A taste of Summer School - one teacher's experience.

After a busy year, it can be tough to transport oneself into another unknown 'tefl world' for the summer. To give you a taste of what it could be like, we spoke to one teacher who had worked on a summer school contract in Cambridge for two years running.

This is what she had to say:

"My timetable comprised 4 morning classes of English (50 mins. each) and 2 afternoon classes of activities (50 mins. each), so in total I had 28 sessions of 50 mins. per week = approximately 23.5 hours. In addition there was one social evening per week, e.g. video night, and weekend excursions were optional and paid.  Activities included art, drama, computers, English and song, city projects, sports and excursions, e.g. roller skating (high danger level - no danger money). No additional qualifications were required for these and, in theory, we could choose which to teach.

The student population of approximately 500 was made up of 30 juniors aged between 11 and 14 years and the rest were between 15 and 25. There were stacks of quiet Taiwanese proudly sporting shirts and ties and in contrast to an almost equal number of very vocal, outgoing Brasilians. The remainder were a complete mix from around the world. The fact that students are at least half expecting a holiday meant that they responded much better to authentic materials, pronunciation and vocabulary activities and communication games rather than any grammar, as they get grammar all year round.

I really had a brilliant time - all the staff were great, young and travelly and full of ideas and enthusiasm. The Director of Studies and the admin. Staff were great too and they used to feed us Cola and cakes when we were flagging. The best thing was that all the students seemed to have a really excellent time and the atmosphere was great - there were loads of social things for the teachers, loads of resources, loads of support and loads of good times.

The only negative was perhaps unstable hours but this was far outweighed by the positives.  My advice to anyone thinking about summer school teaching this year would be: choose a good school and don't let them pay you a pittance. Make sure that all the students are happy with what's going on outside as well as inside the classroom. Generally - go for it - you meet stacks of people, students and teachers and have a great time!"