Volunteering in Switzerland

Are you aged 20 or over and have to do a language stay for your school, college or university? Or would you simply like to have an incredible & unique summer experience where you can meet interesting people from Switzerland and all over the world, have the best summer job of your life and maybe even learn a new language whilst you‘re at it?

Then with friLingue, you‘re in exactly the right place!

Volunteering in one of our language camps in Switzerland means that you'll get to exchange and share experiences with other young people from all over the world, as well as from right here in Switzerland. Our volunteers, staff and participating kids come from all across the world to share in the unique & international ambience of our camps - so bring your talents, stories & experiences and join us!

So what will I be doing?

Volunteer duties involve assisting the chef in the kitchen & cleaning as well as getting involved with the student activities, including joining us on the excursions - meaning that you'll get to explore some of Switzerland during your time with us. When it comes to the activities, we always love people who are keen to show off their hobbies and talents, so if you're the arty, music or theatrical type, we'd love for you to put on an evening performance around the campfire or conduct a special workshop for the kids. As you'll only be required to work between 4 and 6 hours per day, with one or two days off each week, you'll also have enough free time to go off and explore some nearby cities and landmarks, either on your own or with some of the new-found friends you're guaranteed to make.

There's also the option to combine your volunteering experience with either a French, German or English language course.

With this option, you'll attend class in the afternoon, 3 times a week, and reduce your working hours.

We offer two different programs:

FULL-TIME VOLUNTEER

friLingue is currently (or to be more precise, always) in high demand for the following:

- KITCHEN WORKERS - since every camp has its own kitchen and chef and we have a lot of mouths to feed, we're always actively looking for help in the kitchen. Helping the chef prepare meals, overseeing the distribution of meals, and washing the dishes afterwards (we have the washing machine haha) are chores included in the obligations of this position.
- HOUSEKEEPING WORKERS - considering that our camp locations are almost always overcrowded, you can imagine the chaos that can sometimes be present. That's why we need extra pairs of hands to help us with the cleaning and vacuuming of the common rooms, classroom, showers and bathrooms. The housekeeping volunteers are in charge of the general hygiene of the area.

The arrival days for volunteers are Saturdays, while the departure days are Sunday afternoons and evenings. You could stay with us for one, two or more weeks (depending on the season) and it is preferable for us that you stay for more than one week.

Per week, it's 5-6 days of work. Per day, it's somewhere between 4-6 hours of work BUT it's not like a work shift from 8 am till 2 pm, it's more like 1 hour after breakfast, 1 hour after lunch and 1 hour after dinner. You will have plenty of free time there.

Also, you will not be the only volunteer there, we always have a small and selected group of volunteers. You will have a meeting with them upon your arrival, together with the camp leader, chef and volunteer leader and you guys will divide the workload amongst yourselves.

In return for your services, we can offer you full-board accommodation (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks included) and paid participation in some excursions so you won't have ANY costs while you're staying in our camps.

PART-TIME VOLUNTEER (language lessons in the morning, volunteering during the afternoon and evenings)

Cost: 500 CHF per week

Included in this price: accommodation, full-board, excursions, social program and 15 hours of English, German or French classes per week, in the morning

Fewer hours of work are expected from these volunteers (4 to 6 hours a day on average)

Participants must be older than 20

So why not join us? At friLingue we pride ourselves on being a huge family and like to remain in contact even after the camp season is over - we even have a dedicated Facebook page so former friLingue staff and volunteers can keep in contact and even arrange to get togethers afterwards. There's also always the opportunity to come back and join us again, perhaps as a teacher or an animator the next time!