UM Undergraduates Travel to Greece to Teach English as a Second Language

By Andrew Abernathy
June 9, 2009

Eleven Ole Miss students caught a plane to Greece earlier this month. But they are not going on vacation — they are going to teach, English, that is.

Coordinated by the UM Office of Study Abroad, these students will act as counselors and teaching assistants at the Anatolia College Rainbow Camp in Anatolia, Greece.

Since 1984, the Rainbow Camp has helped Greek students in language acquisition by immersing elementary and junior high school age students (ages 4-14) with counselors from other cultures, according to the camp’s Web site.

All classes are taught in English so Greek students acquire the language more quickly. As a general rule, Greek is not spoken during the day camp. Greek students usually start leaning English words in kindergarten; day camps like these reinforce that training.

During the camp, Greek students attend classes with Anatolia College professors with U.S. University students acting as teaching assistants. Class topics can range from building robots with Legos to exploring sea life on field trips to an aquarium. Student teaching assistants come from more than a dozen different U.S. Universities.

“We’re sending some really talented students over there,” said Maury Breazeale, UM study abroad advisor. “We are proud that the University of Mississippi will be so well represented in Greece this summer. I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch.”

All eleven UM students will live on the Anatolia campus during their time. The camp should last from mid-June to early July. While there are no fees for the camp, UM students will have to pay for their travel.

This trip should be excellent job experience for Katie Stedman, a junior Elementary Education major from Brandon, Miss. Stedman, whose emphasis areas are English and art education, will teach ceramics, drawing, and swimming at the camp.

“Not only do I want to do this for the teaching experience, it will be nice to visit a beautiful place in the middle of the summer,” she said. “Hopefully it will be something that will benefit me in the future.”