SILVIAS FARM SCHOOL
LANGUAGE STAYS in Switzerland
23.11.19
Christmas Farmers
MARKET
ABOUT SILVIAS FARM SCHOOL
Do you want to discover Switzerland and learn German at the same time? Live with your teacher‘s family and benefit from several hours’ intensive study every day.
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During your language stay, you will live in a unique historic Swiss farmhouse dating back to 1789 and set in the ideal location for nature and sport-loving language students. Both your room and the entire home are bright and offer cosy furnishings, offering you the perfect, peaceful atmosphere in which to learn without distractions. A large garden with many fruit trees and a barn with small animals like sheep, rabbits, chickens, quails and ducks also belong to our farm-school. Classes take place indoor and outdoor.
OUR LOCATION
The natural, agricultural surroundings with their large woods are perfect for nature lovers and ideal for hiking, biking, riding, jogging or nordic walking. There are also opportunities for nordic or alpine skiing in winter times as well as swimming and kayaking in the river during the warm season. There are riding opportunities right on the doorstep, and the family also owns a horse. Our dog might be your companion for walks between classes while our cats love to join the classes occupying free seats. If you are interested in culture, you can drive to Switzerland’s capital city of Bern in just 15 minutes. Its old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site with a rich entertainment scene that includes daily theatre performances, concerts, museums and much more.
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DEFINE YOUR OWN TIMETABLE
You will receive private, semiprivate or group German lessons from a top qualified and experienced German teacher with a Master’s in German Studies and History as well as a teaching diploma for adult students. She also boasts 12 years’ experience teaching secondary school students and adults. You can define your own timetable and focuses together with your teacher in line with your interests and needs.
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FURTHER OFFERS
We also organise your transfer and sport or leisure activities like hikes, sight-seeing tours, typical Swiss cooking, skiing, snowshoeing, climbing, kayaking, open air Yoga, Pilates and Horse-riding lessons.
Your travel companion or your kids may book full board accomodation and general activities without language lessons.
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ACCOMMODATION
Switzerland has always been famed for its hospitality and staying with a host family is one of the best ways to practise your language skills daily. At Silvias Farm School you have the unique opportunity to stay at your teachers home and practise proper German many hours per day. If you plan a long term stay or a internship to gain working experience, we can also organise you an accommodation at one of our neighbours farms.
EXCURSIONS AND ACTIVITIES
cooking classes
We produce our own vegetabels, berries and fruits in the house garden. Our chickens present us with their eggs.
If you are interested in natural cooking or Swiss food culture, join the cooking classes. You can learn how to make jam or sirup from our own organic berries, select and dry garden herbs and wild plants to create your own tea or salad, bake spelt-bread and cakes or cook a traditionall swiss meal. Excursions to food factories such as the Swiss cookies factory in Trubschachen can be organised, also in combination with hiking tours and other activities.
excursions to cultural sites
From our farm to Switzerlands capital Bern it is just a 15-minute car ride. For guests who prefer to organise their tours individually, we offer transfers to Bern twice a week. From Bern the public transfer leads to all the places of interest.
As Silvia is not only a German teacher, but also has a Master's in History, she enjoys guided city tours to Bern, Freiburg, Lausanne, Luzern, Basel, Lugano, Zurich and other cities. Other excursions lead to the near castel of Laupen, the castel of Murten or the castel of Gruyère at the beautiful lake Gruyère, where you also have the possibility to visit the famous Callier chocolate factory.
