and other European countries. They are teenagers who want to improve their communicative English and have a genuinely international camp experience — not just a language course. Many come back the following year.

All levels are welcome. The programme focuses on speaking and listening in real situations rather than formal grammar, so less confident students find their feet quickly. Before camp, each student completes a short online Language Assessment — around 20–30 minutes, no preparation needed — so we can place them in the right lesson group from day one.

By making English the language of daily life rather than something studied in a classroom. Students eat, play, hike and spend their evenings with native speakers. The One-to-One sessions, outdoor TEFL lessons and group activities reinforce one another. Most students and parents notice a real shift in confidence and spontaneity within the first couple of days — and the change tends to last after camp.

Going abroad can be great, but many summer schools in English-speaking countries still follow a traditional classroom format with limited interaction with native speakers. At Speak Teens, students speak English from the moment they wake up to when they go to sleep — in a stunning Italian setting, with a 1:1 student-to-native-speaker ratio that most schools abroad cannot match.

Since 2018. Speak Srl is based in Molfetta, Puglia, and has been running English language immersion programmes in Italy since it was founded. The camp takes place every year at the same location: Centro Turistico Valbonella.

The Teen Anglos are carefully selected native English-speaking teenagers aged 13 to 17, from the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada and Australia. They are sociable, enthusiastic and genuinely motivated to make the week extraordinary for everyone.

The 1:1 ratio means one native English speaker for every student — counting Teen Anglos and Speak staff together. On top of that, the Speak staff-to-student ratio is 1:6 for welfare and organisation.

No — and that’s intentional. In the One-to-One sessions, the Anglo rotates each day, so every student hears a different accent and connects with a new personality. During activities and meals, students mix freely with the whole Anglos group. By the end of the week, most students have made genuine friendships with more than one of them.

A dedicated daily session between one student and one Teen Anglo — just the two of them, no audience and no pressure. Sessions include conversation, games and storytelling rather than formal exercises. The Anglo changes each day.