Winter Camp Hello

Date: 1/3/11

The first Monday of January was the start of Winter Camp.  I only have to do a Winter Camp at Seohyung Middle School--my city school.  I actually will not see my country school until March.

 I was very nervous about winter camp.  I had read a little online, but, I don't know, it just seemed a little overwhelming to me.  I was to have the same 10 kids for 3 hours a day for 2 weeks.  Most winter camps have two classes so you can repeat a lesson.  But I was to teach the kids (in English) for 3 solid hours.  I try to think back to my Japanese High School lessons and think, could I have done a 3 hour class in Japanese?  My brain hurts have just 45 minutes in a Japanese classroom--how do I not burn out the kid's English?

I had searched the wonderful ESL websites (waygook.org), looking for ideas.  I had this idea I do a "Survivor Themed" Camp the first week and then a magazine camp the 2nd week.  But I didn't know the English level of my kids, and after asking my co-teachers they said they didn't know either.  Some good student, but so very low students.  (Very helpful, indeed, right?)  So really I was just hoping they were nice.

On top of this, I was a little nervous about my co-teacher for the camp.  Ms Lee is awesome and a very nice lady, but I always have to prepare extra for her classes (even if it's just hangman for 10 minutes).  I did not know how this was going to translate into a 3 hour long session.

I arrive on the first day about 30 minutes early and head into the Teacher's class, where I say hello to my Vice Principal.  She looks very surprised to see me and asks about winter camp.  "Yes, it does start today!"  I try to always be extremely cheerful and optimistic with my teachers.  All smiles. Even though, really, I was just sincerely hoping that things didn't flop.

I should have hoped harder.

The first day was a bomb.  And it was probably one of the biggest bombs I've ever had.  And it was multiplied by the fact that it was 3 hours of bombing.  You learn something from every bomb, and since this was my first Winter Camp, I learned that--"Hey, these kids don't know each other!"

The thing we accomplished on Day 1?  We made team posters.

They look so happy, ne? 

 It is a cultural thing to hide themselves when a camera comes out.  I asked Mrs Lee why they hide and she said they are "shy."

I was feeling pretty morose after the first day of winter camp.  The kids didn't speak Korean--let alone English.  I have never had a class that quiet.  It was unnerving!

I had a lot of work to do.  I basically threw out the plans I had and started over.  It was good to have a rough first day because I did learn about how to set up a class.   I realized that 3 hours wasn't that long--I just need to keep the kids moving.  And that craft projects worked well because the kids seemed to really get involved in those.

I asked Mrs Lee if we can show a movie on Friday and she said absolutely.  So basically I decided to show High School Musical 3 (which I had read was a big hit with the Korean middle schoolers) and would plan a couple lessons from themes in the movie.  For example: What is HSM3 about?  Music--check!  So do a music lesson.  Dancing---check!  Do a dance lesson.  Need something else?  How about family...that sounds good!  This way the work (vocab and grammar) sort of build up so when you have 30 minutes left after watching the video, you can talk about the topics.  Example: What did you think of the music in HSM3?  The Answers come from the Music Day vocab.

So, I went home, squared my shoulders and started pouring over notes and lesson plans.   I took it one week at time.  I figured I'd just take care of Week 1 and watch for ideas for Week 2....

Week 1 Schedule:
Day 1: Bomb--scrap it and start over.
Day 2: Ice breakers and New Years Resolutions
Day 3: Family Lesson
Day 4: Music/Dance Lesson
Day 5: Movie Day