Angloville Poland: Honest Angloville Experience at Hotel Chojnik

In January, I got the chance to participate in Angloville’s Junior Program in Poland at Hotel Chojnik. Read on to hear all about my overall Angloville experience and Angloville review.

*All thoughts are my own and do not represent the overall Angloville experience for everyone.

Contents:

What is Angloville?

What is Angloville? Angloville is an international language exchange platform that provides immersive language learning experiences. Through Angloville, participants can travel to various European destinations to learn or practice English with native speakers. Participants can choose to attend one-on-one or group language exchange experiences, which involve activities such as cultural sightseeing and interactive language learning activities.

Angloville Programmes:

Angloville offers language exchange programmes in a variety of locations throughout Europe. The programmes typically involve activities such as cultural sightseeing and interactive language learning activities. The programmes are designed to give participants an immersive language learning experience, allowing them to practice their language skills in a real-life setting. Participants can choose to attend one-on-one or group language exchange experiences.

There are three types of programmes:

Kids – for children aged 7 to 11 years old.
Junior – for older children aged 12 to 17 years old.
Adult – for adults aged around 30 to 60 years old.

There is also a ski program for juniors which often takes place in Poland.

Angloville Poland: My Honest Experience

Why Did I Choose Angloville?

I chose to do an Angloville program as I really want to gain TEFL experience, as I’m thinking of going along that route when I finish university. Additionally, I also felt like it would be a different experience which I would be able to get a lot from, and in return, hopefully, give the children a good experience and help them learn a few things.

I chose to do it in Poland as that’s where flights were cheapest to fly to, I love the country, and also the dates were the best for me – but if there are also many other reasons to visit Poland, such as how beautiful the country is, if you need convincing.

Where Did I Stay?

I stayed in Hotel Chojnik, with the bus departing from Wroclaw. The hotel was very near the Czech border and was very big and beautifully located in the forest. As with most Angloville hotels, it was located away from civilisation and shops – this made it very nice, but it was also a bit annoying sometimes as lots of Native Speakers, in particular, wanted to go and explore and get food from the shops.

In fact, it was so isolated that we all had to get off the bus at one point and walk the rest to the hotel – this wasn’t an issue for me, but I just found it funny!

I found the rooms very spacious and comfortable. As I didn’t pay extra to have a private room, I was given a roommate once I arrived at the hotel. This can make or break your Angloville experience, I think, but luckily my roommate was amazing, and I’m still so happy that I met her (it was definitely one of the best parts about my Angloville experience).

My room was split into two different sections, so essentially my roommate and I each got our own room. In the bathroom, there was no shower gel or hand soap – so remember to bring your own. Luckily, if you forget, just hope that your roommate has some!

At the hotel, there was a gym and a sauna (that the children weren’t allowed to use!), as well as a pool and fuse ball table. Outside was very beautiful, and there were lots of places to sit – but it was a bit too cold in February.

Now…that takes me to the important part that lots of people really want to know…the food! In many Angloville reviews, people often don’t like the food, though I didn’t find it bad at all. The food at Hotel Chojnik works like this:

Breakfast is a ‘Swedish style’ buffet. It basically comprised of bread, butter, sausages, eggs and cheese – as well as some fruit and vegetables.

Lunch at Hotel Chojnik is made up of three courses – and is the main meal of the day. The first course, the starter, was soup. Over the days, it was a different flavour, such as Borscht (beetroot soup), Ogórkowa (pickle) and just normal vegetable soup.

The main course often was a meat-based dish, accompanied by potatoes and some salad – and we got Pierogi on the last day 😉

The dessert was very hit-or-miss, depending on the day. One day we got served baked apple, the next a very nice ice cream, then some type of apple crumble, and a very nice cake.

The vegetarian option at Hotel Chojnik looked very good most days, and sometimes I wished there was the option to choose the vegetarian version – especially when they got served fried cheese! Personally, I didn’t find the vegan option very satisfying, as it usually just seemed like fruit for dessert and vegetables for the main course – but the children who were vegan didn’t seem to mind it!

At the end of the day, there would be dinner served which was buffet style again. It was things such as sausages, pancakes and lasagne – and tasted really nice.

The only complaint I have about the food is the lack of choice regarding lunch, but I totally understand that there are so many people to serve – it’s not always possible to do.

There was an on-site shop selling some snacks, but these were quite overpriced – so I didn’t buy anything. I think because of the isolated location that’s why the snacks were priced so high.

The drinks were things like tea, hot water with lemon, coffee, juice and sometimes hot chocolate in the mornings.

A Typical Angloville Day:

A typical day at Angloville for native speakers often went like this:

8:30 – 9:30 Breakfast

9:30 – 9:40 Meeting for Native Speakers

9:50 – 10:30 Meeting with your mentees to create the presentation/ Activity (depending on your group)

10:30 – 11:10 Activity/ 1:2 speaking session

11:30 – 12:10 Activity/ 1:2 speaking session

12:10 – 12:50 Activity/ 1:2 speaking session

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 15:30 Free time

15:40 – 16:20 Activity/ 1:2 speaking session

16:20 – 17:00 Activity/ 1:2 speaking session

17:20 – 18:00 Activity/ 1:2 speaking session

18:00 – 18:40 Activity/ 1:2 speaking session

18:50 – 19:00 NS Meeting

19:00 Dinner

20:00 Games

What I Liked About my Angloville Experience:

I really thought that choosing the junior program was the right choice for me. The kids were old enough to have things in common with which made for great discussions, and it was fun to learn about different things – and it was just fun in general. I feel like the adult program would’ve just been too full on for me, but I also think I would enjoy that too.

