Disney's English Days

Last fall, UCF sent me an email about a summer English teaching program at Walt Disney World. Sounded fun! So I interviewed, had great dialogue with the Director, and waited for a hiring phone call. (EVERYTHING in ESL is enrollment-based, I’m learning…) For months, I stayed in touch with the Director, but was met with unpromising news.

On one unsuspecting Monday in July, my phone rang. “Hi Rebecca, this is Jean ….yada yada yada….can you start Wednesday?” YES! YES! YES!

For the next six weeks, I had a blast teaching English to middle school and high school students visiting Orlando for a two-week English language learning program. They spent two days a week studying English, and the remaining days participated in backstage Disney educational programs. They stayed on Disney property and our language classroom was in Epcot! (Perks for the teachers: backstage passes!)

My students were from Italy, China, Turkey, Brazil, Japan, and the Dominican Republic. I must admit, teaching wealthy kids visiting Disney without their parents was quite challenging… but I learned a lot and had a phenomenal experience.

The graduation ceremony was held on the water with the Epcot ball in the background. After some speeches and a presentation of certificates, we had an ice cream party and watched the fireworks!

My Chinese students singing a song for us.

The Italians singing us their national anthem....they were SO into it!

One of my students, Sarah, from Italy.

Hanging out in Epcot before graduation with my honey! We love going to the parks together and being kids again. :)

With a couple of my teacher colleagues, Elyse & Cassidy. Fun times!