Job Discussion Forums

[nyc2323]

I'm a US citizen who just recently completed a CELTA course (and passed, yay!). I have a BA in English and several summers experience as a camp counselor.

I know it's difficult for Americans to find jobs teaching in Europe because of visa issues but I heard that it is possible to get hired for summer camp positions and I am interested in doing this, particularly in spain.

Does anyone know where I can look? Has anyone worked at a camp who can recommend one to me or tell me about their experience? Do you think it's possible to make some connections and find a longer term job after a summer position?

Thanks!

[spiral78]

It's very likely that a summer camp job will lead to a long-term position. The thing is that an employer must be able to successfully argue that the American teacher has quals that cannot be matched by any EU candidate. Unless you have specialist quals, this is highly unlikely to happen, obviously. Remember that there are tonnes of qualified Brits in line for the jobs.

At the newbie level of teaching, it's really very near impossible to get an exception.

[Moore]

Spiral's right to point out the visa issue, but it's not all doom and gloom for our trans-atlantic cousins (or Aussies, or whatever): summer camps are usually out in the boonies and schools can get away with hiring non-EU people.

Most EU working paper-holding people get over to the UK for summer to do camps there (which certainly do require working papers), leaving the field a bit more open over here for eager-beaver types who don't mind the lower wages.

Enthusiasm and willingness to work with kids/distracted adults for fairly low wages in the middle of nowhere are really the key thing for summer camps.
It's a lot of (pretty boozy) fun for singles, I'm told.


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