Onboarding Language Assistants
Welcome to our summercamp season 2024!
Welcome to our camp! We’re thrilled to have you join us. Get ready for an amazing opportunity to teach English in the great outdoors. It’s fun for the kids, and our language assistants love the experience so much that many come back year after year.
Information Package
Here’s everything you need to know to plan your travels and get ready for your time at camp:
- Camp Locations: Details about where you’ll be staying.
- Pack List: Essentials to bring with you.
- Teamer App: Our important tool for paper-free camp administration.
- Program and Games: An overview of our activities to give you a first impression of what we do at camp.
- And most important: Paperwork:-)
Welcome to Jugendhaus Elias! We are excited to host you for the camp, and we want to give you a glimpse of the wonderful place where you’ll be staying.
Jugendhaus Elias is a charming and welcoming hostel nestled in the picturesque region of Allgäu, Germany. The hostel is designed to provide a comfortable and enjoyable stay for all its guests, with plenty of amenities and beautiful surroundings. Our hostel is known for its lovely food. The kitchen staff prepares a variety of delicious and nutritious meals, catering to different tastes and dietary needs. You’ll enjoy hearty breakfasts, tasty lunches, and delightful dinners, all made with care and local ingredients.
The language assistants will be staying in nice ensuite double rooms, offering a comfortable space to relax.
Jugendhaus Elias is situated in a stunning area surrounded by natural beauty. The Allgäu region is known for its lovely lakes, majestic mountains, and charming small towns. On days off you can explore the scenic landscapes, go hiking, and experience the tranquility of the countryside. The local towns in Allgäu are full of character, with traditional architecture, friendly locals, and a rich cultural heritage.
You can find our camp location here:
Closest train station for Jugendhaus Elias it is Blaichach station.
Accommodation before camp and Arrival
We will provide food and accommodation during the camp but you are welcome to arrive early and stay at our family home for a couple of days. Camp starts on sunday morning and finishes on the saturday at 11am. plan to leave after that or stay with us for another couple of days – please check with me.
Make sure that you filled in your food preference in the teamer app, so that I can order the right food. The hostel isn’t great with vegan food, so if you are vegan it’s helpful to bring your own favourite spreads (for sandwiches) and snacks.
Please let me know our estimated time of arrival, so I can plan my pick-ups from the station.
Getting there
Memmingen Airport (Ryan Air) and Munich Airport are the closest airports – both airports are about 3 hours from our hostels by public transport. Just be aware that with some evening flights you might not get here – the last train from Munich leaves at 8pm. (It’s one hour from the airport to the train station). There is also Zurich airport, sometimes it has the cheaper flighst.
Closest station for our summercamps is Blaichach station, on the same trainline you get off at Immenstadt station (one stop beforehand) to get to mine!
Getting from Sprachcamp to the Airport
Most camps finish noon on the last day with our final meet and greet with the kid’s parents. You can leave anytime after that.
There is a Bayern ticket within Bavaria, that allows you to travel within all of Bavaria – and share with up to 5 people. There might also be a 49 Euro ticket – check with me or the Deutsche Bahn about special offers. There isn’t a special discount if you book in advance, unless it is long distance travel.
The following websites can help with your planning:
http://www.allgaeu-airport.com/passengers-visitors/getting-to-the-airport/bus-train/
Games
If you are interessted to get to know some of our games, have a look here:
Team Games (Problem solving) we might play:
- The marshmallow challenge, a really nice TED talk about the challenge.
- Tower of Power
- Pipeline
Word Games / Icebreaker Games with focus on Speaking English
- Emotion Cards
- Zoom (Prep for Photoralley)
- Werewolves (Card Game, very popular)
- pass the bomb,
- Sussed
- 5 second Rule
- Poetry for Neanderthals
- Snakessss
- Bumfuzzle
- Herd mentality
For debriefs: Picture / Emotioncards
Here is our manual for the camp. It is quite an extensive collection of team games and English language games: Sprachcamp Manual
Also have a look at our Sample Programmes for one of our school camps here.
Kit List
- Slippers for the hostel
- Outdoor clothes,
- Waterproofs
- A daypack
- Water bottle, lunchbox
- Depending on the season: hat, gloves, a warm jumper,Sunglasses, swimming gear
- Toiletries (ex: shampoo, toothpaste/brush)
*For the hostel: a towel, PJs, earplugs – we provide bed sheets for you! You don’t need a sleeping bag
You don’t need a sleeping bag for the hostel, they provide bed sheets for you.
Paperwork:
For everyone:
- Send a real good copy or scan of your passport (pdf or photo) to my email adress.
- Fill in our staff questionaire – you will then get a contract depending on your current job status (i.e. freelance, unemployed, at uni), also please fill in a permission letter, so that I can register you at my local council.
- Please send us and email with a nice portrait picture of you (or one that you are recognisable) and a brief profile text for our team page *see example here: https://sprachcamp-allgaeu.de/team
- For EU passports only:
- please fill in the following EU-Aufenthaltsanzeige form, they just created a new form, hooray:-)
- Sprachcamp Allgäu work contract (will be sent to you via email once you filled in the staff questionaire)
- For UK passport holders only (work permit paperwork):
- Please fill in the Vorlage Erstantrag questions 1 – 13. If you cannot fill in the pdf, print and scan, I will need your signature on it. Please Sign the form in the box unterneath question 22 and fill in the date as well.
- A letter of permission foreigners office so that I can pick up your work permit at the foreign office. I need your signature for this – please print and scan!
Teamer App
Please register yourself with our teamer app. If you haven’t applied through our online application, please use our short cut and register here, so we can get you logged on.
Work permit
Sprachcamp Allgäu will organise the work permit for you , if needed. If you work for us over a period longer than two week you will also have to go to our local foreign office to give fingerprints.
Pay for holiday camps
Payment as agreed. Please remember that your wages are before VAT. You will be paying German (Lohnsteuer) Income tax, that you can then claim back – see Taxes.
This doesn’t apply if you are still a student and you can provide a proof or enrolement of your university.
German Taxes
The language assistant is solely responsible to declare their own taxes in their home country. You can claim back your taxes that you paid in Germany, depending on your earnings in your country. Remember: Taxes can only be claimed the following year.
Cancellation Policy
If a camp week has to be cancelled we will we will let you know asap. We had fully booked holiday camps for the past camp seasons.
If you get ill, we would really appreciate immediate notice and help with looking for a replacement. I would advise you to cover insurance for cancelled flights on a travel insurance policy. Unless you have a super cheap Ryan Air flight, where the damage is slightly less.