By Zeke Young and Izzy Ruby-Hill
We just finished our second day of camp and are feeling pretty confident and excited about the strides we have made! Starting on the first day of camp, there was definitely nerves and anxiety... It did not help that campers started arriving 45 minutes early during our breakfast! However, we quickly felt much more comfortable once we started interacting with the kids by teaching English and playing games. They were all so excited to receive an English name and to learn how to introduce themselves. The campers also really enjoyed playing games like musical chairs. We learnt that competitions were a great way to get some of their excess energy out and to encourage them to learn and understand the English they are learning.
A challenge we had to overcome was the language barrier; none of the kids spoke English and none of the student athletes spoke Mandarin. To work around this minor setbacks, we had to be very expressive and animated in order to help guide the campers and demonstrate what we wanted them to do.
On the second day of camp, we felt more comfortable with our role as counsellors. Our first outdoor sports camp was in the morning and it was a great hit. Teaching sports was a lot easier then teaching English because lessons could be demonstrated instead of taught. We started the session with soccer drills and games, however, not all the campers were enthralled with it. Once we broke out chalk and jump ropes, the campers were ecstatic. At this point, the camp took a little bit of a turn. Instead of the counsellors teaching the students, the students took the leading role. They taught us a Tibetan dance that involves dancing over 2 lines on the ground. The campers asked to use 2 of the jump ropes and started demonstrating it to us. It was quite complex and we couldn't quite grasp the song that went along with it, but it was very fun to have the students teach us how to do the dance. They also found it funny whenever we made a mistake on a move, which was pretty often!
In the afternoon, we headed to the wetland to clean the area. There was a lot of garbage on the shoreline and in the shallow waters. Beforehand, we were unsure if the kids would take to picking up garbage. However, they seemed to thing it was a competition, and were very engaged in making the wetland spotless! We filled 2 garbage bags with waste, along with odd objects such as pots, a pair of slippers, and a deck of cards. This was important in teaching the kids about the importance in taking care of the environment, however, we will need to encourage them to continue this cleaning when we leave.
After two successful days of camp, we are feeling confident and excited for more! We have more lesson plans lined up and are excited to broaden the kids' English and sports skills.
We just finished our second day of camp and are feeling pretty confident and excited about the strides we have made! Starting on the first day of camp, there was definitely nerves and anxiety... It did not help that campers started arriving 45 minutes early during our breakfast! However, we quickly felt much more comfortable once we started interacting with the kids by teaching English and playing games. They were all so excited to receive an English name and to learn how to introduce themselves. The campers also really enjoyed playing games like musical chairs. We learnt that competitions were a great way to get some of their excess energy out and to encourage them to learn and understand the English they are learning.
A challenge we had to overcome was the language barrier; none of the kids spoke English and none of the student athletes spoke Mandarin. To work around this minor setbacks, we had to be very expressive and animated in order to help guide the campers and demonstrate what we wanted them to do.
On the second day of camp, we felt more comfortable with our role as counsellors. Our first outdoor sports camp was in the morning and it was a great hit. Teaching sports was a lot easier then teaching English because lessons could be demonstrated instead of taught. We started the session with soccer drills and games, however, not all the campers were enthralled with it. Once we broke out chalk and jump ropes, the campers were ecstatic. At this point, the camp took a little bit of a turn. Instead of the counsellors teaching the students, the students took the leading role. They taught us a Tibetan dance that involves dancing over 2 lines on the ground. The campers asked to use 2 of the jump ropes and started demonstrating it to us. It was quite complex and we couldn't quite grasp the song that went along with it, but it was very fun to have the students teach us how to do the dance. They also found it funny whenever we made a mistake on a move, which was pretty often!
In the afternoon, we headed to the wetland to clean the area. There was a lot of garbage on the shoreline and in the shallow waters. Beforehand, we were unsure if the kids would take to picking up garbage. However, they seemed to thing it was a competition, and were very engaged in making the wetland spotless! We filled 2 garbage bags with waste, along with odd objects such as pots, a pair of slippers, and a deck of cards. This was important in teaching the kids about the importance in taking care of the environment, however, we will need to encourage them to continue this cleaning when we leave.
After two successful days of camp, we are feeling confident and excited for more! We have more lesson plans lined up and are excited to broaden the kids' English and sports skills.