Staff

Summer in Switzerland, Learning and Having Fun in the Alps

Summer in Switzerland (SIS) at the Leysin American School is for students ages 8 - 19. SIS is designed for students who want to learn, have fun, and meet peers from all over the world. During the normal summer there are students from approximately 40 different countries in the program.

The majority of the 250 SIS students are in the General Program, which has morning academic classes (including French, Spanish, English, Math, Art, Photography, Computers, Music, Theatre, SAT and TOEFL Preparation, and others), a variety of sports and recreation activities in the afternoons, and large group games and activities in the evenings.

The three-week Outdoor Leadership Adventure program is full of opportunities for young people to learn about themselves and their leadership potential. They will participate in activities that will stretch their physical comfort boundaries such as whitewater rafting and hydrospeeding, climbing in the Alps, Alpine hiking and overnight trips in Alpine mountain huts. Students will also take classes in Leadership Development and Outdoor Education subjects.

The three-week Theatre in the Alps program is ideal for serious theatre students who want to add international theatre to their resume and learn from professional teachers about all aspects of theatre. This includes acting, directing, set designing, costuming, public relations, advertising and much more, as well as producing a number of shows in our state-of-the-art Black Box Theatre.

The three-week English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program is an intensive course for students who want to improve their English writing, comprehension, and speaking skills. Students will have intensive but fun classes during the morning, and they will then use what they have learned with the other students in the general program afternoon and evening activities.

We have also added SAT Preparation and a leadership program called Program Assistants. See the attached application for more information.

The Recreation & Culture Week is an extension of the Alpine Adventure program for students age 8-12 and is held between the two sessions. For the older students, age 13-19, the Highlight Tours are a chance to have fun and see many new places in Europe. The students will not have classes and will sign up for one of the 5 tours, choosing from Italy, France, England, Germany, or Switzerland.

SIS is a place to learn much more than just academics. SIS students will learn about international awareness, cultural tolerance, community-living skills, independence, leadership and much more during their time in Leysin. SIS is a truly remarkable international summer program.

Jobs

Job Descriptions 2010

These summaries of Job Descriptions are always open to change without notice, and more complete Job Descriptions will be sent with the contract and Conditions of Employment.

Administrative Staff are the key leaders of the program. They meet regularly and discuss issues, concerns, calendars etc. and set policy and implement these policies.

Director of Alpine Adventure: Filled

Supervises, organizes and evaluates complete AA program, and ensures positive interaction with rest of the SIS program. Able to teach a class if needed. Member of the Administrative Staff.

Coordinator of Academics: Open

Supervision of scheduling, curriculum review, resources, course content, sections offered, teacher assignments, teacher evaluations, academic program evaluation. Able to teach a class if needed. Member of the Administrative Staff.

Coordinator of Student Life and Dormitories: Filled

Supervises Dorm Heads and all staff who do dorm duty. Organizes Dorm duties, Dorm harmony and Dorm events. Implements any discipline necessary in this area. Also supervises Faculty Family program. Teach a class if possible and needed. Liaison for Facility maintenance with LAS staff. Member of the Administrative Staff.

Coordinator of Activities and Excursions: Filled

Organizes all afternoon and evening activities, and weekend and half-day excursions. This includes the Red Frog (student rec. area), and organizing which activities will be offered when, assigning staff for activities and excursions, content and quality of each activity, making reservations, preparing students for excursions and preparing resources for excursions. Needs to use SIS Enrollment Database (Filemaker Pro). Is also responsible for the discipline of the students in this area. Member of the Administrative Staff.

Assistant Coordinator of Activities and Excursions: Filled

Assists Dean of Activities and Excursions in all duties. Maintains Transportation schedule and vehicle usage records. Needs to use SIS Enrollment Database (Filemaker Pro).

Coordinator of Theatre, Outdoor Leadership Adventure, and ACM:

Is part of the specialized program team, but acts as the coordinator, maintaining records, duty rotas, supplies, etc. and ensuring positive liaison with the rest of the SIS program. Not a member of the Administrative Staff. Reports to the SIS Director.

Program Assistant (PA) Coordinator: Open

Supervise, organize, mentor, guide and discipline the PAs for the entire summer. There will be 5-12 PAs, aged 18-21. PAs are staff in training, who will learn how to work alongside staff, how to plan and implement a program event, how to work with students in different situations, such as bullies, scapegoats, homesickness, disrespect, violence, etc. There may be an additional position added to the PA Coordinator’s job description. Not a member of the Administrative Staff. Reports to the SIS Director.

