Sabbatical year, Gap Year, Long stay: Your advantages

Learning a language will be even more enriching if you do it in a place which attracts you, where you feel at ease. For this reason, ESL proposes a range of the most beautiful destinations throughout the world to you, including large cities, medium-sized cities, small towns, sea, mountains, in all climates, for all tastes...The common point of our partners resides in the quality of our services. All of our schools benefit from official international recognitions and are visited regularly by members of our team.
Additionally, all of the schools proposed on our Gap Experience website have also been selected according to their favourable long-term prices, to their academic structure (which guarantees courses for all levels according the individual development of each student, throughout the year), to their programmes (which offer the opportunity to give you a follow-up to the language courses, including work experience placements, voluntary work, paid jobs, professional/university diplomas, etc.)

ESL proposes a multitude of accommodation options to you, including the best host family, carefully selected and who benefit from regular inspections, student residences or shared apartments. According to the destinations, you will have the choice among solutions going from the comfort of a hotel to the freedom of a studio, for all tastes and for all budgets.

The members of our team all have a background in the tourism domain or in the domain of language teaching. We visit the cities/towns and schools we propose. We are at your service for what we are passionate about: your plan to discover the world and to learn foreign languages.

With ESL, you pay the same price as by contacting the school directly because we work exclusively with the original prices of our partner schools. If, for the same course, the same school and the same conditions, you find cheaper elsewhere, we refund the difference!

We organise all of the steps of enrolment, booking and communication with the school and the place where you will study without any additional fees.

Proposing exclusively the original prices of our partners, we offer you the possibility to pay in foreign currency. Otherwise, we invoice in Swiss francs (or in euros), according to the day's exchange rate.

Depending on the school, destination and course duration booked, ESL may offer you a free flight (taxes included, valid for flights departing from major European airports, up to GBP 250 for Europe and GBP 750 for overseas). The programme must be booked no later than 6 weeks prior to the course start. The flight can only be booked by ESL. These offers are not retroactive and do not apply when the course duration is extended on site. Should the participant make any changes to the course duration, school or destination, before or after departure, the offer shall become void and the price of the flight shall be charged to the participant. These offers may be stopped or modified by ESL at any time during the year, without prior notice. Find out more about the conditions and special offers specific to each school on the school's profile page on our website.

Ideally and for good reason, it is necessary to enrol for a language study trip in advance (flight, visa, accommodation...). Numerous students find themselves blocked, whilst awaiting exam results, in carrying out the steps in time. Conscious of this situation, we offer a free cancellation insurance which allows you to put in place your plans without worrying about the consequences if they fail. In other words, you can enrol without risk for a language study trip and if, unfortunately, you are no longer in a position to travel abroad because of your studies (failing of exams), we will not retain any fees.

In order to give you a precise idea of what your language study trip represents financially and to give you the opportunity to compare various destinations, we send you free personalised and detailed price offers in CHF or in Euros. In this way, you will be able to take the time at home to think about it, having all of the necessary elements at hand in order to make your decision.

With ESL, the best students are always rewarded. If you pass the Cambridge First (FCE) or Advanced (CAE) exam with an A grade, we offer you the preparation course for the following level (without accommodation/journey) for free. This offer is valid in Australia, in Perth.

Friends and family
Enjoy excellent discount when booking a language study stay at the same time as friends or family. You don’t even have to study together, just make your booking at the same time!

Discount per person:

• Courses of 12 to 16 weeks: €180 off
• Courses from 17 weeks: €225 off

Groups
For groups of 10 people and more, we develop tailor-made language studies with very interesting conditions for the students and their accompanying adults. Contact us for further information.

Along with the best airline companies, ESL-Language studies abroad also proposes the booking of flights for all destinations to you, at very competitive prices. Please do not hesitate to contact us for an offer without obligation. If you mention it on your enrolment form, we will send you a purely informative price offer for a favourable flight.

Proposed during the conclusion of the details your language study trip, cancellation insurance allows you, in the case of a major unforeseen difficulty (accident or illness) prior to your departure, to cancel the language study trip abroad and to get back a large part of the amount paid initially, with the exception of the plane ticket. Travel insurance allows you to cover yourself against any inconvenience which may occur during a stay abroad, including loss of luggage, medical or hospitalisation fees, legal protection or a compensation for a second exam (for students), you won't have anything to fear!

What is the procedure? Where do I have to make my visa request? ESL will guide you during the administrative steps and will provide you with the necessary documents for obtaining the visa.

The basic academic service which we propose consists of integrating a class which corresponds to the level of language knowledge of each participant. This is vital in order to feel at ease and to progress in a regular manner. It is also what will make the course effective and interesting. Consequently, all of the schools offer an evaluation test during the first day. ESL also proposes this service during a consultancy appointment, if you wish. It is very useful when you wish to take a preparation course for a certificate for which it is necessary to have a defined minimum level.

With 20 years' experience in the organisation of language studies abroad, we have placed thousands of students throughout the world and have built up strong links with our partner schools. We are proud to note that the majority of our clients contact us on the recommendation of a friend or relative having benefitted from our services, in this was bearing witness to the quality of our services.