By: Lessons From India: Control and Letting Go - Expat of the World
[…] exactly the way I like. In hindsight, I was way too controlling when P and I moved in together in Naples. Then this summer I was the leader of several Summer Camps– I had to be assertive, I had to […] By: Sarah
You're very welcome!! By: Deepika
Thank you, Sarah! This helps a lot in making my decision. :) By: Sarah
1. I didn't have any phone signal in my house. I didn't have wifi because most companies wanted me to sign a contract, but I was only there for 6months. Sometimes wifi is included in rent. I prepared my lessons at the school.
2. My school helped me find the apartment. It had 1 large bedroom with a double bed and a kitchen/dining room and small bathroom. It cost ˆ350 a month including bills.
3. I wouldn't know about host families here as this is not something British School organise.
4. I did not travel outside of Italy because I only had Sunday's free and little holiday.
5. In January and February I was freezing but only really inside my apartment during the night. The apartment was made for summer with its tiled floors etc. There were no radiators and my shower only had one setting: ice cold. Haha. But outside it wasn't as cold as England. It snowed once which was quite rare for the area!
6. My experience in Somma overall was a good one- I needed teaching experience and BS allowed me room to grow as a teacher- I taught children from 3 years old right up to adults. I taught more than 10 levels and many students had 1 to 1 classes with tailor made lessons. This meant that I spend a great deal more time plank than I have in any other teachers position. However I found the students easy to manage and that they really wanted to be there and learn.
If I would go back, I'd make sure I had Saturday's free in order to have a proper weekend. I'd also stick to certain age groups/abilities for example, only teaching children age 3-12 - or only teaching teenagers and adults, in order to cut down on time spent planning and preparing. Lastly, you should know know that British School have 3 schools in 3 different towns and you may be required to work in all of them. This means taking a local train, which eats into the day a bit. Also if you finish in another centre past 8pm, you have to wait until you can get a lift home with the boss (I once waited more than 2 hours). I was also required to teach once a week in a public school in yet another town! However this was back in 2015 and things may have changed now! Best of luck By: Deepika
Unfortunately, I don't know Italian, but I'm hoping to learn when I get there.
Anyway, I've got a few questions for you, if you don't mind answering them for me.
You mentioned you didn't have any mobile service - does that mean you didn't have access to the Internet at all? How on earth did you prepare your lessons?? I happen to rely heavily on the web for my planning.
How easy/difficult was finding an apartment? How much does the rent cost? Are there host families that take you in long term? (I did read your post on home stays, but you only talked about a week or two) This is important, because it's just going to be me, and I'm curious to know if I can manage without going crazy.
Did you get to travel outside of Italy? How easy/difficult was getting to other countries?
How cold does it actually get? I hate the cold too, even if it's like 20°C - will it be worse? Does it snow?
And finally, which school did you work for in Somma Vesuviana? Was the experience okay? What were the other teachers and your Italian students like?
If you feel like these are way too many questions to answer here in the comments section, please don't hesitate to send me an email.
Sorry for the long comment, and thanks a bunch in advance for your time! :) By: Sarah
Hey Deepika, wow- small world! Most of the blog post talks about my time in Somma Vesuviana. It's a very small town along the red circumvesuviana line. Can you speak Italian? It'll help if you can, to make friends etc, as there aren't many foreigners around.
It's about 40 minutes from Naples on the train, from which you can visit the ruins of Pompei, hike mt Vesuvius, visit Sorrento, Capri and the Amalfi Coast... Campania really is beautiful.
I basically lived for my Sunday off when I could escape the town and go explore. The winter seemed long. I lived with my partner so we kept each other company :)
Message me anytime! Good luck By: Deepika
Hey Sarah,
I chanced upon this post when I was looking for information on Somma Vesuviana; I'm considering moving there - if I get that teaching job I've applied for, that is.
I was thrilled to know that there was someone apart from me who knew about this place and was teaching English there. I was wondering, did you teach at the British School there?
I'd love to talk more about the your time in Somma Vesuviana, could you email me if you're interested?
Thanks! By: Sarah
I usually find my teaching jobs on websites such as TEFL.com and apply through that. The jobs are listed and you arrange a Skype interview if they're interested! I'm exited to see how things pan out in Sicily, which is where I'm heading next to teach English. By: Tess | BlondVoyage (@blondvoyage)
Hey! I am currently in Naples as well (from the USA). I'm surprised the weather hasn't been great - did you write this in Winter? It's so hot the rest of the year! Just a question (I am interested in English language teaching) - did you apply with a program? Would love to learn more.
Another thing, in Italy, everyone says they are from their region first, and country second. You noticed people say they are Neapolitan, not Italian. That's super common everywhere in Italy! It's a very regionalism country. People are Roman, not Italian, for example as well.
This is a great post though, and important for people considering moving abroad. It's incredible how your expectations can differ from what happens when you move abroad. By: Hiking Mount Somma, Vesuvius National Park
[…] on from my ramblings about life working in Italy not going as well as I’d hoped, P and I had a wonderful day yesterday hiking around the […]
