Today (1st April 2021) is the final day to apply to take part in the ‘English for Everybody’ programme for 2021/22. In this post, we caught up with two former participants to find out more about what the scheme involves and what they gained from the experience.
Emma Garner studied BA French and Italian and completed the ‘English for Everybody’ programme between September and December 2019. She is now an Italian and French to English translator for Amazon.
Tao Byrne studied BA Italian and completed the programme in the academic year 2019/20. He now teaches English in a language school in Italy.
What is the ‘English for Everybody’ Programme?
Emma: The English for Everybody programme is a partnership between Italian schools in the Bergamo-Brescia area of Italy and UK university students. It’s a way for these schools to have mother-tongue English speakers teach their students while giving the university students a chance to try teaching immersed in Italian culture.
Tao: This is by no means a holiday, however. You will be doing around 20-25 hours of teaching a week inside the classroom, and that excludes prep outside of the classroom. Participants also live with a host family, or multiple families, so at least a base knowledge of the Italian language is essential.
What was a typical day like for you?
Emma: I only taught at a primary school, so a typical day for me was being woken up by one of my host family’s three boys, leaving for school just before 8, and spending most of the day at the school either teaching classes or planning lessons. The teachers aren’t looking for someone to take their role, so you don’t have to discipline the children or take full control of the class, it’s more about playing games and helping them learn some English culture that they wouldn’t get from a textbook.
I’d go home for lunch and most days I’d have the afternoon off, too. In the evenings I’d help the boys with their homework, but I was mostly free to socialise, and my host family loved taking me to new places and introducing me to new people.
Tao: Classes started at 8am, so a 6:30am wake-up was common. At 8am, I would begin teaching with the other teacher in the room, adopting an assistant role most of the time. Due to the type of school I attended, I taught all the way from nursery, up to what would be our year 10/11. In between lessons, I would work on my laptop and prep for future lessons and take the time for a coffee. After lessons I would come home and socialise with the family (this is expected of you, as they are hosting you for an experience on their part, too).
Where did you stay while in Italy?
Emma: I stayed in a small town called Manerbio, which is a 20-minute train journey from Brescia. It was a perfect location for visiting the most famous northern cities and only half an hour in the car from Lake Garda! I stayed with two host families, one with three young boys (two of whom I taught) and the second with children my age, although this family was an emergency replacement, so I should have been with another family with children of teaching age. It’s so nice teaching in a village because soon everyone knows as you as ‘la madrelingua’!
Tao: I was initially in the town of Bottanuco in Lombardia, which I enjoyed very much. Afterwards, I moved to Iseo, but due to Covid my experience was cut very short.
What did you gain from the experience?
Emma: I gained so much from the experience. It helped me decide that teaching was rewarding but not what I wanted to do long term, but also that Italy was where I wanted to live. More importantly, I made lifelong friends with the host family, who from the start treated me as their own, and I ended up moving to Brescia to stay near them.
Tao: I gained new friends in the teachers I met in Bottanuco and valuable teaching experience. I have since taken what I learnt and found myself a teaching job in Italy. In an indirect way, I have also gained the ability to be more flexible with my teaching, as instead of following the book, I was asked to come up with lesson plans that related to topics in a more speaking-based style.
What advice would you give someone who is interested in applying?
Emma: To absolutely go for it. It will show you whether or not you’d be interested in pursuing teaching, it’s the perfect way to test moving there properly, and while it was tough it showed me how resilient I am and gave me a new family. I 100% credit this experience with where I am today; moving abroad is so difficult, but it gave me the safety net and the confidence to go for it.
Tao: I would repeat that this will not be a holiday. As much as it can be fun, you will work a decent amount. The fact that you will be expected to socialise with the family will mean that you sometimes won’t be able to fully relax at home. To combat this, I would advise you take what time off you have to enjoy the area, and if you need to spend a day or two in a city then do it.
For details on how to apply, please see here. Deadline for applications is 17:00 on 1 April 2021.