So a summer job of mine this year has been working with EF Education First – teaching English as a foreign language and leading activities with groups of students ranging from 8 to 17 years old. Despite the hours being ridiculously long, it’s honestly the most fun and rewarding job i’ve ever had! (Added perks of travelling around the UK as well).
The job for me started in Winchester as an activity leader. 3 days after the initial ‘Local Leader’ training I packed up my car and began the journey – only getting lost twice (if you’ve read my earlier posts you’ll know that map reading is definitely not my forte). I was assigned to welcome a group of Italian students as my managers assumed that because i was going to Milan for my year abroad, i’d have mastered the basics and could communicate reasonably. This was very much not the case.
By far my favourite activity during my time in Winchester was an evening games night, which escalated pretty quickly into a full-on chocolate fight after my activities manager and I covered the face of one of our students with the contents of one of the chocolate fountains. This did however turn on us pretty quickly…
After two weeks in Winchester my contract had finished and Canterbury was next on the list – queue the 4 hour drive! My job in Canterbury included teaching as well as activity leading, so the staff were working from 8am til 10/11pm every day… which definitely did wear you down, but getting involved with the activities and making class fun meant that it didn’t seem like work in the slightest. I found the teaching to be extremely rewarding – so much so that after i graduate i’m considering a PGCE and a career in the classroom!
Canterbury itself is such a beautiful city, and a lot of time was spent in the town centre while the students ‘explored all the cultural areas, museums and ruins’ (went shopping). We managed to find a little independent coffee shop called ‘Brunch’ and essentially took over the top floor for the month that we worked there. Definitely contributed a LOT towards their profits. Basically an off-site staff room with a guitar supplied to calm us all after stressful days…
As well as the standard day in the classroom, we also got to go on some pretty decent trips. These included London, Brighton, South Sea, Dover and Oxford which gave the students a chance to explore the South West a little more (and do some more shopping).
You’re probably wondering – if you’re thinking of applying to work for EF – whether we managed to squeeze in a social life after spending around 15 hours a day on shift… the answer would be yes. Yes we did. The nights out with the staff have got to be the most entertaining events I’ve witnessed in a long time. Mix tiredness, lack of energy, excess caffeine and a need to escape a school environment with a good amount of alcohol and the result is quite spectacular.
The group of people i had the privilege of working with this summer are some of the most hilarious and laid-back people I’ve ever met – which definitely made the experience as fun as it was, and i could not have asked for a better group! So at the end of a long summer, with long hours, occasionally stroppy students, the stress of showing a group of 25 around London and 6 day weeks, we treated ourselves to a little group holiday in Amsterdam!
Study Abroad - Milano! 