Two Summers in the Italian Sun

You want me to share just one story? I honestly think it's impossible to only share one story about Acle because I have so many positive things to share.

In general I'd have to say that my experiences with Acle have been some of the most important that I have ever had in my life. My first time teaching with Acle I was only 19 years old, had never been to Europe, never been away from home for longer than 2 weeks, and I travelled alone. Needless to say the whole plane ride there I was thinking "IS this real?"..."IS this all a scam?".."THIS seems way too good to be true". In all honesty though as soon as I landed and met the Acle staff at the train station in San Remo, my fears and apprehensions were taken away pretty quickly.

First of all, Acle is super organized. From their staff in the main office, to the staff at the orientation week, to the camp directors/ host families. Everything is organized for you. You don't need to be thinking of how you'll get somewhere or where/when you'll have your next meal. All of that is taken care of and that takes a lot of the stress off of you. The only thing you'll need to focus on is being the best that you can be for your students.

Speaking of the students. I would have to say that my first experience with Acle in 2010 was the main reason I decided to focus on teaching as my career path here in Canada. It was the most real and raw teaching experience I had had to date. I had my own students, I had my own learning space, and I had to plan my own lessons. I also had to assess my students progress at the end of our time together. All of this combined had me realize that THIS, THIS was for me. Every challenge, every moment of uncertainty made me realize that it was the first of many rewarding teaching experiences.

If I was to focus on on camp/location to highlight it would be the City Camp I was a tutor at in Bari-the heel of the boot-in southern Italy during the summer of 2014. I mean, I could talk all day about the beaches and sun in this region, but this camp tops my list of ultimate teaching experiences. This City Camp was different from most of Acle's traditional camps. At this camp the students spend half the day with the English tutors enjoying the regular Acle program (songs, games, arts/ crafts and activities in the Acle work books) and the other half of the day is spent playing sports taught in English by Olympic calibre athlete coaches. Oh and did I mention that the camp location was at an Olympic stadium? Well...it was!