Teaching
English in a Summer Camp is one of the most fulfilling ways I have
spent a summer. If you are a native English speaker or an
independent/proficient speaker, with some experience either in
childcare- be that from babysitting, volunteer work with kids, scout
leader, etc- or in teaching, you have all the tools necessary for a
summer abroad at camp. All what's next to do is decide where in the
world you want to go!
If
you are looking at saving money and live in Europe, stick with
European camps. You won't have to pay excessively for flights and
won't need to spend a penny on a visa. A friend of mine spent a
summer at Camp America but just about broke even afterwards. Same
goes if you are non-European- unless you are like my Canadian
girlfriend, who fund-raised for her flights, then worked at a camp
with me in Italy to use the money to travel around England. Things
brings us nicely to the first reason for being an English Tutor this
summer:
8.
It Pays for Travel Later
It
seems that in general, a 2-week camp will earn you anywhere between
£200-£400, with food and board included. Get a couple camps racked
up and you'll soon have enough to travel blissfully around the
country. In Italy I worked 3 camps one after the other, making 6
weeks total, and earned about £1000 (I would have had more but I was
buying too many espressos and nutella gelato). With this I had some
amazing experiences across Italy, from Naples to Sicily, Rome,Florence and Venice. (I'm currently
writing up my memories travelling solo around Italy, please keep
posted!)
7.
Accommodation Provided by a Host Family
Living
with a host family is an unmissable experience. It gives you the
opportunity to live like a local and really embrace the language and
culture from a generous family who have opted to have you stay. While
working in Italy I stayed with 5 different host families. It is
amazing how bonds are made in just 2 weeks. Each time I said goodbye
to my host family there were tears and promises to see each other
again soon. It's only on the train to the next camp you can take a
breath and finally enjoy the peace and quiet away from the screaming
children, drama and chaos (although this depends on how many children
are in your host family... and how many you're used to living with at
home. I'm one of six so my threshold was pretty high).
6.
Live and Work in Quaint and Lesser-Known Towns You May Never Have
Otherwise Seen
While
teaching in Italy I was blessed to have lived with families from the
following towns: Teramo, Massa Di Carrara, Baricella and Tirano, and
a family in the city of Bologna. After training finished and everyone
started getting put here and there, at first there was big envy of
the staff chosen to work the camps in Florence and Rome and other big
cities. As it turned out, those camps were some of the worst. The
children were your typical 'city kid' and particularly rude and
spoilt. In addition, the camps were extraordinarily huge with around
10 tutors to 170 children.... I don't even want to imagine how Circle
Time Songs played out.
However, mine were far more localised
and in my opinion, a more rewarding experience. In Teramo and Massa
di Carrara there were just two of us teaching and around 30 students,
while in Baricella and Tirano there were four of us teaching and
around 45 students. By the end of the 2-week camp I would know the
names of all the campers and their individual personalities. The
smaller camps were far more manageable and we could do whole camp
activities- for example in Tirano we set up a Dodge-ball Tournament
in the gym, while in Baricella we organised the campers into teams
and spent the afternoon doing a “mini Olympics”, with medals
awarded to the winning team at the end- Team England sadly lost but
we did of course champion over Team Ireland!
5.
Weekend Breaks
The
camps I worked ran Monday-Friday around 9am – 4.30pm. You had to
supervise at break and lunch so you weren't really entitled to a
break, unless tutors took turns to cover each other. Therefore the
weekend after the first week of Camp is super important to relax and
see some of the local neighbourhood you're staying in (especially
because after this weekend, in the second week of camp... the kids
are absolutely insane... words just can't describe it.. it's like
they have eaten nothing but pure sugar canes all weekend, oh wait, if
they're Italian- they probably have).
I
was lucky enough to be welcomed on a range of trips with my host
families. I preferred this because I loved my families and wanted to
spend more time together to learn from them. Other staff, especially
those in Rome, chose instead to meet up with each other and go into
the city to explore, which is fair enough. I saved the sights for my
travelling afterwards, so taking these weekend breaks with local
families, for me, was a really special and unique experience.
Couple of trips include a day trip to the Cinque Terre, which
was even more fabulous because the dad was proficient in English and
able to explain all the history and wonderful details about these
beautiful coastal towns. Another trip involved hiking in the
mountains in a place that translates to “Horn of the Stairs”. We
took the two golden retrievers and had a picnic lunch by a
clear-running waterfall. I was also shown around Pisa and then given
a unique experience flying in an aircraft taking in the glorious
Tuscan views. In Tirano I was blessed with a host family who owned a
cabin house with views of the Alps all around. I actually really
adored Tirano and would advice anyone wanting to travel Italy to take
it into account. It's a beautiful green and hilly town with clean air
and a bright red train that comes choo-chooing right through the
little town centre.
4.
