What it’s like to work as a CIEE Global Navigator Summer Program Leader

I’ve worked as a Program Leader for the CIEE Global Navigator program for high school students going abroad, between 2019 and the present in France (Rennes and Toulouse), Denmark (Copenhagen), and Spain (Madrid). I wanted to write about my experience for other potential Program Leaders who are looking for a summer job with CIEE. Keep reading to find out if this sounds like a job for you!

Disclaimer: This post is in no way sponsored by CIEE; it is meant to provide information for educators who want to find out more information about working with CIEE. All opinions are my own. If you decide to apply and this post was helpful, I would love it if you used my referral link to help support this blog!

What is CIEE?

CIEE is the Council for International Educational Exchange, a non-profit that has been around for almost 75 years. I was familiar with CIEE because I looked at their study abroad programs when I was in college. They have permanent CIEE study centers in dozens of countries for university exchange programs. A few years ago they started offering summer programs for high school students and received a huge donation from a private individual who used to be a teacher to provide scholarships to students. This has provided millions of dollars of scholarship money each summer, which means that the participants are very diverse and many of them are going abroad for the first time.

A few years ago my high school had a visit from a CIEE representative to talk to our students about the program opportunities. Two of my students got full and nearly full scholarships and traveled to Chile and Morocco. I was so impressed by their experiences that I decided to apply the next year to be a Program Leader.

Applying and Interviewing

The Program Leader Application opens in the fall. Obviously, the earlier you apply the better chance you have of being hired. There are two different types of programs, and the requirements for each vary slightly:

Language and Culture: This is program type makes up the biggest group of participants, as there are programs in seven languages (some in multiple countries) Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Arabic. Program Leader applicants for these programs must be current language teachers and fluent in the language. Ideally they would also be familiar with the city and country of the site they apply for, although it does not always work out this way. All programs are 4 weeks long.

Global Themes: These 3-week programs are for community service and cultural learning. They each have a theme such as conservation or the arts. Program Leader (PL) applicants do not need to know the language, but again, familiarity with the language and culture would be a huge advantage because you may need to talk to host families and community members. Based around a theme that ranges from the arts to queer activism to global entrepreneurship, Global Discovery programs are for applicants that have knowledge in a specific subject. Are you a science teacher? You could apply for wildlife conversation in Australia or Botswana. Music teacher? Check out K-pop immersion in Seoul.

I’m a Spanish and French teacher, so when I applied I think I chose like 9 different programs, figuring it would give me the best chance of being hired.

The interview was done over Zoom and I was posed the typical questions. I was also asked again about my availability. Thanks to the polar vortex of snow and cold that year, my school year was actually not even over by the time Session 1 started in June, so I would only be available for the Session 2 programs that started in early July. Most programs are offered both sessions, but some of the smaller ones are only offered one.

It sounded from the beginning like they had me pegged for a French position, which was fine with me because I don’t have many opportunities to speak French now that I’m teaching Spanish all the time. A few days later I was offered and accepted a job in Rennes, France, yay!!!

Recently, I’ve heard that they are always looking for Italian, Chinese, and Korean speakers, so skills with those languages would give you a leg up.

One thing that is important to note is that some language programs are honors programs, where students have to have a higher level of language and PLs are expected to be speaking in the target language with them at all times. If your language skills are lower you may want to avoid the honors programs. That said, the true amount of language spoken by PLs and participants can vary a lot from program to program.

Online Training

I have worked with a lot of camps and programs, but CIEE’s training was INTENSE. PLs have to complete an online course on Canvas in the spring that is over 15 hours long. Canvas is the platform that the students use and PLs later use for grading, so it’s helpful to have the training on the same platform. There are videos and discussions on program logistics, potential mental health issues, leading activities, and more. Even though I had led many student trips before, I found the training very useful.

Additionally, CIEE requires and pays for leaders to get certified in CPR and First Aid, or re-certified in subsequent years. I was easily able to find a course at my local Red Cross that was half online half in-person and I got reimbursed for the cost by CIEE afterwards. Now that I’m living in Madrid, I was able to attend a session locally for CIEE staff.

Program Leaders are usually asked to attend an online orientation with the other PLs from their site and another online orientation with the participants and families from their site. Plus there are a few other optional training calls.

The work load of the required training was reduced a bit last year, but as a first time Program Leader, you should still expect to spend 20+ hours of preparation in the spring before you even get to the airport.

Program Duties

So what does a Program Leader job actually entail?

Well, that depends on where you go. The schedule and logistics are taken care of by the study center staff. Each site is run by the in-country team, so expectations are slightly different. I’ve found that each site and program can be VERY different, which can be both good and bad. Some things, like the number of hours of classes, have to be the same across sites, but the culture, site staff, location and even the climate shape the program. For example, most sites have classes in the morning and activities in the afternoon, but in Spain many programs have activities in the morning when it’s cooler and then classes in the air conditioning during the hotter afternoons.