The speaking cards that are provided can be helpful, but I didn’t really find them too useful sometimes – as lots of the topics were random. I did like that Angloville provided you with them, though, as depending on who you’re with, it can be hard to think of new topics to talk about.

Towards the end of the week, the children have to create an envelope for you, and then they can fill it up with nice notes about you as the days go on. For me, this was one of the best parts – I loved this idea. It was such a nice thing to receive after the week, and you really get to see how much of an impact you have on the kids and how much they appreciate you. It’s something that I will keep forever and will look at whenever I’m sad and need a pick me up.

You also receive a certificate for participating, which is really nice – and I got the children to sign them to make it extra special to keep. Additionally, once you finish, you can also request a reference letter – which looks good!

What I Disliked About my Angloville Experience:

There were quite a few things about my Angloville experience that I disliked, and I feel like they could definitely be improved on.

First of all, I found that when I was applying – the process felt very automated in a way. I scheduled an interview, but the man who was supposed to be conducting it forgot. This felt a bit annoying, but I totally understand things like that happen, and he did apologise. However, it wouldn’t have annoyed me so much if they didn’t ring at random times during the day to try and convince you to join the program beforehand – really, I had so many calls from them.

After the interview, the man said I had 24 hours to pay my deposit of €130. This felt very rushed, but I also understand that they want people to secure their places, and the programs depend on Native Speakers joining. Although…when I asked my roommate how much she paid for the deposit, she told me she only paid €30 – and so did someone else I attend university with – so I’m a bit confused and annoyed about that aspect.

Once I paid and sent off all of my documents – I didn’t receive any confirmation to state if they were acceptable or not. This was a bit worrying, and something I feel like wouldn’t take the employees at Angloville a lot to confirm – just send an email back saying that they’ve been received.

As they didn’t confirm anything, I wanted to double check – therefore, I rang them multiple times, and it always went to answer phone. One time, someone answered and said that they were in a meeting and would ring back…did they? Nope! Finally, after ringing more times, someone answered and confirmed they had received everything.

With Angloville, to receive your deposit back, you need to complete the online training. I did this, but again – I received no confirmation that they had received it. Therefore, I recommend taking a photo of it, just in case!

I received the details of the meeting point and walking tour a few days before I arrived in Poland – although the meeting point Google pin wasn’t working, and it wasn’t described very well.

On the Saturday, I went to the meeting point for the free walking tour; however, I saw that there was nobody there. During my program, one of the other Native Speakers told me that he and someone else were waiting for the tour also, but an email regarding interest in the free tour was never sent – and that’s why the tour guide never showed up. Again, slightly annoying but nothing too bad.

There was a group chat for the week made around midnight on Saturday, which was good – but I feel like it should’ve been made a little bit more beforehand – although, I appreciate that there are lots of programs and co-ordinators don’t have a lot of time to always do this.

When trying to find the meeting point, I felt that it would’ve been a good idea to have an Angloville flag or at least a sign on the bus to help people find it – as I had an issue finding the right area, and so did others that I met.

Now, this takes me to the actual week of the program. I found lots of the Native Speakers, and most of the coordinators were so nice and supportive. Although, as the week progressed, I felt like some of the Native Speakers got a bit cliquey, which is normal as you find the people you vibe with most – just something to be aware of if you don’t like this type of environment.

I thought some of the activities the kids had to do were really good, although I felt that some weren’t very nice and a bit too competitive. A few other Native Speakers and kids felt the same way, but not everyone – so this is definitely an opinion that depends on the person.

One small thing that also kind of annoyed me during my Angloville experience was that we weren’t told what the activity on the Wednesday would be. Hotel Choknik doesn’t have a pool or a hot tub, so I didn’t bring a swimming costume, but on the Wednesday, the activity was going swimming. I couldn’t go as I thought I wouldn’t need to bring a swimming costume, so I just stayed at the hotel – a bit annoying as I wanted snacks and to get away from the Hotel.

Would I recommend Angloville?

Would I recommend Angloville? I would recommend Angloville – but only if you truly understand what the Angloville experience will be like. It’s not really a holiday, but a good experience to learn about others and share your cultures with each other.

It’s best suited for people who can be outgoing, but if you’re an introvert, then this is good too, as I believe that this helps the quieter children also.

It’s a very tiring and full-on experience, so just know that going in. Be prepared to have not much time for yourself.

I’m not sure if I would participate in the program again, but I’m grateful that I got the opportunity to try the Angloville experience out. I really learnt a lot, and I’m really appreciative of the people I got to meet, as I’m staying in contact with at least four other Native Speakers, hopefully.