Not a 24/7 Deal Like Camp America
You
don't have to make sure the boys and girls aren't sneaking into each
others dorms or getting up to other mischief, or forcing them to wake
up in the morning. As soon as you get home, your air of
responsibility just evaporates right off. Most families let you go to
your room and have some “me” time,but some are overly-clingy and
just want to spend as much time with you as possible. The kids may
come and knock on your door and want to play something you taught
them at camp.... which could get old very quickly. Especially if the
kid is a little demon when it's around it's parents- something I
noticed a lot. They'll have a full blown fit with their parents over
something stupid like not wanting to put their trousers on and you'll
be stood their awkwardly not sure what to do. The good news is you
don't have to do anything, you're not an au-pair!
In Massa my
host family included a 22 year old brother and 24 year old sister.
They made plans for literally every night of the week and introduced
me to all of their friends. My 20th birthday fell on one of the nights and they made me feel so special! I felt like I had known them and their large circle of friends for years. Slightly hungover at camp the next day though...
3.
The FOOD
What
better way to experience a country’s cuisine than to eat delicious
home-made meals from local produce?! All of my host mama's were
fabulous chefs and nothing beat sitting around the table with the fam
and enjoying bite after bite.
I will eat pretty much
anything- in Vietnam I tried dog meat and also bit the live and
beating heart out of a snake. We are talking European camps here so
don't worry too much but try and be open minded! In Teramo my host
family handed me a dish of some snot coloured octopus stew thing but
it was so delicious I asked for seconds!
At camp your family
will either give you a packed lunch or pay for you to eat at the
school. Tirano by far had the best food at lunch, providing a variety
of food to choose from, including the traditional pasta dish
pizzocheri which was absolutely incredible- and to think I may never
have tried it if I didn't get put in this camp! They also hired extra
staff to deal with the kids while us teachers could sit away and
enjoy our food. I miss those lunches so much...
2.
Easy Way to Gain TEFL Experience
English
Language teachers are in need all over the world. The only thing is
you might not be ready to sign a year of your life away to a school
in China or Thailand. Working in a summer camp is a great way to dip
your feet in the water and see how it feels. Not all English camps
require tutors to have a TEFL but I would recommend getting one
because it helped me in producing high quality lessons with lots of
creativity. I took my TEFL with a great company called I:to:I TEFL,
which also has a jobs board with positions worldwide you can browse
and apply for.
The
TEFL experience you'll gain from camp will stay with you forever. We
learnt how to make learning English a fun and exciting environment to
be in, a world away from traditional “sit down be quiet copy the
board/translate the text” methodology. You will teach English
through games and songs, arts and crafts, sports, drama and so much
more. You'll do some activities in the class, some outside in the
field, some just with your class and some as a whole camp, such as
face painting and sports day. You'll learn how to teach a range of
ages (likely around 4-14 years old), strengthen your leadership
skills and ways of managing a class.
You will embrace the
kids creativity, encourage the shy ones to come out of their shell,
gain the students respect and paint, play, hold competitions, talent
shows, and in the camps I worked, help the students in learning lines
and creating costumes for an end-of-camp play which their mums, dads
and local community will be invited to. The little ones performed
Peter Pan, slightly older was Robin Hood, then Alice in Wonderland,
and then for the Seniors there was a Michael Jackson script made from
the song “Smooth Criminal” with crazy dance moves they had to
learn. All the students worked so hard and I will admit, watching
them on the stage brought tears to my eyes. In Bologna, the English
level of the students was above and beyond the scripts pre-made by
the company, so I rang my boss to ask if I could design a script
myself based on a play the students decide on, and she said yes! The
next day I got my class together and discussed what they'd like to
perform, and we decided on Mamma Mia. I found the original script on
google and altered it for the kids, cutting it to about 20 minutes in
length including a couple verses from 4 or 5 original songs. The kids
auditioned for roles they wanted and they worked so hard memorising
their lines and dance moves. My favourite moment was the church scene
where everyone crowded around our 'Donna' singing “Say I do! I do,
I do, I do, I do, I do.......” and both our 'Donna' and 'Sam'
characters blushed incredibly as their mums snapped a hundred
photos.
This is a job far beyond the office walls of your
nine-to-five. Working in a camp I felt wanted and respected as the
local community were so thrilled to have native speakers interacting
with their children- in fact, back in Teramo our camp was put in the
local paper- unfortunately I was taking the photo so wasn't in the
shot!
1.
Creating Lifetime Friendships and Memories
If
living in a new country for a couple of months, earning decent money,
living in local neighbourhoods and eating traditional food, learning
the language and being whisked away – at no expense to yourself- on
weekend and/or day trips, isn't enough to get yourself to apply to
camps this summer, then think about the truly beautiful and genuine
friendships to be made.
The first week prior to camp was a
training week where we learnt a range of games and songs to be used.
60 something camp tutors from all over put up for a week, sharing
dorms together and spending the evenings at the bar or by the
swimming pool. Making friends was easy because everyone was eager to
meet new people. There were no “clicks” or any of that nonsense.
On the last night of training we had a big crazy party and then from
5am the next morning we set off in our separate directions to camps
across the country.
