educom: English Camp Teaching Internships in Austria

As with all my extended pieces of writing, I solemnly kick it off with a Simpsons quote. "I used to be with it, but then they changed what *it* was. Now what I'm with isn't *it*, and what's *it* seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you..." But, until it does I cannot implore you enough to spend the summer of a lifetime at educom English camps. Most of what I want to say about my experience over 3 years there would probably be cut by those intolerable EU censors but in keeping it PG all I'll say is those 3 summers are amongst the most treasured memories I have in life. I cannot put into words the life skills I learned through working with tremendous kids both in and out of the classroom (the definition of 'out' being, rafting, canyoning, mountain karting, high ropes, and my personal favourite, lying in the blistering Austrian sun at an outdoor swimming pool, sipping a beer, hiding from kids while the mountains in the foreground give you a cheeky wink of approval. All of this was great but what really makes the camps what they are, are the people. The children and the adults. It is to be experienced the different nationalities and personalities you meet in these kids and the lads you work with will become friends for life. I had a certain blonde Austrian gent turn up on my Irish doorstep and crash (with his cousin) on my couch for a week and am aiming to return the favour by returning to one of the sites that you will have the pleasure of working in and making him regret ever pursuing such a foolish endeavour. I can't recommend this 'job' (inverted commas intended, for it doesn't feel like this most of the time) enough. Great days, amazing nights and maybe, JUST MAYBE, a cheeky visit to Casino Salzburg; but only if you play your cards right....*gets coat* Go for it guys, I promise you, you will not regret it xx

Working for educom was a great way to get a lot of experience in a fun atmosphere. Austria is the perfect backdrop for many cool outdoor adventures (rafting, hiking, canyoning, etc). You get to have campfires, do scavenger hunts, egg drops, and play multiple rounds of Candy Man (gotta apply to figure out what that is). It's like being a kid again.

Overall a laid back way to get teaching experience and meet some awesome people. It can be pretty tiring, but the constant laughing with coworkers definitely makes it worthwhile. Take advantage of the opportunity to travel to a beautiful place and have new experiences! And embrace the sauna for its cleansing purposes.

An all round excellent experience, which allows you to develop and gain a variety of skills! I first went to the summer camps when I was 19 and have been going every year since.
The location was stunning and a true Austrian experience with a great international team! Some interesting campers.... but that's part of the fun!
Go and enjoy :)!

My time as an educom camp counsellor was terrific. Having never taught before, any nerves I may have had were instantly quashed by the support I received from team leaders and other counsellors at the camp. The structure allows you to bring together ideas provided by educom, ideas provided by other counsellors, and your own ideas and techniques to plan classes and adapt them to the kids you have in your class. The days are long but always very fun and afternoons off allow you to explore your beautiful surroundings. The highlight for me was the people I worked with; a brilliant bunch of people who absolutely made my six weeks at camp.

This was quite an experience and I had a great time. As an English camp counselor I got my first experience teaching ESL to small groups of kids. We had a lot of freedom as far as how to conduct the lessons but the main idea was that they should be fun and project based - not like school . In addition you are scheduled to help with other various activities throughout the day like sports or evening activities. The number of hours your actually scheduled isn't that much, but since there are constantly loads of kids around you end up getting involved even when you're not scheduled which is fun but can get exhasuting. The camp leaders I worked with were all great and really laid back, and for the counsellors there was often a bit of after bed-time fun. The two locations I worked at were also stunning.