Teaching English in the UK
Many people travel to the UK to improve their English language skills. They do this for a variety of reasons. Some are tourists, looking for an alternative type of holiday. Some need to improve their English quickly for career or employment reasons. Some are preparing for exams. All over the UK, there are private language schools where students, most of whom are adults and older teenagers come to study English all year round. You'll find language schools in every city of size in the UK. The sector is particularly big in London and in cities with a tradition of education, like Oxford and Cambridge, as well as cities that typically attract a lot of tourists like York, Edinburgh and Brighton. These schools often have quite a seasonal business, with quieter periods in late spring and early winter and very busy periods in summer and at other times of year. Summer really is the busiest period, so that's what we'll discuss here.
Summer schools in the UK
There are two main types of summer schools in the UK - ones that are simply expansions of language schools' year round operation and custom residential schools. Looking at English language schools, many will treble or even quadruple in size every summer. Students from all over the world, but especially from Europe and Asia will arrive in large numbers for short summer courses. These students are made up of adults, children and teenagers. There are additional summer contracts available in pretty much every UK year-round English language school. If you get summer work at one of these schools, you will find that you will be supported by established teams of teachers and managers and you'll be joining an already existing school culture. These kind of schoools also have the advantage that they are open year-round, so if you do well during your summer contract, you stand a good chance of being offered more long-term work.
Summer camps, or residential summer schools are a little different. Often they will pop up in boarding schools and university halls of residence, all of which will be empty in summer time. These are almost exclusively groups of children and teenagers, many of whom come together in large groups from the same school or city abroad. These summer schools will stay open from 2 to 8 weeks and will probably have a very clear, easy-to-follow syllabus because all the teachers will be short-term employees. Jobs are sometimes residential and you can find yourself getting paid for teaching with free accommodation and meals included too.
How to find summer jobs teaching English in the UK
Reputable UK English language schools and summer camps will all be accredited and you'll be able to find them listed here. One of the conditions of accreditation is that all teachers have a qualification like CELTA. You could also approach language schools directly. We're happy to recommend our partner schools in the UK, English Path, ELC and Bayswater, all of whom recruit additional summer staff. Jobs websites online for English language teachers, like www.tefl.com and www.eslcafe.com will also advertise summer jobs in language schools.
DC Teacher Training has been contacted by schools across the UK, from Somerset to Cardiff to Manchester to Glasgow with requests for CELTA graudates for summer roles. There are no guarantees in the jobs market, but if you're a qualified English teacher in need of work in the UK in summertime, you're almost certain that there will be work for you!
Dr Connor O'Donoghue hails from Ireland and he started teaching English as a foreign language in Poland in 2003 and he became a CELTA trainer in 2008. He has taught and trained in Ireland, the UK, France, Italy, Slovenia, Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan and Vietnam. Connor also holds a Masters and a PhD in Education from Trinity College in Dublin. He has previously managed large teacher training centres in Vietnam and in London before founding DC Teacher Training.
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