This past weekend we had English camp at my school. Ours was solely for Matyom 2 students (8th grade) but English camp is a popular event in Thai schools. The purpose seems to be to emphasize the use or need for English, and is done through a variety of fun activities, mostly games. It was up to Jessie, Alexis, and I to plan English camp, but since I had not done one before, I followed in the footsteps of Jessie and Alexis. Our theme was “Heroes and Adventures”. We had eight stations, each led by a foreign English teacher (myself included). Since there are only three of us at PCC, I had to call on my fellow ETAs to come up and help out. Jamie and Sarie came up for the weekend, and Alexis’ two friends from her program, Chris and AJ, agreed to help as well.
English camp was a lot more fun than I could have ever expected. I thought it was going to be awful. I thought the day was going to drag on and on and on. Luckily, none of that happened. Instead of our camp lasting the whole weekend, we started in the afternoon on Friday and ended Saturday night. We had Sunday to ourselves!
Camp began with us leading the opening ceremony Friday afternoon. We taught the students camp cheers and songs, such as “Baby Shark” and “Peel Bananas”. We broke them up into their groups where they had to create a team banner that included a picture of the superhero they created, as well as their team’s song. The Superheroes created included Flex, who had the power of super strength, the Hulk, who was stretchy, Tarzan (I don’t remember his power), Iceman, the ability to freeze things, and sadly, I cannot remember the others. Oh, one had the ability to talk to animals, there was Fireman, and one had the ability to make people fall in love (although the superhero was a pig…). Then, we were off to the Night Bazaar, where students had to interview foreigners, and learn new vocabulary words while they shopped. They were so excited, since they never get to leave school (I work at a boarding school). I’m not sure if they were more excited to be off campus, to do some shopping, or the fact that they got to eat at the Night Bazaar rather than have the cafeteria food for dinner.
Saturday was a jam-packed day, which of course meant that we started bright and early. A traditional (and delicious!) Thai breakfast at 7:30am, and by 8:30am we were each at our stations ready to start rotation #1. Since our theme was “Heroes and Adventures” our stations had to of course reflect that theme. So, we had a relay race station called “Save the Day” in which students listened to various “superhero scenarios”, had to find the corresponding picture, and be the first team to put the picture in their superhero box. There was “blind hero” in which students were blinded and lead through an obstacle course by their “superhero” partner. “Battle cry” consisted of students creating their own superhero -themed song from a list of words. Once their song was finished, they had to act it out while they sang. Musical instruments were provided. “Superhero Says” (Simon Says but with superhero actions like “kicking” “flying” etc) and charades (superhero-themed) were two other stations. “My Amazing Superhero” consisted of students creating their own funny story about their specific superhero (kind of like mad libs). There was also “Cha Cha Superslide” which was the Cha Cha Slide, you know the song, “slide to the left, slide the right, criss cross!”
I taught the cha cha slide, which was exhausting, but also fun and hilarious. I couldn’t really re-name the dance steps after superhero actions, because I would’ve had to re-record the song. So instead, I tied it into the whole superhero theme by telling the students that superheroes LOVE to dance in their free time, and that their favorite dance is the cha cha slide! I was there to teach the students how to dance just like superheroes! It was a lot of fun. I got crazy into it, exaggerating my emotions, demanding more energy from the students. I felt like an aerobics instructor, and by the end of each 30 minute rotation, I was sweating and a bit tired, but it was great. Oh, did I mention that I taught this for 4 hours in a row? Yeah. But the kids had fun; they were smiling, laughing, and getting into it, so that’s really all that matters. They probably thought I was on crack for having so much energy, but I did hear them say to the other teachers, “teacher Leah is so much fun! She is so STRONG!” So, although it was hot out, I’m glad they had fun, and I think I was able to show them that learning English can be fun and is useful. Needless to say that by the end of the day I was exhausted and felt like I had been working out for hours! J
The Cha Cha Slide song is STILL stuck in my head….
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