That Time I Became a Language Camp Director

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A teacher, a personal care worker, a tutor, an arts and crafts facilitator, a camp counsellor, a writer — these are just some the job titles I have had in the past few years since finishing university. And now I can add a language camp director to that list.



When I completed my Bachelor of Arts in 2012 and my Graduate Diploma of Teaching in 2013, I was so sure that all I wanted to do was work in a primary school and have my own classroom. So much changed when I realised alternative ways of teaching appealed to me a lot more- whether it was through tutoring students with learning difficulties or working in the special needs sector though my personal care role. Added to this was when I found out there were ways to teach abroad via language camps. This appealed strongly to me, not only for alternative teaching methods but also my budding wanderlust post study-life.



I first started working for American Village in France in April 2014. Being a language camp counsellor entailed so much more than just teaching English to French school groups: playing games; singing songs; having a camp fire each Monday night; dressing up in crazy costumes to make the kids laugh; eating meals together; dancing at Boom every Thursday night…this was camp life. And I loved it. The ten weeks that I worked here in 2014 had a significant impact on my life. I returned to work again in the European Spring of 2015. And now, in Spring 2016, I am a site director for American Village.



This leadership role comes with many new challenges, exciting moments, and stressful endeavours. I never thought I would end up in a leadership position like this and I continue to surprise myself each day with what I’m learning throughout this.



I have been a director for just over a month now and I thought it was about time I took a moment to reflect on the crazy blur that the last four weeks of my life has been.



Transitioning from a camp counsellor to a director has been really interesting. In my mind at times, I am still just a counsellor. Then I remember that I’m actually in charge and people are relying on my to help them do their job. It continues to surprise me when I do have to draw the line between having fun as a counsellor and taking responsibility as a director, how well my team responds to what I have to say and how much respect they show me. It is a real credit to the people I have been lucky to work with and have on my team. It’s hard some times taking that step back from being a counsellor when activities are happening in the afternoon with kids and I am stuck in my office doing paperwork. I’m so used to being outside with the kids and running things on the ground, rather than seeing it from above.



Speaking French on a daily basis has been a bit of a shock to my brain. As a camp counsellor, the main role is to teach the French kids English. This is done by immersion practices so counsellors aren’t allowed to speak French. Although I could understand what the kids were saying when I was a counsellor, I never spoke French to them. Now, as a director, I talk every day to the kitchen staff, the cleaning staff, the school group teachers, and the kids in French. Each week, I also give a forty-ish minute speech in French. This takes me back to when I was studying French in high school and had to do a fifteen minute oral speech as part of the exam. Except this time, the speech is much longer and it’s in front of 50 or so French kids and teachers. Talk about terrifying! My French still isn’t perfectly fluent and my Australian accent is still very audible when I speak French — but all of this is certainly improving it!



Balancing work relationships while forming friendships is always one of the most real challenges of working in this job. I’ve noticed this even when I was a counsellor. At a camp job, you don’t just work with people — you live with them and you are around them all day, every day. You see them at their best and you see them at their worst. Through American Village, I’ve made some incredibly close friendships with some of my favourite people in the world. We connect on a totally different level. As a director, learning to balance friendships as they form and laughing at the awesome inside jokes that develop while ensuring people remain professional and responsible while we have the kids onsite can sometimes be challenging. It’s all manageable with a tiny bit of fun policing when necessary!



Taking into account everyone’s individual needs/personalities/interests keeps life interesting as a director. Camp jobs tend to attract a very eclectic group of personalities. The nature of the job is that these personalities need to get along and work well together, in this high energy and fast paced work, while living together in close quarters. Naturally, not every personality is going to click and get along wonderfully. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and having their own working style. You just have to do it in a respectful way when you work and live together. There have been very few moments that directing has felt like managing a landmine on tenterhooks, but moments like this certainly do crop when people get exhausted and drained of energy.



Managing a team means being aware of everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and ensuring everyone is able to play to these in a fair way. The other side of managing the team is also being empathetic and allowing people a space to share their grievances and complaints. Fortunately, as I have been a counsellor before, I understand many of these issues that new counsellors face, for example: the food at a camp isn’t always up to scratch, communal living can get rough, a messy office space is a real bitch, French culture is bizarre when it’s your first time experiencing it, and future travel plans post-camp are ever present on your mind. I always make an effort to KEEP IT REAL and keep it empathetic with my team.



