ESL Camp 2012

We did another ESL camp this year at the large school Rusty teaches at two afternoons a week. We try to limit the camp to 100 students so that we can have about 20 at each station. Last year Rusty and I did the planning and preparing for the camp, but this year the teachers did it themselves. We had four foreigners teaching, and the day was a great success.

Everyone was ready to get the show started. I thought the registration and opening assembly were a lot smoother this year. Last year we seemed to be behind from the very beginning so our first few classes were cut short. This year we had the full class time with all of our groups. Rusty taught a song about love and discussed the true meaning of love. He loves having discussions with his students, and he usually gets a lot of good answers from the students.I had the craft/activity station. We opened the class with a brainstorming activity about Valentine's Day and then had the students write cards. I tried to encourage them to write to their parents, teachers, and friends since they were all too young to have sweethearts! I'm not sure my seniors believed they were too young!I'm constantly amazed by their artwork and creativity. I guess the talents that we don't possess ourselves always impress us when we see them in someone else.I was paired up with one of the Thai teachers for my station, and she thought we should pick the best cards for prizes. I didn't want to judge the contest because I remembered how it was trying to judge the cookie houses from 2010. I talked her into getting the student teacher to judge. After all we are both older than the student teacher so we could get away with that. While I was sitting with Rusty and another one of the Western teachers, the student teacher brought the cards over to get us to judge. I couldn't believe I ended up being the judge again!

So I judged the cards on both artwork, creative design, and correct English and chose the card on the right. I didn't know it, but it was the card of the girl who made a perfect score on the pre-ONET test which is the government English test. It's a very hard test, and the school is really hoping this means their students will do better on the test this year.

We had a great day at the ESL Camp, and we were really glad the school fit it in before we leave on furlough. It's been a crazy year and very, very busy!