My English Language Assistant Experience Scott Jordan talks about his experiences as a language assistant in the fairytale city of Venice. For many years it had been my ambition to teach in a Secondary school and the opportunity to become an English Language Assistant was a once in a lifetime chance to do what I really wanted in a country whose language I have always been passionate about. I was lucky enough to be able to teach at a Liceo Scientifico in Venice to students ranging from the age of 14 to 19 and I can safely say it was the most enjoyable and rewarding experience of my life to date. As an assistant, I was able to play games with the children to enrich their language skills, which some of the teachers felt was not an effective way of learning. The young people learnt lots of vocabulary through these activities and were able to learn through doing, which is one of the best ways of retaining information. With regards to the culture, it is truly spectacular. It takes a while to adjust yourself to the somewhat dramatic differences, such as eating times and the running of the community, but once you pass that stage, you realise how great the country is. Living with 3 Italians from 3 different parts of Italy (a Venetian, a Bolognese and a Sicilian) I was able to learn about the different parts of Italy, adapt myself to many different Italian accents and taste a range of different regional Italian dishes. The four of us became great friends and ate together every night and socialised together becoming a very close circle of friends. My Italian, after 3 months, had improved massively and by the end of my 9 month stay in Italy I was more or less fluent in the spoken language. I would definitely recommend living with Italians when going to Italy – it is daunting at first, but once you get to know them, you will become very close friends and your Italian will improve significantly. You need to bear in mind that at the school all the teachers and pupils will want to speak English with you, and living with Italians will force you to speak the target language and excel in it. It is also important that you take up all opportunities that come your way. I ended up doing things that I would never have normally done. For example, I went to a teachers conference about how to improve behaviour in class and how to improve student learning. I also attended a Halloween party in October with a group of Italians whom I barely knew which was so scary because, at such an early stage in the year, you are still getting to grips with the language and are still trying to make friends. But it is essential that you put yourself out there, and do things that you would not normally do so that you can make friends and possibly be invited to other events. NAME: Scott Jordan DEGREE: M.A. (Hons) French & Italian at the University of Glasgow TEACHING LOCATION: Venice, Italy

My English Language Assistant Experience Finally, through my work as an Assistant, I was able to do a job that I really enjoyed, in a country that I love, surrounded by the most amazing people. It was difficult being away from my family back home, but this experience gave me so much independence and really heightened my social skills. I would recommend this post to anybody who is eager to learn, pass on knowledge and wants to try something completely different.