Spanish Summer Camps
More details on Spain Summer Camps
How many staff and campers are there on the camps at any one time?
- Family Camp (El Puerto de Santa Maria) has 200-220 students, allocated within three age groups: Sophomores (6-10), Juniors (10-13) and Seniors (13-17).
- Sports Camp (Sotogrande) has 50-75 campers in one age group, Seniors (13-16).
- Little Village (Grazalema) has 55 campers aged 13-16 (Anglos)
- Adventure Camp has 90 campers, aged 9-13 (Juniors). There is 180 staff of which around 60 are Camp Monitors and around 50 Camp Teachers.
How long do I need to work for?
There are contracts for 4, 6 and 8 weeks (all have at least five days of training.
In Sport Camp, Little Village and Adventure Camp only 4-week contracts in July are available and in Family Camp 6 (but not many) or 8 week contracts, July to August, and a few 4-week contracts in August only.
Where exactly are the camps located?
Family Camp in El Puerto is located in the outskirts of the town of El Puerto de Santa Maria which has a population of around 90,000 in winter and up to 250,000 in the summer. In El Puerto we use the facilities of our sister company the “English Centre” bilingual school, meaning the camp is excellently equipped in all areas from classes to sports facilities. Sports Camp in Sotogrande is also located on the outskirts of a small town and the camp will be run in a hotel, meaning the facilities are of a high standard, although not a common summer camp location. Both Family and Sports Camps are located close to the beach. Adventure Camp and Little Village are located in Sierras (hill ranges) in the provinces of Malaga and Cadiz respectively and use camp site facilities which have log cabins. They are both located in beautiful locations and both have outdoor classroom.
What is the difference between the programmes offered on each?
Sports and Family Camp run an “Immersion English” programme
Adventure Camp “Natural English” and Little Village “Total English”. Family Camp and Little Village have active multi-activity programmes and Family Camp also offers some extra activities. Sports Camps offers only an exciting extra activity programme true to the camp name and Adventure Camp runs an adventure activity programme mixed in with swimming pool time. Colour War (a big camp wide competition between Blue and White) is run in Family Camp, Little Village and in Sports Camp and a Harry Potter style House Competition between 3 teams is run in Adventure Camp. All camps run exciting action packed evening entertainments which tend to be the highlight of the camp day.
What are the working hours like?
In general camp hours are long and camp life is nothing like 9-5 living. Camp days are structured similarly to American Camps with staff being involved in a wide range of activities throughout the day. Generally all positions have between 3-4 hours off during the day and some nights off each week. All staff have one full day off at the weekend. Little Village camp offers slightly less intensive working hours for teachers (not for monitors) than the other camps as the quality of teaching in this camp is expected to be of an extremely high level and hence for this reason teachers are allocated more time to lesson planning.
Will I enjoy camp life?
Not everyone suits the dynamics of camp life, but those who do, generally love it. Having the “camp personality” is usually the key to enjoying the job. Being naturally energetic, enthusiastic, positive, charismatic,and willing to make a fool of yourself, probably just about sums up the "camp personality". If you feel your personality doesn’t match two of these characteristics it is probably best not to apply to summer camp work.
Do you have age requirement/ limits?
Camp Monitors must be 19 before the start of camp and usually we will not employ Teachers less than 21 years of age. There is not a strict age limit for applicants to any position but from experience we have found that 19-25 is the best age range for monitors and 22 to 35 best for teaching positions. Applicants of any age are welcome to apply but may have to display at the application and/or interview stage that they can, and will, adapt to the physical and emotional demands of camp life.
How much experience do I have to have?
This obviously depends on the position but in general we are more willing than most camps to recruit staff with little experience but only if we believe they have certain “camp personality” characteristics, like high responsibility, energy and enthusiasm levels. We supply intensive effective training for all positions and usually are keen to spot highly talented young people and provide them with the opportunity to take on high responsibility levels at a young age.
How long are the TEFL classes?
Depending on the age group and camp, TEFL classes run for between three and four hours daily.
Where do we go on excursions?
We organise excursions on Saturdays and Sundays to the following places: Gibraltar, Seville, El Puerto de Santa Maria, Jerez, Sancti Petri, Estepona, Malaga, Nerja and Tarifa. Excursions involve general site-seeing as well as trips to: water and fun parks, a zoo, beaches, a whale watching tour and water sports activity centres.
What are the campers like and where do they come from?
95 percent of our campers are Spanish learning English, with the other 5%, mixed nationalities learning Spanish or English. Most of the Spanish campers are from cities in Andalucia, although students do come from all over Spain. About half are returnees and most campers are motivated English learners.
Are there promotion opportunities?
During the length of camp there are not normally promotion opportunities,however for those who perform well there are possibilities of working in a more senior position the following year. We have staff, mid-management and senior management positions and there is the possibility for some staff, of all year round work in our academy or part-time work assisting with the recruitment of staff and campers. About 75% of our managers are usually returnees and have had years when all our management staff had worked on TECS camp before.
What is the normal numbers of campers I will be responsible for?
Class sizes will normally be around 11-13 students (6-8 in Little Village, 8-10 in Sports Camp) with the maximum size 14. Leader and sports groups vary from 10-15 students. Each age group has between 50-90 campers.
How long do the campers stay on camp?
Most campers stay on camp for 2 weeks, although about 10-15% stay for 4.
Where do I sleep?
Family Camp has a camp site and residence. Sports Camp is residence only, as staff and campers stay in hotel rooms. Monitors in Family Camp, Little Village and Adventure Camp are required to share a room or tent with the campers. Monitors and teachers in Sports Camp will be sharing with other monitors, in the same area as the children.
Teachers share a room with other teachers but twice a week are required to cover for the monitors and sleep in a tent/room with the campers. Coordinators usually share smaller rooms, with other mid-management staff and Directors normally have their own room but this does depend on the camp. All rooms in Family Camp are converted classrooms acting as bedrooms and in Little Village and Adventure Camp rooms are in log cabins and a hostel like building.
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