Teaching

Teachers are responsible for the planning and teaching of effective EFL classes, and for related administrative tasks. Some teachers are also required to take an active part in the activities and excursions programme.
The Director of Studies is responsible for the management of the academic programme, assisted by the Assistant Director of Studies (where applicable) and the Senior Teacher.

Classes
Classes may be multi- or monolingual and we usually have a maximum class size of 16 students.Students are tested on arrival and placed into one of five levels. Classrooms are generally well equipped, with flexible seating arrangements, whiteboards, and OHPs and video equipment are available on arrangement with the DOS.

Teaching Positions
There are two different types of teaching position, although the position offered depends on the centre. Below you can find sample weekly timetables for the different positions, and mock diaries to give you an idea what it is actually like to do one of these jobs at a a summer school. However, these are only intended to be guides, and you must read the appropriate job description carefully.

Senior Positions

If you have several years of teaching experience you might like to consider a senior position:

Director of Studies

Manages the academic programme, and line manager for teaching staff on academic issues. Click here to see an example diary.

Assistant Director of Studies

The ADOS is responsible for supporting the DOS in all aspects of the academic programme, including the management of the teaching team and their performance. The ADOS also has specific responsibility for the organisation of the Trinity exams (where offered). Click here to see the ADOS weekly timetable (available in larger centres only).

Senior Teacher
The Senior Teacher's role is to provide support to the DOS and the teaching department as well as teaching between 15 and
30 hours per week. For example, helping less experienced teachers with planning, assisting the DOS in testing and timetabling.

The Activity Programme

Some teachers work 15 hours as teachers, and the rest of their week they work as ALs, and  are expected to take an active role in organising and supervising activity sessions. For example, this could mean organising a quiz, leading an excursion, taking students swimming, or running an arts & crafts session.

You are expected to show the same energy, enthusiasm and commitment to the activity programme as you do in the academic programme. Remember that the activity programme has a direct effect on the students' enjoyment of their holiday, so the more that you put into the programme, the more they get out of it.

Programme Types
The type of study programmes offered at the centre affects the types of work offered. We offer several types of programmes

Classic Programme
This is the traditional summer school programme, where students have classes in the morning and activities in the afternoon. They also have one or two half-day excursions and one full day excursion per week. This programme represents the majority of courses sold.

Zig Zag Programme
It is sometimes necessary to run classes in the morning and the afternoon. In zig zagging, if a group has classes in the morning one week, the next they will have them in the afternoon. This means that the same activities will run both morning and afternoon.

London Explorer Programme
Classes and one full-day excursion per week, with the classes in either the morning or afternoon. There are 2 evening activities per week and daytime sightseeing tours. These courses are usually restricted only actively sold in Central London.

Intensive Programme (offered at Cambridge)

22.5 hours of lessons per week plus evening activities and a full day excursion each week.

Closed Groups
Sometimes the programme is designed specially for the group. Some government contract groups operate as a closed group e.g. INPDAP courses at selected centres.

Homestay Programmes
Homestay students generally follow the Classic programme, except that they live with selected host families off-site. Homestay students only come in for evening activities twice per week (usually for discos)