Managing relationships with the school group teachers is a whole other set of personalities to deal with. Each school group comes to our camp for five days. With the school group are teachers who accompany them. Some teachers are super involved in the program and make a real effort to come along to activities, other teachers are here for vacation. Some teachers are really particular about how things run and have specific expectations, other teachers really couldn’t care less. You never know what you’re going to get week to week, but it’s my job to handle whatever one comes our way…in French or English — again, I never really know which one I’ll be expected to speak with the teachers until they arrive!



Managing relations with the site staff is another important element. At the site, there are chefs who prepare the meals for all the kids and all the counsellors and all the teachers. They have an endlessly tiring job. There is also a cleaner who sweeps and mops the floors after 50 or more little French feet go stampeding through the halls. I’m very lucky in how I’ve developed a positive relationship with my kitchen staff and my cleaners. They are wonderful and supportive to me and I make sure myself and the team treat them with the respect they deserve for all the hard work they do. They are also very patient with my French when my vocabulary is lacking or I struggle to understand their southern French accent twang (which is ENTIRELY different to the Parisian or Lyonnaise accent).



Being mindful of my own health and wellbeing is often the last thing I’m aware of and this is not a good thing. To lead a team effectively, I have to be mentally and physically able. This means I tend to go to bed first while the other counsellors stay up late chatting. As I’ve been a counsellor before, this is hard for me to tear myself away from the banter and I get bouts of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) but I have to remind myself it’s for the greater good. Eating healthy is a challenge when I’m not in control of my diet, as the site staff prepare it, and also because France struggles to understand vegetarianism. A vegetarian can except all the eggs in the world and fish to supplement their diet here. I actually don’t like eating fish and haven’t for the whole 10 years I’ve been vegetarian, but I am forcing myself to eat some here just so that my body can retain some sort of protein. Fortunately, there is a town a short walk away so that I can buy fresh vegetables when I need to. As I progress in this role, the workload is becoming easier to manage so that I have been finding time to go for a run on a regular basis and finding time to take a ten or fifteen minute mental break so that I don’t drive myself insane.



The mental stresses are of course something to be aware and keeping on top of my mental health is extremely important. As someone who has suffered from depression and anxiety in the past, being aware of my mental state of being is something I have to keep close tabs on. Although depression is barely an issue for me anymore, I still have moments of intense anxiety and critical self-doubt. This is something I have to handle in a professional way in this role. I have lived with my mind long enough to know what I need to do to keep myself organised and avoid stressful situations that can trigger anxiety attacks. I’m finding that as I develop my own rhythm and routine to get through the paperwork, I am keeping the anxiety at bay and getting into a solid professional swing of things. This is all really helping me to manage my anxiety and I am sure the strategies I create for myself now will benefit me throughout the rest of my working life. For this, I am eternally grateful I’ve had the chance to take on this role.



All the while, focusing on having FUN WITH KIDS because that is actually what I love doing most of all. I don’t think I’ll ever love any type of work as much I love working with kids. It’s pretty much all I know at this point and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Each session, I make an effort to get to know the kids and help them practice their English as much as I can. I bond with the kids differently now that I’m allowed to speak French with them. I tend to have a secret favourite child each session, but this child is always well aware that I adore them for whatever reason. The kids are what make this job amazing and it is why I’ve kept coming back year after year. I love working with kids and I love seeing the way camp brings them out of their comfort zone and allows them to experience learning in a new and unique way. Camp is an amazing chance for children to develop their interests, passions, and find out skills and strengths they didn’t have before. Camp boosts confidence and helps the way that kids process their emotions.



Those are the reasons I love camp — it is about learning but it also about fun. At the end of each session, there is guaranteed to be at least one child who tells me that they loved this program and they will never forget us. We have a genuine impact on these kids lives and the way they think about their English language education after their leave us. These are things that make being a director entirely worthwhile - especially because I am in the same position as the kids….I am learning, while having fun.





Anyone who knows me knows that I think of life as a endless adventure. As for this whole directing experience, I’m labelling this one a Professional Advenchaaaa and I fully intend to walk away from it with no regrets and plenty of lessons learnt.

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Photos

2014
An absolute Dream Team.

2014
When work colleagues become unforgettable friends.

2014
On the left is the director who inspired me to continue with this work.

2014
Making a fire baby!

2014
Working hard, or hardly working?

2015
Returning to work for another season with my best travel friend.

2015
Working as a bear, because AmVil.

2015
Twinning.

2015
Birthday party for all us May-babies.

2016
Director Milo, ready to start the Spring season.

2016
My first ever staff team, who I will always love and never forget.

2016
Week four, still loving my team no matter how much it changes and thanking them for their awesomeness each day.