Camp Europe - English Language Coach

If you are looking to meet incredible people, travel abroad in Europe, and impact other peoples' lives, I highly recommend working with Camp Europe. I worked with Camp Europe this past summer for about six weeks as an English teacher in Bath, UK, and Walsrode, Germany. The training week in Walsrode was one of the best weeks of my life. I am incredibly thankful to have made such good friend and to have been apart of such a great team. It's extremely fulfilling to work with kids and teens and to do so in such a great community. As for the camp itself, it is a very unique experience. You live in tents, eat camp food in a large dining hall, and enjoy the great outdoors. It makes for a great working environment and encourage teamwork with your peers.

Teaching English at Camp Europe was an extremely rewarding experience. This role is quite diverse and no day will be quite the same as the next. From navigating campers through classroom based lessons with an emphasis on fun and creative projects, to assuming the role of an outdoor adventure instructor and guiding groups through exciting activities, the role is sure to provide many memorable and novel teaching experiences. There is an opportunity to teach at a variety of camp locations throughout Germany and England. Although I was quite apprehensive of leaving the main camp at Walsrode at first, I very quickly began to love journeying to the language camps around Germany. There was certainly something special about preparing a lesson on a terrace overlooking the beaches of the North Sea, or teaching campers nature vocabulary while hiking through the forests of Bavaria. The days could be quite long, but getting to unwind and relax at the camp fires each night with the rest of the camp instructors was often the highlight of the day. I always looked forward to catching up with everyone and meeting new people from all parts of the world, with conversation and laughter often lasting long into the night. While this role could sometimes be challenging and tiring, it was a wonderful experience alongside many new friends that I will remember fondly.

I had gained my TEFL certification a year before doing this, but this was my first chance at teaching English as a second language and I am glad it was. The experience was very enjoyable and the kids that came to the English summer camp were eager to learn and develop their skills, they wanted a learning environment more fun and engaging than the regular classroom which we were able to provide and seeing how much they enjoyed the activities and lessons I provided made the experience so much better and built my confidence as a teacher.

Teaching English at Walsrode was not the easiest task. It is very hard to motivate the kids to do english when all of their friends are doing fun activities! It was the luck of the draw, sometimes (not often) we got a bunch of kids who wanted to learn and be there but most of the time they were so negative about the classes and to try and change their mindsets was challenging and discouraging. The lessons at Walsrode need to be disguised as lessons so that the kids can feel like they are at camp and not in the classroom. I think the training week could focus more on how to create that space. It is also too long, I would suggest to have it as only an XXL at Walsrode.