Orientation & Availability

Availability

Applicants’ availability must cover two things:

  1. Attendance of one of our orientations (dates below).
  2. A minimum of three weeks at camp.

*Please note, unfortunately it is not possible for applicants who are unable to attend an orientation to join the programme, irrespective of previous experience.

Orientation

Orientations are held at a golf resort near San Remo, Italy, where ACLE’s head office is based. During orientation, you will meet other tutors from around the world and prepare for the summer. Directly after orientation, successful trainee tutors are sent to their first camp, either on Friday night or Saturday morning, depending on the distance you will have to travel.

Once accepted, it is mandatory that you attend one of the orientations. Please refer to the dates below and ensure that you are able to attend one of the courses.

*The Orientation Dates for summer 2017 are as follows:

  • June 5th – 10th
  • June 12th – 17th
  • June 19th – 24th
  • August 14th – 19th

New trainee tutors who successfully complete the Introduction to TEFL-TP Course (including the minimum of three weeks of practical tutoring experience at camp) will have available to download from their profile a certificate and reference (providing you performed to standard) by the end of October.

All applicants must arrive before 6pm the day before the start of their orientation.

ACLE’s Teaching English as a Foreign Language through Theatre and Play Course (TEFL-TP) gives trainee tutors an introduction to a wide range of TEFL-TP practices. Trainee tutors who complete the course will receive a certificate that recognises completion of the three components of a tutor’s field experience with ACLE: the Distance Learning Course, the orientation, and at least three weeks of tutoring at ACLE summer camps.

The orientation course consists of the following content areas:

  • An introduction to the ACLE philosophy and methodology
  • How to create fun, dynamic lessons for Italian children at different levels
  • Observed tutoring practice with feedback from teacher-trainers
  • Didactic materials, including a manual with lesson plans that correspond to ACLE’s graded activity sheets and a wealth of games and songs.
  • Effective communication skills, with emphasis on intonation, speaking speed, body language, and techniques to grade your speech according to the syllabus and the comprehension levels of the students
  • Grammar presentations
  • Effective drilling techniques
  • Error correction techniques
  • How to assess students’ oral language skills
  • Drama activities and how to put together a final camp show
  • Classroom management techniques
  • Reflections on what it feels like being a language learner and a language teacher
  • Tips for living in and adapting to an Italian environment

In the unlikely event that after orientation we consider you to be unsuitable to tutor at ACLE camps, you will not be liable to pay the course fee, and no further commitment will exist on either your or ACLE’s part. We take no responsibility for any costs incurred as a result of travelling to the orientation.