Enjoy the silence of
our house garden
The most relaxing way to take a break. You simply grab a book from our little house library and lay down in the hamac or the hanging chair. You pick some cherries from the tree and enjoy its shade. You walk around and observe the chickens searching for little insects. Or you just take a nice italian coffee to the sunny lounge corner or to the garden.
sporty activities around the house
If you don't like to go far and spend a lot of money to enjoy yourself, just around the house you find a slack line, a ping-pong table, a basketball board, boccia balls, a football, speedminton and badminton rackets, a dartboard, a frisbee and more fun things. For rainy periods there is a little house library, a carom board and a box with parlour games.
horseback riding tours
For experienced riders we offer tours on our horses. You have the choice between short afternoon rides of 1-3 hours, day tours with lunch included or weekend tours of 2 or 3 days, staying over night at farms of our partners. Weekend tours must be booked in advance, as they have to be carefully organised. For riders with a lot of experience who prefer to make tours on their own, there is a fascinating riders paradise in the canton Jura, where you find providers of rental horses and many beautiful horse trails - especially prepared in winter times. For horse lovers who feel not yet completly secure we offer horse riding lessons.
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summer sports
The most popular way Swiss people spend their free time of course is hiking and climbing in the alps. Beautiful views, cold mountain lakes, wildflowers, free grasing cows, the smell of large hayfields and a quick step into a alpine herdsman's cabin to buy some handmade cheese - this makes our eyes shine and our hearts beat a little bit faster. But for you of course we love to organise also other journeys, for example on bikes or kayaks. If you are interested in water sports you might rent a sailing boat at lake Murten or try the waterski lift in Estavayer at the lake of Neuchâtel . Beautiful places to go for a swim near our farm are at the river Sense in Flamatt or where Saane and Sense flow together in Laupen, where you also find a neat public swimming pool.
winter sports
In winter times there are so many possibilities to go for snowshoe tours, sleigh rides or nordic and alpine skiing in the Swiss alps. Some first-class skiing areas are located in Adelboden-Lenk, Grindelwald, Kandersteg, the natural park of Gantrisch and in the canton Valais. They are all to reach in 1-1.5 hours by car.We organise transfers or guided tours corresponding to your individual interests.
GALLERY
COURSES: DEFINE YOUR OWN TIMETIBLE
practical German conversation training
At this class, we first go through specific vocabulary. During the following practical part we train the correct use and pronunciation of the new word pool during actions like feeding the animals, brushing the horse, planting new vegetables, walking through the forest, go shopping ...
yoga, pilates and more
We offer private and group lessions in yoga and pilates. If the weather is nice, the lessons can be held outdoor on the wooden plattform in the garden or out in the forest. For groups of min. 5 people we organise a intensive yoga & pilates week with different instructors.
cooking class
Learn how to cook traditional Swiss meals, make jam or sirup from our own organic fruits, collect wild plants to create your own tea or salad, bake typical lebkuchen, bread and cakes or make coookies. Bring your self-made herbal tea, dried fruit or pickles home as a souvenir. For groups of min. 5 people we organise a intensive cooking week.
intensive German lessons
The classical private, semi-private and group German lessions take place at our work stations indoor and outdoor. We work with a theory book and an exercise book on your specific level. Lessons are designed to give you the language skills to live, work, study and travel in a German-speaking environment or to prepare for a specific exam.
painting course and animal photography
If you dream about encouraging your creative talents during your stay, book a taster photography class or a complete painting course where you first get a solid fundament in drawing and then learn to plan a tableau and handle a paintbrush. Choose between oilpaint, acrylic or watercolour. For groups of min. 5 people we organise a intensive painting week with different instructors.
history lessons in German or English
Benefit from Silvias qualification as a history teacher. Select interesting topics of European and Swiss history.
communication and conversation training
Additional to the practical conversation training we also offer an insight into communication theory combined with practical exercises for successful communication. We instruct and train guidelines of effective communication, psychological aspects, differences between male an female communication or dealing with critical communication situations.
horseback riding lessons
Silvia teaches beginners and intermediate riders. For advanced riders it is possible to book dressage and showjumping lessions with a highly qualified trainer or to ride out to the famous Forst, a riders paradise with milelong prepared riding trails. For groups of min. 4 people we organise trekkings of several days in the natural park Gantrisch or in the Jura.
handcraft projects with wood and natural material
Chose a littel project like building a birds house, an insect hotel or a decoration object. We will instruct and help you to plan and realize your creative project.
