Working there was a nightmare. Basically what happened was the site director tried to force me to write a resignation to the contract I committedly signed after the 1st week for no reason other than he was a scum bucket. When I refused I was sent to another camp and then a week later Nicolas C[edited], the main director, visited the camp, called me in for a meeting and forced me to resign. It was totally unexpected and to say the least, I did not sign up for two weeks of work. Little did I realize that I was not the only one. Coincidentally, I saw another bloke at the train station in Lyon whom I met at the hotel in Paris before we started the job and he was also fired by C[edited]. So it appears to be a regular thing they do.

That’s not the whole story though. What goes on at the camps at American Village is something I can best describe as classic workplace mobbing. It’s total hell. The site directors participate and encourage mobbing and bullying of other counsellors who display the slightest imperfection on the job. The mobbing starts with the site directors and works its way down from senior counsellors to rookie counsellors and whats left is an environment saturated with resentment and disputes. I will never work at another summer camp again. I’m sure not all ESL camp programs are the same but this experience totally burned me out. I tried even talking to Amanda Pardue- the summer camps recruiter about the horrible state of the camp but coincidentally that was when Nicolas C[edited] paid a visit to our camp. Seriously, this job is so unpleasant. Even if you are lucky enough to have a half decent director, you will be working mega long hours and be so exhausted to do anything else but rest in bed. And chances are you will either be the subject of their workplace mobbing or witness it. And before you say to yourself “I doubt that will be me”, you might find that it’s actually more humiliating to see than experience.
Just wanted to provide some advice to the masses and relay my experiences. Thanks.