The Language and Culture programs are a week longer but PLs get more free time since students are with host families in the evenings. For the topic programs, PLs are with students 24/7 and are especially “on-duty” at the dorm or hotel. You can see a typical schedule and the difference between Language and Culture and Topic programs here.

Language and Culture PLs have the additional responsibility to grade students’ reflection journals and facilitate and grade the afternoon community conversations where students speak to locals. These are usually already set up, we just need to brief and/or debrief students and practice with them before they find community members to talk to.

Flight Chaperone

One of the main duties is being a flight chaperone. CIEE picks a strategically-located U.S. airport as the meeting place and students who chose to be on the group flight fly from that U.S. airport to the host country with the chaperoned group flight.

There are a number of participants who have never flown before, often multiple group flights, and summer thunderstorms already seem to put a wrench in best-laid plans. Needless to say, it is an all-hands-on-deck mentality and generally all PLs need to be flight leaders during those crazy days. Unfortunately, this means that PLS can’t travel around the host country on their own before or after leading a program; they must fly to and from the U.S. with participants.

PLs usually fly to the departure point (often New York City for European destinations) that morning for departures, so it can be a very long day. Flying back to the US, it’s possible that PLs need to stay overnight if students’ flights get cancelled or if there are no regional flights out that evening.

Student Support

Supporting participants’ social and emotional well-being is our biggest job, so that might mean calling a student to check how they are doing, going to a pharmacy to get them medicine, connecting with their teacher, dealing with issues with host families, etc. The hardest part of the job is being on-call and not knowing when something might happen. For this reason PLs need to stay in town at all times and be ready for any potential issues.

The best part of the job is that Program Leaders get to do all of the cultural activities with participants. It is so touching to see the participants’ excitement as they see and try new things and have small successes with their new language skills and navigating the culture. Some of my most memorable activities have been a French cooking class, a visit to the Boeing airplane factory, a tour of the Royal Palace in Madrid, and walking on quick sand in the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel.

Each site deals with scheduling days off for PLs differently, but you should have at least one full day off a week. The first few days are always very intense and a little crazy, but as everyone settles in and a routine is established it gets easier.

Each program also has at least one day trip and one overnight excursion. To learn more about where the Rennes program went, read my blog posts about St. Malo and Day trips in Bretagne.

Salary

All travel expenses for PLs to get to the program site are paid for. Even food expenses while traveling are reimbursed. Fees for any required visas are also paid for. Once on-site, meals are provided through host families or through a meal stipend if PLs are staying in a hotel.

The salary hasn’t changed in a few years. For 2027 new PLs get a $400/week salary stipend and returning leaders get $500. Overall this is a good stipend for those looking to get paid to travel, but like everything else nowadays, it’s not keeping up with inflation. You do this job for the experience, not for the money.

Things to think about when applying for a program:

Language Ability: In a perfect world, all PLs would speak the language of the host country their program is in and be familiar with it’s culture. It’s not uncommon to have to go to the doctor or a pharmacy with a student. And you’ll have to communicate with host families or the hotel staff. This can be difficult if the PLs don’t speak the language. It’s not a requirement for the theme programs that PLs have any target language skills. Certainly, if you are in a country like Denmark or the Netherlands where the population speaks English very, very well, it’s not a problem. However, this would be much more difficult if you were choosing a country like China or Brazil, where there is much less English spoken.

Your dates and availability: Are you really going to be able to be your best self if you are leading a program that starts the day after the school year ends? Or coming back right before you have to report back to work?

The weather: July and August are hot and many places don’t have air conditioning. Temps in Europe and Northern Asia might be cooler in June. Don’t forget that if you apply for programs in South America the seasons are reversed so you’ll be wearing your jacket most of the time.

PL housing: Most (but not all) PLs in Language and Culture programs stay with host families. Most housing for other programs is in dorms. Make sure to make your preferences known in the interview if living with a host family is a deal breaker.

Medical and dietary restrictions: Some sites are more remote and some are less suited to people with specific dietary restrictions. For example, just about everything in Spain has meat in it and Senegal would not be a good place to go for those with peanut allergies.

Number of other PLs: the sizes of the programs vary a lot. The biggest Language and Culture programs might have eight or nice PLs while some of the smallest topic programs, especially newer ones, might only have one. Be sure to ask during your interview if this is important to you.

Holidays and special events: Some sessions occur during national holidays or other special events. This could mean an additional day off, a major celebration or challenges like closed stores depending on the country. Check a calendar in advance.

Overall, I have been very happy with my experience with CIEE and plan on being a Program Leader again in the future. It can be a tough job, but it is a great learning experience. If you are free this summer and think being a PL could be for you, check out the application with my referral link here. If you have students who are interested in the program, if they create their application with this referral link they’ll get $200 off. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Good luck and happy travels!