MWS Montreal Language Camps: Parent Interview with Vera Hoffman

Watch our Parent interview with Vera Hoffman to hear firsthand what children experience and how they grow at MWS Montreal Language Camps.

Transcript of the interview

What’s unique about the program at MWS Montreal Language Camps that made you want to enroll your children there?

I wanted a combination of fun and a classroom setting. We spend our summers in Montreal, and where my kids were going to school, they weren’t learning French at the time. So, I wanted a bit of a working summer.

Before that, we tried the Berlitz camp with my daughter, but it was too much of a classroom setting. So, I wanted a combination of the two.

It was also the fact that it was centrally located in Montreal. I had attended McGill University, so I’m familiar with the area, and I liked that it was right in the middle of the city.

When I looked at the activities that they would do, they were all the things we would have done anyway. If there wasn’t a camp, we would have gone to all those fun things, like laser tag. So, the camp was taking care of all that for me, along with the language part of it.

What are some highlights of MWS Montreal Language Camps?

The fact that they started as day students and wanted to return as boarders showed that they had a positive experience. That alone made me want to continue.

Another positive about Montreal Language Camps is that they literally still keep in touch with kids whom they met at that camp through Instagram and all that. There are still a handful of kids and counselors whom they’ve kept in contact with.

I wanted that urban feel. I didn’t want them to go to a camp by a lake, although those are great too. I wanted them to learn about the city. They know more about the city than I do now for that reason. The camp is centrally located, and they take public transportation to these activities.

You’re informed, decisions are made, and there’s flexibility. With my daughter, something happened during one of the outings where they were at the botanical gardens, and a strange woman was overzealously taking their picture. I learned about it that same day from Vanessa, the head counselor. I’m kept informed of anything.

She twisted her ankle at one point, and I was kept immediately informed of that. She had a fever at one point and was even able to come home for a couple of days.

There is still the understanding that if you choose boarding, they are to start learning independence. And that was important to me, that they could take care of themselves more and more.

How did MWS Montreal Language Camps help build your children’s independence?

I think it was another exercise in independence. Where we live now, they will most likely be going to a boarding school for high school, so this was a good test and a good exercise in independence.

With the boarding program, they’re assigned their own room. It’s easy in that sense because it’s not like having a roommate whom they have to get along with. So I liked the idea that if this was their first time doing it, they had their own room and their own little bit of privacy.

The fact that they were willing to go back and do it again made me know that it was positive for them. They felt comfortable enough to go back and do the boarding again. It was another layer of independence that I was trying to get from this boarding camp.

As a mother, it was very convenient for me because if anything happened, I was right there. Nothing serious happened other than one bout of fever. But if I wasn’t living in the area, it would have been fine as well. She just wanted to come home for that particular time.

How did MWS Montreal Language Camps teach your children to be more socially courageous?

It almost forces socialization, even in the French class part of it. The person you might gravitate towards might not necessarily be the one who’s at your level of French.

Instead of having that one person and becoming so comfortable with that person that they ignore everybody else, groups are made and then mixed up again. She ended up with a nice handful of friends and counselors whom she still keeps in contact with.

She also made friends from all over the world, which is another bonus of all this. She’s grown accustomed to that because we go to a kind of international school here, and this was just a continuation of that.

That was also important to me, that she could get along with anybody from any part of the world because she might end up living there one day.

How was MWS Montreal Language Camps’ language program?

I think Montreal Language Camps gave them a great head start. Where we live, a second language doesn’t begin until Grade 6. So, this camp was important because I wanted to get them started on the language.

What ends up happening, unfortunately, is that they learn the language over the summer, and then it gets lost again. We don’t live in Montreal during the school year, so they can’t continue with it.

I asked the head counselor at the time, Vanessa, “Am I spinning my wheels here?” They’ll be immersed in the language, and then during the school year, there’s nothing. She said that maybe eventually they don’t retain all of it, but there is still something there, and it tends to get awakened. I agree with that 100%.

Now my daughter is in Grade 8, and my son is starting French in school in Grade 6. They excel now, I think, more than they would have if they hadn’t attended the camp. All of a sudden, these things that have been lying dormant in the brain get activated.

It’s not everything they learned, but when they start to learn how to count, my son can go through it really, really quickly now because he did it at that camp. He also runs through the colours quickly.

Of course, there’ll come a point when they’re at a level of French that exceeds what they learned at this camp. But I just think that part of it was absolutely valuable. At the very least, it kept the brain working during the summer. But I think it was more than that.

What advice do you have for families about boarding camps like MWS Montreal Language Camps?

Vanessa was adamant that you have to do the separation. You have to do it, or else it’s not going to succeed.

Maybe because I eased into it and they were day campers first, I didn’t throw them into boarding. I did day camp, and then I could get the feel of the place. When they did choose to do boarding, I felt pretty confident that it was going to work out.

You do have to let go and have some faith that it’s going to work out. Did things go missing? Did Luca not clear out his room properly and leave something behind? These are all superficial things.

There was one sock left behind. He left his toothbrush behind. These things don’t mean anything in the long run. In the long run, he came back alive and healthy.

He wasn’t as organized as maybe I would have liked him to be. I didn’t get any complaints about him not changing his clothes, so I’m assuming all that went well. If these little things didn’t work exactly as they would have if he were living at home, they don’t really matter in the long run.

How do you get the most out of MWS Montreal Language Camps?

For me, there was training beforehand and reading over the manual with them. There’s going to be laundry once a week, so you have to make sure your clothes are ready and make sure your towels are in. It was just a kind of training beforehand.

Going over the manual with the kids and letting them be prepared for what is to come is important. These are the activities you’re going to do. This is the kind of stuff that will happen.

As boarders, they get to call home and ask questions. I started with the day camp and saw that it was a success, so I went further with it.

My kids were not always those kids who joined in easily. They were the last kids to get involved in a birthday party and that sort of thing. They’re very hesitant, but the camp makes it very easy.

The camp itself makes it easy for them to socialize and join the group. I had a great experience.