July - Aug 2025.
Mentoring in Poland:
My experience teaching English with Angloville, marking the beginning of my intentional travel journey.
Prelude.
In the early stages of travel many people, with myself included, are drawn to the thrill of novelty – new places, new faces, new experiences. But over the last few years this has started to feel hollow to me when not anchored in something deeper. One fact has become increasingly clear: I don’t enjoy travelling without a purpose. Wandering for the sake of it just doesn’t fulfil me as much as it used to. As I have delved further into the world of travel, I have started choosing destinations and experiences that further align with my goals or values. Things like trekking, volunteering, or learning something new, help provide structure and a sense of purpose when I’m on the move. This can also be said for helping other people along the way, whether that’s through teaching, advocating, or just being a kind stranger, it’s important to me that I am doing my bit for my little corner of the world. What I am talking about is making my travel more intentional.
At the start of this trip, I was teaching English, a career in which I am slowly falling in love with; it has given me direction and allowed me not just to see the world, but to engage with it. I have always loved the social part of travelling but more so than ever I have realised the importance of community, and I believe working in a classroom (or the equivalent) helps provide this. Of course, I’ve seen some truly breathtaking places along the way but as beautiful as these moments are, they don’t linger the same way that human connection does. It’s the exchange of weak smiles after a long day, the spontaneous conversations with strangers or students, the unexpected story times, the lessons stumbled upon, and the shared mealtimes that I remember. All these things I experienced on the daily when teaching in Poland.
The Angloville experience.
I was enrolled as an ESL Mentor with Angloville, a company that runs summer camps for Polish teenagers to have a fully immersive English learning experience. Programs were intense, days were long, and free time was few and far between (with alone time being completely non-existent), however, I am not willing to complain about any of this leaving Poland with all that I have gained. It’s an all-encompassing experience and in hindsight I loved every minute of it.
The Polish participants are at the heart of every program, everything we do is for them. Meeting such a determined group of young people was so inspiring. They showed up with passion, ready to share their talents, step outside their comfort zone, and grow. All in all, they were an absolute pleasure to mentor. I helped run creative activities and took part in ‘conversation sessions’ designed to get the group using English in a relaxed, natural way. The focus is on fluency and building confidence rather than strict grammatical accuracy, though we were always happy to support participants with that if they so wanted. I also provided guidance on presentations that the Polish participants had to prepare themselves and deliver to the group at the end of the week. Speaking in front of a large audience is challenging enough, let alone doing so in a second (or even third or fourth) language. Every single participant did exceptionally well to accomplish this. Collectively, everyone in the program was putting all their energy towards a shared goal, and to me that’s profoundly touching.
It wasn’t rare for emotions to be high at the end of the program, every week there were tears as the experience came to a close, proof of just how much these interactions meant to the young people involved. You spend a week building these bonds and making memories in a setting you would never get to experience elsewhere, and while a week doesn’t seem like long, it’s incredible how much you can squeeze into it – or how much it can draw out of you. You truly get out what you put in. The more energy, openness, and heart you bring, the more rewarding the experience becomes.
Speaking of the end of the program, the Saturdays were always my favourite, not for the tears nor the goodbyes, but for how openly everyone expressed gratitude for the single week we got to share. A thought that often crossed my mind is that, in no other circumstance would my path ever have crossed with these teens, or my fellow mentors who ended up becoming the most amazing friends. These are people who have shared the same unique experience as me and therefore it has brought us together in an oh so special way.
Final thoughts.
Despite being forced together all week, when the Saturday evening rolled around, we (the mentors) would still choose to spend it with each other. We’d head into Warsaw and live large for the evening, not just to celebrate the end of the program, but to hold onto the feeling a little longer. It all felt like a gentle exhale after an intense week. Looking around at the friends who had once been strangers, I knew this feeling would stay with me, the feeling of being part of something bigger than myself. I am certain this sensation and all the fleeting moments will remain tucked away in the corners of my memory for a really long time. Poland wasn’t a country that was initially on my list of places I wanted to visit, but I was pleasantly surprised in every way possible. It wasn’t just a destination; it became one of the first chapters in my journey toward more intentional exploration, and I know there’s a lot more to come.
I never want to stop exploring, and creating, so thank for indulging in my endeavours with me. And thank you Angloville, for an invaluable cultural exchange experience.
More purposeful travel I wish complete:
- Volunteer projects abroad (e.g., teaching/education, community building, advocating for young people)
- Multi-day treks (like the Manaslu circuit or Annapurna in the Himalayas, camping in Patagonia, the Andes, hut-to-hut in the Alps, etc.)
- Slow travel (living and working in one place for an extended period to build relationships and routines)
- Skill-based travel (learning a craft, language, or tradition from local experts, e.g., learning Spanish in Peru or Kung Fu in China)
Let this serve as some inspiration.
Peace and love, E.
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