SIS Office Manager: Filled

Answers all phone calls and deals with all phone messages, either answering questions, or passing on calls/messages to Director or other relevant staff. Maintaining database and generating lists from SIS Enrollment Database (Filemaker Pro). Organizes and supervise all arrivals and departures of SIS students/staff, interacting with the LAS travel office. Maintains Cell phone list and related responsibilities. Member of the Administrative Staff.

Assistant SIS Office Manager: Open

Assists Office Manager in all duties.

Specialized teachers: Open

A teacher will teach 4 classes (45-50 mins each) each morning in their subject area. They will also have 1-2 afternoons available for prep time, and will do afternoon activities or excursions with students 2-3 afternoons a week. They will be on dorm duty up to 3 times each week, which includes some afternoon time and the evening hours. They will be on duty a maximum of 1 day each weekend plus all opening and closing days and weekends.

Subject areas taught are:

ESL, French, German, Spanish, English Literature, Journalism, Creative Writing, Mathematics, Computers, Art, Music (guitar, piano and voice), Theatre (various aspects), World Cultures and Religions, SAT and TOEFL preparation, and Leadership skills and outdoor living classes including First Aid and CPR.

Outdoor Leadership Adventure Staff: Open

Largely with group of students that enrolled for special 3-week program, teach classes in the mornings relevant to Leadership and also lead trips such as overnight hiking, canoeing, white water rafting, and climbing. Will also lead some afternoon activities for general SIS students. May do some dorm duties also.

Theatre staff: Filled

Largely with group of students that enrolled for special 3-week program, teach classes in the mornings relevant to all aspects of theatre, and also direct and produce a number of shows. The Theatre program will also organize some special excursions for just theatre students. Will also teach some morning classes for general SIS students.

Alpine Chamber Music staff:

Largely with group of students that enrolled for special 3-week program, teach classes in the mornings relevant to all aspects of chamber music, individual tutoring, group coaching, music appreciation classes etc. The ACM program will also organize some special excursions for just ACM students, And the students will put on a number of concert performances.

Yearbook editor and Photography teacher: Open

Responsible for taking or collecting as many photographs of the summer as possible, and preparing the SIS Highlights “yearbook”. For this we use Adobe InDesign and Photo Shop on an iMac. This should include individual pictures of each students, family photographs, and images of all major events and general SIS life. Also responsible for teaching Photography in the mornings, and if necessary, useful and possible, supervising student yearbook activity in the afternoons. Also prepares powerpoint presentation at the end of each session for the last night of session celebrations.

Dorm Head: Open

Will teach or do recreation half schedule. Will supervise a dorm and ensure that there is a positive environment for all students. Organizes evening activities for the dorm. Works with the Coordinator of Student Life to accomplish this.

Nurse: Open

Supervise all Health issues at SIS. Maintain Health records, and review all Health forms from students, suggest changes to minimize injuries and poor health for SIS students and staff, organize two nurse duty rota to ensure 24 hour coverage.

AE and AC Recreation Staff: Open

Plan, design, organize and supervise all afternoon and evening activities. Recreation staff will have one afternoon and one evening free each week. They will be on duty a maximum of 1 day each weekend plus all opening and closing days and weekends. There may be a need for 1-2 evenings of dorm duty each week, and the recreation staff will also be responsible for the Red Frog, as a group.

Alpine Adventure Elementary teachers: Open

Be primary teacher for ten to fifteen 8-12 year old students all mornings, 5 days per week. During the mornings, specialist teachers do some of the teaching (French, ESL, Drama, Environment), and if a teacher has a specialty in these areas, they will lead these. If not, they will assist the specialist. Some afternoons, evenings and weekends will be supervising the students on excursions and activities. The Director of AA assures at least a full day off per week, and other free time.

Alpine Adventure Recreation staff: Open

Primary job will be to design and supervise afternoon and evening activities, and day and half day excursions. The Director of AA assures at least a full day off per week, and other free time. Some recreation staff will be specialist teachers also, meaning teaching one period in the mornings, of Computers, Environmental Education, French, ESL or Drama.

Driver: Open

Primary job will be to drive the stick-shift 17-seater school vans (no buses!) transporting students to and from the airport (1 1/2 hours each way) and other events as needed. When no driving job is needed, the person will be part of the recreation staff. Must have relevant driving license, such as CDL in USA or D1 license in Europe.

Intern or Aid:

For 20-22 year olds who want to work at SIS. Without any experience or certifications, Aids will help other SIS staff more often with activities or Alpine Adventure students.

These jobs and positions are being reviewed and a new posting may be sent out in January. This list should be used as a guideline only.