Gap Year Courses

Personal Development

The experience of living away from your own environment develops a sense of independence, broadens your horizons and tests your communication skills. Past Gap Year students have discovered a greater sense of self-confidence and maturity as a direct result of their Gap Year experience.

These experiences will influence and inform,

your opinions

your tastes

your outlook on life … from now on.

Don’t believe us?

See what past students discovered having been on a Gap Year course abroad…

Student Reviews

Academic Advancement

Many Universities consider a Gap Year as a plus point for students (depending on the subject).

UCAS findings have shown that students who undergo a Gap Year are

> less likely to drop out &

> more likely to settle into University life

than those who take up their Degree, straight from school or college.

CESA Gap Year students who have lived away from home, studied abroad and developed a social circle amongst the international student body at their language college find the experience of going away to university less daunting as a result, whatever their degree subject.

Modern language undergraduates have the additional advantage of several months’ intense study of a language or two languages before they begin their degree, which can really help grades and boost confidence during that all important first year at University.

Language Competence

A Gap Year programme immerses you in a language, teaches you key language skills and provides you with the opportunities to put these skills into daily practise. The ebb and flow of each week at college will be at the heart of your world, as you interact with teachers and the other students and use the resources on offer. You will gain a wider and richer knowledge of the vocabulary, grammar and syntax of the language. You can assimilate this information and (most importantly) you will be able to practice, practise, practise. At a higher ability level you can add layers of understanding in the form of nuance and cultural reference critical to real language competence.

Students of European languages can see tangible results over an 8 to 16 week period, of course you are welcome to study for longer.

If studying Arabic or Russian we would recommend 8 to 20 weeks for serious linguistic improvement.

When studying Japanese or Chinese, students have to realise that whilst 12 weeks will provide a beginner with a solid grounding in the language, to see true results CESA would recommend a 24 week Gap Year course.

By the end of a Gap Year programme you should have a feeling of linguistic confidence and understanding which will stay with you for years to come.

International Awareness

Your Gap Programme enables you to spend several months not only studying the language but experiencing the culture and customs of a country.

You will in all probability come into contact with a set of attitudes, cultural norms and social values that will differ from your own.

You have to adapt to the mores of your host country and be sensitive to the differences between their culture and your own, even if you don’t necessarily agree with them.

Living in Rabat, Morocco will differ greatly on a day to day basis to living in a UK city, whether male or female you need to think before you act. You will drink mint tea by the gallon, but don’t expect a wild clubbing scene, Rabat dances to a different beat.

Taking your shoes off when you enter a home in Japan isn’t just polite, it’s essential. You will seriously offend your hosts if you forget this rule (and we hope you like karaoke, it’s something of an obsession in Fukuoka!).

You will also meet other Gap Year language students from across the globe and learn to appreciate the similarities that can bring us together, but also understand the differences which sometimes pull us apart.