Travel Italy and Become TEFL-TP Certified with A.C.L.E.

If you are looking for a fun, challenging, exciting, and flexible work opportunity abroad, ACLE is a great option. Your summer starts with a week long orientation, which costs ~200 euro, but covers the training, lovely hotel accommodations, and food. Delicious Italian food. ACLE does a great job preparing you for camp, with a lot of practical exercises and hands on training from former tutors. After orientation you are sent to camps all over Italy, where you will work for 1 to 2 weeks at a time while you live with incredibly kind and welcoming Italian families, who make you delicious Italian food every night. The work is intense but fun, especially if you enjoy working with kids, working outdoors, and being active. The curriculum is very organized, and doesn't require a ton of lesson prep or previous education experience. Just a positive attitude and lots of positive energy.

I had the best experience of my life last summer with ACLE! As a preservice teacher here in Canada, I jumped at the opportunity to teach English to Italian children through play and theatre. I absolutely loved the teaching experience but the cultural experience I received throughout my time with ACLE was undeniably unforgettable. I stayed with two amazing Italian families who were very eager to host me as a tutor. I have since developed a very close relationship with one of those families in particular and look forward to seeing them again upon my next trip to Italy. Moreover, my experience at orientation was definitely one of the highlights of my trip. I met many people from different parts of the world who have impacted my life in indescribable ways. It goes without saying at this point, but I would definitely recommend applying for ACLE! It exceeded all of my expectations and as soon as I met the orientation training staff, all of my fears melted away.

First of all ACLE is the first company I’ve come across that provides face-to-face intensive training with experienced tutors, providing all that and orientation accommodation + board at a bargain €200. I paid twice as much as that for an online course that wasn’t half as informative or helpful in my TEFL teaching experience. During orientation you are provided with a huge manual full of resources and detailed lessons plans, you are trained how to use this book to the fullest and participate in example lessons and activities. This really helps your understanding of how the drama and play method works as well as how to deliver the lessons. The training is intensive; which is why it’s so great that they assign you a mentor, who is an experienced TEFL-TP practitioner and will identify and address any concerns you might have about your performance at camp in the following weeks. The course is challenging in that it can be a very new concept to people, that really pushes them out of their usual comfort zones, and you will need to keep learning and adapting whilst at camp. However, the staff really support you every step of the way and so will your new ACLE family!

I’m still using songs, games and activities I learnt from ACLE in my teaching job this year. In fact, it really gave me the confidence to take on the challenge of changing schools and going from only teaching pre-kindergarten last year, to teaching all grades in primary school this year.

One consideration is being able to live with host families and travel being limited to your camp destinations until you finish or you are on hold. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend this programme for people who are just interested in travelling and think they can slack off at camp. I would however, recommend this programme to anyone who wants a real boost to an existing teaching career or wants to kickstart one in an exciting way (with some of the most delicious food in the world).

Also the mosquitos can be INSANE for anyone prone to getting bitten. I would have preferred natural repellents and tried many but honestly just get the DEET stuff and apply regularly. It was the only thing that worked for me.

I was with A.C.L.E for 4 weeks this past summer and I was impressed with how professional, receptive, and organized the company is! The training is comprehensive and adequately prepares you but also encourages to leave your comfort zone. In fact, many (if not all) of the participants learned a lot about themselves and left the orientation with a sense of pride, accomplishment, and friends.

For anyone interested in Italian culture, it is honestly the best program to experience it. Because tutors are hosted by Italian families, they get insight into the culture that would not be acquired by simply travelling. Also, the camps are all over Italy so the regional differences are also explored. Not to mention that it leaves you with friends to visit when you return to Italy!

Truly an incredible experience and if I could change anything from my experience, it would be to have stayed longer!

I have had two great summers with ACLE and home to be back for a third this year! Acle work in a fantastic, fun and creative way to teach English. It’s a hugely rewarding job that doesn’t even really feel like work. The look on the kids faces at the end of camp when they receive their certificates and workbooks is so worth it. The moment they realise what they have achieved throughout the week or fortnight is a moment to treasure.
I will never forget the friends I made either, with tutors from all over the world, each with a different background but all with a love to teach English in a creative way. I can’t wait to get back to Italy for another summer and more ACLE fun. Join ACLE if you love meeting new people, love working with children and love to travel, but most of all have a fantastic and rewarding experience.
You won’t regret it!

I loved my time with ACLE so much I went back every summer, for three years.
You meet so many amazing people from around the world, stay with incredible host families, teach some adorable (and some patience-testing) kids, and you get to travel one of the most stunning countries on earth... while earning money!

My summers with ACLE were honestly the most incredible times of my life! I made friends for life, and have learned so many valuable skills, which I hope will help me in my future career as an educator.

I spent my first summer with the ACLE program teaching English in Italy in 2016. I stayed from early June until the end of the season in mid-September. I had a phenomenal experience, and taught at six different camps starting in Rome, travelling to various small towns all over the country. The connections with host families are part of what makes the experience so special and personal. The families go out of their way to make you feel comfortable, and this helps significantly. I had no experience of teaching but the training made me feel very prepared for the classroom. The friendly colleagues I worked with supported me through each camp, and even though I worked with different people at each camp, team spirit was very evident. The children were well behaved all across Italy and it was an honour to interact with such happy, excitable children. Travel, accommodation and food was all covered which put my worries about finances at ease. I enjoyed travelling between camps on Saturdays, and I never travelled alone other than the week I came back from my holidays.

2016 was my second summer teaching with ACLE, because one was just not enough.
My ACLE journey started with a random email from someone at my university targeted at anyone studying Italian, English or teaching. I am actually a physics student but took an Italian course in my spare time and because of my love of Italy and lack of summer plans I went along to the meeting that this guy had organised to see whether the opportunity that he'd talked about could be interesting to me. I came out of the meeting totally inspired by how much fun it looked, and how worthwhile a cause it seemed.
I decided to apply, but having no formal teaching experience at all and very little experience working with children I didn't hold out much hope of getting the position, so when I did I was both very excited and very nervous that I wouldn't be any good at the job.
When I got to orientation, all of the teaching materials we needed for the summer were provided, and we were given a crash course in "the ACLE way". By the end of my first week teaching I felt I'd learned so much, I'd realised that I could do more than I ever thought and I had grown so much more confident.
The most important qualities for an ACLE tutor are enthusiasm and flexibility, everything else ACLE will either give/teach you at orientation or you will learn on the job.
I would recommend ACLE to anyone who wanted to meet people, work with kids, travel or just gain very valuable life experience!