Vote for the YL Conference 2024 location
We are really pleased to confirm that the YL conference will take place in November 2024. Two IH schools have applied to host the conference in their cities and we would like you to vote for the destination!
Participants will be from all over the world and there will be a mixture of plenaries and workshops with both Young Learner related managerial content and practical classroom ideas.
As always we are looking forward to sharing the wealth of expertise in the IH network. This will be an opportunity to share old and new ideas, to explore principles and procedures of YL teaching and to collaborate with the wonderful IH YL community.
IH Sofia
International House Sofia will be celebrating exactly 15 years in the network in November 2024 so would be really excited about hosting the YL conference. They are a medium-sized, fast-growing school based in the capital of Bulgaria and have around 1000 VYL, YL and Teen students. They have a wide range of YL courses starting at 4 years old and their curriculum, which they can share with you, focuses on community, health, environment, diversity and innovation, which has grown into an EU Erasmus project. In addition, YL and Teen courses include project work, extended writing, virtual reality and focus on soft skills.
In the summer, as a community school, they have a 12-week programme where students spend the day moving between a variety of projects, dance and music, board games, VR, D&D, sports, quizzes and a day out, in an English-only environment. Teens have 1-week special interest groups such as Young Entrepreneurs, Cookery, Film production, Theatre and Creative Writing. The school would be happy to share these with you.
Sofia is a city with a variety of events, concerts, restaurants and bars, shopping streets, modern spas and a vibrant nightlife. Prices are very reasonable, meaning you can enjoy a great night out for around 45 Euros, including meals (Bulgarian food is very tasty!), drinks and entrance to clubs and bars. With Vitosha mountain on the doorstep, it’s easy to get into the mountains quickly and enjoy the wonderful views of Bulgaria from there.
IH Malta
IH Malta have been members of the IH family, as a Study Abroad school, for more than twenty years.
They moved to relatively new, larger premises in November 2023, which, in turn, has allowed them to grow and be able to accept more students to their new school located in the heart of the very popular Paceville / St Julian’s district, within minutes walking to all the bars, restaurants, holiday apartments, hotels, and beaches in the area. Valletta and Mdina, the cultural centers of the lovely island, are both a short bus ride away, and it will take less than forty-five minutes by bus to reach the ferry terminals that will take visitors to the picturesque sister Island of Gozo.
The weather in November is usually fine with the occasional shower, a blessing for the locals who would have suffered three long months of summer! The hardier ones can also hazard a dip in the clear waters with the sea temperature around 22 degrees Celsius in November. They, therefore, look forward to welcoming their colleagues, particularly those from the YL teaching community, and sincerely hope that their visit to Malta will be fruitful and enjoyable from all angles.