While at camp, your colleagues are the
only thing keeping you sane. There was a time I took a breath outside
my class just to get away from the kids for a minute (they were
driving me crazy) and I look down the corridor and I see my Canadian
lover also stood outside her class. I run up to her and give her a
hug, she says her kids are just so loud this morning. Me too. We
decide we'll take our classes outside and give them some fresh air,
let them wear themselves out playing Olly Olly Octopus while we take
a sit down in the shade. There was also a time when me and the Camp
Leader (someone slightly higher up the ranks who takes pleasure in
bossing you around but whom I mostly ignored) had a bit of a falling
out over something like where we would face paint the kids (things
seem like a big deal when you're in the bubble of camp), and me and
my Irish girl went off at lunch for a coffee so I could smoke a pack
of cigs and blow out all my annoyances and frustrations. Just a
couple months ago she came to visit me in England, and I hope to
visit her in Ireland next year.
In addition to the friends
you'll make at camp, you'll have your new families – most of whom
will love to stay in contact with you after you're gone. Me and my
host mama in Teramo exchange letters, while me and my host dads in
Baricella and Tirano send emails, and me and the brother and sister
from Massa have each other on Facebook. Unfortunately I left my host
family in Bologna in such a rush to catch the train I was running
late for that we forgot to exchange details. Nevertheless, I know we
won't forget each other. I taught the 12 year old daughter in that
family how to dive. She confessed to me her crush and asked for
advice, like a real little sister would do. Over in Tirano the 10
year old daughter was an only child and she absolutely adored having
me around. She tried on some of my clothes and we painted each others
nails. In Teramo I was invited to their nonna's house and literally
met the ENTIRE family- aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, nieces,
cousins once removed, learnt about their family's history, how the
parents met etc, while learning the language and eating a banquet of
delicious foods, course after course after course.
This
summer I've been accepted onto American Village, an English camp that
runs in France, but regretfully I've had to decline as I'm contracted
to teach English in Maldives til December. Probably around
September/October I can start looking for positions that start in the
new year and last around 6 months, so that I can spend next summer
working at a camp again! I really can't wait.
12
useful tips to remember when you're teaching English in camps
abroad:
1.
You do need to sing quite a bit... okay no, A LOT
2.
If you're not careful, the kids will see you more like a friend and
walk all over you. Be firm and manage them properly!
3.
Living in home-stays isn't for everyone.
4.
Flights are rarely reimbursed so try and get it cheap as possible
5.
Go to a country you have a genuine interest in
6. Only opt to
teach English if you really care about teaching English.. some guys
at the camp with me had poor attitudes and just signed up to get away
from the UK for a couple weeks. They were fired after the first week
of the first camp.
7. TALK SLOWLY both in class and around
your host family. Their level of English might be relatively low. Try
and keep your accent to a minimum too to avoid misunderstandings and
try to have conversations that go past the “how are you / I'm fine
thank you” stage.
8. Understand that you're in a new country and
things might not be done the same as what you're used to. For
example, in Italy the kids were babied a lot. If one fell over and
cried but didn't show any marks or anything, we were still to lavish
them in attention and cuddles and make them laugh again.
9.
You'll get sick of saying “mangiare mangiare.. eat one more bite..
please.”
10. Remember, speaking the native language is NOT a
requirement, in fact, in most cases it puts you at a disadvantage.
Camps tend to advertise as 100% English immersion with native
speakers. You need to teach English using only English. If they don't
understand a word or instruction and you know how to say it in their
native language, I would advice you to refrain from doing so. Try
explaining it another way, using pictures or miming, asking lots of
concept questions (e.g “Do you eat it?”, “is it soft?” etc)
and trying to deduct the meaning/answer from the student themselves
(we call this 'eliciting').
11. Don't be afraid of the older
ones. Some of my friends were too nervous especially around the
12-going-on-13 year old boys. Seriously- take away their mobile phone
and get them to take their backwards cap off, and underneath their
“swag” lies a child who will play the games and sing the stupid
songs as long as you make it interesting, interactive, competitive
and rewarding.
12. BOND WITH THE CHILDREN! Have a bit of
banter! Get to know them. Understand them. Some of them might not
like sports. I know some of the boys really hated the art and craft
activities. Tailor the classes around the students. If something
isn't working, be innovative and change your plan. I can't speak for
all countries but I know in Italy it was far less formal than back in
the UK. Not so many rules around teacher-student relationships. I
would play dodge ball and football with the kids at lunch, and really
tackle them or give them a little tickle in order to steal the ball
off them, or I'd sit in the shade and comb a girls hair and put it in
pretty braids. Sometimes, especially the younger ones, just like to
sit on your lap and watch the other kids play. Whatever it is, just
relax. No-one is going to lock you up for forming bonds in order to
teach English effectively. All
this talk of Summer is making me really miss it! If you've worked in
a Summer Camp, I'd love to hear about your experiences!
Love
Sarah @ Any Distance
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain, 1857
Labels: Baricella, Bell, Bolgona, camp counselor, camp tutor, Cinque Terre, home-stay, host family, Italy, make money abroad, Massa di Carrara, Pisa, summer camp, teaching English, TEFL, Teramo, Tirano, travel
