Helen has a background in musical theatre and T.I.E. She started as a tutor in 2010 and has worked full time for ACLE since 2013. She has had the chance to visit all 20 regions in Italy and has worked with students from the age of 2 to 86!
Helen works with both students and teachers during the year, and in the summer leads new trainer orientations and supports tutors during their summer with ACLE.
This is such a hard question. One of my favorite travel memories would have to be road tripping across four states in the USA. We did a lot -- hot air ballooning, staying in a safari tent, cycling along the beach in California. I did it with one of my best friends in the whole entire world who I met while working with ACLE at a camp.
In Italy, I would say my favorite travel memory is being able to go to natural hot springs in Ischia. This tiny volcanic island just off of Napoli, is a mini paradise. You can go to the beach and sit in the thermal waters with the waves coming in and the sun setting. It was truly magical.
ACLE is definitely a learning curve, they nicely push you out of your comfort zone and the support you every step of the way. For me personally, it was growing as a teacher. Teaching with ACLE is just not teaching, it is how to make your classroom as dynamic as the world around us. How can you be more creative then last year, what new skills can you bring in, what can you improve on and honing skills I already had and developing new ones. Every year there are new challenges.
One of the best stories is from someone who was studying to be a teacher at University. She asked the following year if she could do orientation again as she had learned more in one week of orientation then she had in her year at university. That was amazing to hear.
Also, I was once in a pizzeria in Rome in my work t-shirt and this man said, "ACLE! My daughter loves your camps, she has been every summer and is so excited to go back, she counts down the day every year when summer is getting close."
This is a tough one as I have done everything they offer, though I would love to go Finland with our Italian teachers. I would love to experience camp as a camper as I would love doing all the activities.
I would also be interested in doing orientation again as a tutor, we have spent so much time working on the program for orientation and it is such a fun but intense week. I would love to go through it again and make so many more new friends.
ACLE is a family, we stand by our values (Respect, Collaboration, Integrity, Positive and Creative). We are a small company and it is nice to know everyone you work with. What makes ACLE unique is that when you arrive you find people from all walks of life and all different nationalities with the same goals, the same passions, and the same drive to make a difference.
The didactic team makes me proud! These are my tribe, my people. We are all talented individuals but together we are amazing. We truly get what we are doing. We share ideas, we share problems, and we support each other.
ACLE is successful as it believes in what it does and the people who work for them. We support our tutors and we are supported by an amazing team.