Author: Judi

It is the final day of English in the Wild Summer Camp and it is time for the closing ceremony. The students file into the pep rally room rather quietly instead of with their usual yells and cheers. The music in the background is strong and triumphant yet the atmosphere is subdued. The campers talk quietly amongst themselves and with the teachers. There is happiness for finishing a job well, but a sadness of seeing the camp classes, English corners, games, and pep rallies come to an end. It is time to say good bye to people who were strangers 2 weeks ago but have now become good friends.

The camp director asks the students to give a class cheer. It takes awhile for the cheers to warm up but finally the room fills with the yells and cheers for each class. Then it is award time—awards for student participating and helping others in the class; awards for the volunteers who recruited the students and who helped all round the camp; and awards for the MVP (Most Valuable Player) for each class.

One of the neat things about this camp is that everyday a video is produced of all the previous day’s activities. Today was no exception. The students cheered as the saw showed portions of the skits, the games, as well as the mascot parade that took place yesterday. One of the most moving times of the ceremony were the pictures from all of the classes put together in a montage while the song Peng You (Chinese for “friend”) was being played.

At camp students earn camp “money” by speaking English. The camp money is then used to buy things from the camp store. The students write their names on the camp money, which is then used for a lucky draw. The most exciting bit was the last item of the draw, which was for an IPod. The tension built up. And, the winner was … Henry!

One more cheer from everybody and the ceremony ended. This year’s camp may be over but there will be another English Essentials Summer Camp next year.

It is always a great thing when students participate in class. It gives them a chance to practise their English as well encourage others in English. Another great thing is when the topic being discussed is a lifeskill, and the students talk about how they can work on improving that lifeskill.

During the English in the Wild summer camp I had the privilege of talking about forgiveness in an English Corner. The students did a great job talking in class. Some of them had some very thought-provoking ideas as to how they were going to practise forgiveness with their friends or family members.

A few days later the students had a chance to practise the lesson of forgiveness. A prominent student was participating in a game in front of the whole camp. He and several other students were to blow up balloons and keep blowing until the balloons popped. Mysteriously this young man’s balloon popped when it was fairly small. The reason was that he used his finger to pop the balloon. Later that day the young man thought about his wrong and wanted to correct it. In order to make things right he went to every class and asked for forgiveness.

What a great opportunity for the students to practise what we talked about in English Corner. To some of us it may have seemed like a small thing. It was just a game. But for this young man it was something much bigger than just a game—it was more about life. The students in the classes reached out to him with forgiveness and love. How wonderful it was for this young man to be forgiven. Now when the young man looks at his classmates he holds his head up and knows the great value of being forgiven. What a great illustration to all those who were in that English corner.

What do you like about camp? I have asked many students this question. In the past years the most popular answer to that question was “the pep rally!” This time when I asked the question I got many different answers. However, a lot of those different answers all pointed to one: the teachers!

What is it about the teachers that make English in the Wild Summer Camp so great? The first word that I hear the students use to describe the teachers is caring. Nicole told me that the teachers care about her personally. The teachers listen to her and correct her English. They help her in English areas where she is weak. Raymond told me how much he appreciated all the hard work the teachers put into preparing the lessons. He commented that the classes are interesting and fun. He also mentioned that the teachers are interesting to talk to. He especially likes to talk to one teacher about history. It seems the students like to talk to the teachers after and between classes. One girl mentioned that her favorite time of the day is meal time. Not that the food is all that great but that she gets to spend time with the teachers and talk to them about many things, things that she is interested in. She feels that the teachers are friends as much as they are teachers. Another word that is commonly used to describe the teachers is “Crazy”.

Now most of the time teachers would not like students to say they are crazy but these teachers are not only crazy but like they also like it that way. The teachers dress up in very strange ways for the team Spirit Day. The reason is to set an example for the students. It seems the teachers know that if the students are relaxed and having fun they will learn. In the classroom setting the teachers are friendly and thoughtful but put them on the playground or in a pep rally they yell, jump, and try to win points for their classes.

So what makes the English in the Wild Summer Camp so great? The caring, hardworking, friendly, crazy teachers!