Language Tree Summer School Team at the Penryn Campus

Article written by: Joel Ashton Published on: 15 January 2026 Categories: Accommodation, Art & Culture, Excursions, Falmouth, Junior Summer School, Language Learning, Latest News, Penryn Campus, Sustainability, Truro

What started as a gap year...

What started as a gap-year has become the vocation I love and enjoy.

Although we didn’t actually open the doors to our first school until 2017, Language Tree really started in 2000 when I went to Caruaru in north-east Brazil for my first TEFL job at Cultura Inglesa.

We were a team of three teachers joining a small language school. We were welcomed with open arms to a community and culture. From Carnaval in Olinda to forró dancing at barn dances in the middle of nowhere.

Cultura Inglesa was also a very special school with various community projects and a love of experimental English language teaching.

I knew then that this was the career for me and that, one day, I wanted to recreate that experience for people visiting Cornwall.

Students at Cultura Inglesa Caruaru, Brazil - 2000

Cultura Inglesa wildlife project outside Caruaru, Brazil

Teaching team at Cultura Inglesa Caruaru 2000, Brazil

The joy of adventure

After Brazil came a wonderful odyssey of adventure to South Korea, Mexico and Spain.

The joy of English language teaching as a way to meet and share other cultures around the world was inspirational.

With all that has happened since Brexit, Trump and the pandemic, it is sad to feel the world is becoming more closed.

That’s why it feels more important than ever to find ways to continue this form of travel and adventure.

Being able to travel and learn more about the many different cultures around the world is both a privilege and also something vital that benefits all who experience it – both the traveller and the host.

Going to see the Monarch butterfly migration just outside Valle de Bravo, 2001

Football match in Kwang-ju, South Korea, 2001

Celebrating international day at Escuela Valle de Bravo, Brazil, 2000

EFL Teaching team in Kwang-ju, South Korea

The ESOL years

The birth of our children brought us back to Cornwall, the land where both my wife and I had grown up.

From 2005 – 2016, I saw a whole new side to the English language teaching profession. I got a job at my local college where we were teaching a wonderful mix of people from so many different countries.

Suddenly we had multilingual and multicultural classes – this was a lightbulb moment for me – a whole new aspect to an English language classroom for bringing different cultures together. Both inside and outside of the classroom.

This is what Language Tree is all about.

ESOL students at the Royal Cornwall Show

Language Experience students enjoying an excursion to Tintagel.

Language Tree school opens!

…and then in 2017, it actually happened!

With the chaos of Brexit unfurling, we opened Language Tree in the heart of Truro, the town where I grew up.

The melting pot continued for 6 happy years, as we welcomed both ESOL students living in Cornwall and EFL students visiting from all around the world.

It was during this time that we became Cornwall’s only British Council accredited school and we started to offer our special summer school programmes too…

Language Tree team with some of our Ukrainian students

The first summer schools

Summer schools, Brexit and a pandemic are not an ideal combination.

However, through all these challenging times, what has been wonderful has been the people who have chosen to study with us and to learn more about Cornwall.

Cornwall is a land with a special culture and history. It seems to draw adventurous people who want to experience something a little different.

Language Tree students walking down to Gwithian beach with surfboards.

Our special excursions

I guess we are biased, but Cornwall certainly seems to have more than its fair share of culture and history for such a little peninsula on this planet.

People have lived here for millennia and that history can be felt in the stone circles, ancient tin mines and the many coastal towns rich in long histories of maritime trade and sea faring adventures.

The Cornish coastline is also a Mecca for hikers and lovers of watersports. From the dramatic north coast facing the Atlantic with perfect waves for surfing to the protected south coast with its peaceful creeks for sailing, kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding.

We love taking you to these special places and sharing stories of history, travel and culture.

Language Tree students on the boat to St Michael's Mount

Language Tree students at Levant Mine and Beam Engine

The Penryn Campus

Since 2024, we have been based on The Penryn Campus.

Built in the grounds of an old convent, there are fruit gardens and beautiful woodland all integrated into a modern university campus used by Falmouth and Exeter universities.

It feels like the perfect home for Language Tree.

We have everything we need in one, welcoming space:

full-board residential accommodation
dining hall and social space
classrooms
sports facilities including a gym

And we are in the perfect spot in Cornwall for visiting so many different places easily.

However, we are nothing without our amazing students who choose to come and visit us each year to share a special experience with us.

Outside the accommodation at the Penryn Campus.

Staff in the Stannary serving food, Penryn Campus.

Students playing volleyball in the evenings.

Are you interested in discovering Cornwall with us?

Click here

Join us for Summer 2026

Every year we create a bespoke programme based on the bookings we receive.

We carefully build our timetables around the students who book with us. We plan our itineraries so everyone gets to do those special Cornish excursions while they are here with us.

There is nothing we like more than integrating some unexpected treats like going to see a sea shanty group in a pub or attend an annual festival in a nearby town. We are always looking for new and exciting things to do with our students each summer – no two weeks are ever exactly the same!

This year our Summer School will run from 28 June – 30 August.

Get in touch to join our: