Summer definitely started at full speed as July was busy with three different camps! There were many smiles, lots of pictures, and memories. In all my years of teaching English Camps for kids, I never had groups that were as clever and kind as these ones. These students really raised the bar for future classes as they teamed together, showed compassion to one another, and brought loads of joy to each day of class!
CITY CAMP - ENGLISH WEEK 1
In our Elim organization, we decided to have four weeks of camps in July with English Class bookending the month. Week one started off with a group of happy little kids! They came the first day giggly with excitement of all they will do during the week. My translators and I, though we went home each day exhausted, had our hearts filled with the little smiles and joy the kids shared. Throughout the week, the students were "superheroes" and training their Superhero Senses as each day we looked at vocabulary words describing a different sense (see, hear, taste, smell, and feel). Each day, the students also received a clue regarding what item was in our Mystery Box until they finally used all their Superhero Senses to guess it on the last day. (These clever kids actually guessed the mystery item - M&Ms - earlier, but forgot about the suggestion until Friday afternoon when they were certain.)
Our days started at 8am with some group games and getting-to-know-you activities and then we dove into English practice for the remainder of the morning. We played numerous games (indoors and outdoors), made crafts, sang rhymes, and practiced the new vocabulary throughout it all. After lunch, the kids had a short break while the leaders and I cleaned-up dishes and prepared afternoon workshop activities. I enjoyed watching how some of the students jumped between multiple workshop activities each day, while others remained content at a workshop activity for hours. Some even requesting repeating workshops for the remainder of the week as they had enjoyed it so much! We were always gathering Nerf bullets around the room and picking up Perler Beads from the floor as those were requested as bonus workshops daily after introducing them on Monday.
This group made friends with each other so quickly! They learned each others' names and looked out for their classmates. As the students were slowly arriving the first day and getting situated, I noticed one of my students sweetly giggling at his desk. When I asked him why he was laughing he said, "I heard you greet that boy by name and saw that he sits across from me, so I went and introduced myself, and now I have a new friend!" These two boys were inseparable all week all because I had randomly placed them as table-buddies on the first day. On the last day of class, these two boys came up to me and asked if they could have a piece of paper. I said, "Like for drawing?" The two replied, "Sure... like for drawing." I handed each boy a paper and they handed one back to me saying, "One's enough." I had no idea what these two were up to, but thought the only thing they could do with a single sheet of paper was make a paper airplane anyway. A couple minutes later, one of the boys came to show me on his half of the torn piece of paper was his new friend's phone number. He couldn't stop smiling as he said, "We're going to hang out all summer now too!"
Generally, one would think that in a class of 6-9year olds that the level of English would all be relatively the same. However, with this class, that was not the case - I had two bilingual students and two trilingual students - all four being able to speak and understand English fluently in conversation (and some even able to read and write!). I had fun watching these students interact together switching between English and Czech as familiarly as I do. One afternoon, one of the bilingual students brought an English picture book for me to read to her. As I sat down with the student, the second bilingual and one of the trilingual students came to hear the story too. Just as I was beginning to open the book, my very talented translator came over and asked, "Do you mind if I listen too?" And so, the group of four crowded around me and enjoyed the book together.
Each day, we read a Gerald and Piggie story, and all the kids quickly became attached to our two mascots. Gerald - needing his own chair most times - was like an added student in the class, but it was Piggie who really saved the day. Since Piggie is little and easier to carry around, she solved all the problems of these little kids during the week. When kids said, "My friend made me sad," or "My tummy hurts," or "I'm tired," or "I don't want to do this activity alone," my response was always "Can you hold Piggie?" The students would instantly feel better having Piggie by their side and pretty soon they started solving any problems themselves saying, "I see my friend is a little sad, so I'm going to bring Piggie to her." The leaders and I smiled at how a little stuffed pig solved every little worry of 20 kids that week. Many of the students also started bringing their own stuffed animals from home to introduce to Piggie. On Friday, two of the girls came up to me (one holding Piggie) and asked, "Can we help set up for workshops?" I said, "You're kind, but my translator will help." The girls said, "Yes... but look Kendra, our translator is so tired he's nearly fallen asleep on the couch. Maybe we can help... and we can give him Piggie to hold because he is tired." I loved that these little girls were aware that my translator was tired, offered to help me instead, and then, to top it off, decided that my 15-year-old translator needed Piggie too.
Watch a short video about City Camp - English Week 1!
CITY CAMP - ENGLISH WEEK 2
This summer our organization definitely came into contact with many new students this summer. Since school had been closed for most of the year due to lockdown restrictions, we noticed in spring that there weren't so many new-comers at Kid's Club that we normally have in the spring. So, we were all very happy to see many new names on our registration for City Camp! In this class, many of the students had similar or same names - we actually had 10 kids whose name started with the letter M! When looking at the registration list and seeing all the duplicates of names, my translator half-jokingly said, "Couldn't we just give them numbers instead of names this week?" Somehow, we managed. And sometimes it worked to my advantage to say one name and have four kids appear! This group filled the fastest during registration, and after just two weeks, we had to close the registration for the class! Saying this group was fun is an understatement. These kids were active, caring, and great leaders. They stepped in asking if they could help multiple times a day and were always ready for each activity. I really think these kids are going to be great leaders in a couple years, and some of them are already asking if I will need translators in future years. Honestly, this group could run the show themselves!
Similarly to the first group, this class also studied vocabulary surrounding the five senses. However, in this group, we were detectives and the students were learning the senses to again be able to guess what is in our Mystery Box by the end of the week. (Again, these clever kids guessed it early, but we were able to keep them thinking and guessing until Friday!) Some of my favorite parts about teaching this older group of students is playing more games. With the younger kids, it takes a little more time explaining the activity, convincing the littlest kids to at least try the activity, all before actually playing. Though, with this group, the students were all so active and involved in the games that we moved through the lessons and got to nearly all the activities I had planned for each day! (And, I tend to over-plan...) I rarely had to repeat instructions for games as they were so excited to play... though I did often repeat that it was time to clean-up as they reluctantly went home each day.
When preparing activities for this group, I took some of the games I had used for first class and modified them to fit an older group. I wrote on the plan that we would read Gerald and Piggie books, but I wondered if the kids would still be interested in the books seeing that they are older. I contemplated for a long time if I should even take out the stuffed animal mascots. Finally, I decided we would try it the first day just to see if the kids would like the books. They immediately fell in love with Gerald and Piggie! So much so that we had to start reading a Bonus Book each day because one still wasn't enough! Gerald was an added "team member" and Piggie was usually held by one student as the activities commenced. During one lunch, a student came up for a second serving and said, "Just the rice please," and then he added in a whisper, "not the pork... I'm sitting with Piggie!"
Where Piggie had been the trick to solving the problems in first class, I learned another trick for the older kids. Occasionally, we had kids who bumped an elbow or stepped wrong and twisted an ankle during a game. (At this age, many are hitting a growth spurt and are familiar with bumps and bruises.) After seeing that the injury wasn't anything serious, I went to our stash of ice-cream popsicles in the freezer telling the student to put the popsicle on their elbow or ankle to "ice" it, and then I would add, "and when it starts feeling better, then you need to eat the ice-cream before it melts, okay?" No joke - I cured five kids with ice-cream in one afternoon.
Watch a short video about City Camp - English Week 2!
ENGLISH & SPORTS CAMP
With COVID still creating many travel complications, English Camps this summer have been banding American missionaries from around the country to help keep summer programs running. I actually had to decline at least six other camp offers this summer simply because the need for American teachers was so great! So, I decided to help with one of these English Camps in July, and picked the camp where I felt God was really opening for me to go - the one where I knew absolutely no one! It was so fun for me to go to a camp where I knew no one - just some quick Zoom calls to meet a couple leaders a month before.
It usually doesn't take me long to make new friends - I love meeting new people! This little friend I met in the first 20 minutes of camp as she pulled out a ukulele and started strumming. I quickly ran up to my room (a great accomplishment if you could see this maze-like building of stairs and random hallways) and took my ukulele down to strum along with this new friend. Throughout the week, whenever we had a few spare minutes, we found ourselves on this couch playing a duet.
At camp, I taught the Beginners English Class. I requested this group because I love the beginners - encouraging them to make mistakes, playing silly charades games with limited vocabulary, and just focusing on the basics of the English language!
This group made me laugh constantly! Between all the charades, acting, silly games, and just hanging out together, I knew that any time I spent with my English Class students, I would be laughing by the end. Their introvert and shy personalities fooled the other leaders for most of the week, but after telling another leader that one student in my class is particularly funny with the greatest one-liners, this other leader had to see for himself. We had just gotten back from a beautiful, exhausting 19 kilometer (11.8 miles) hike in the Czech Beskydy Mountains when this leader ran into this student in the hall and asked, "Hey, how are your legs after that hike?" This student, looking down at his legs with a straight face, said, "Well, they're still attached to my body." I'm not even sure this student knew how funny his replies were, but I always enjoyed hearing the one-liners all week.
I couldn't get enough of these beautiful views on our Hike Day! I had a lot of fun getting to know many friends all week and some became good friends really quickly. On the second day of camp, one of the Americans asked me, "How long have you known [student youth leader]?" I said, "Umm... a day?" Seeing her surprised look, I continued, "This happens often to me... I tend to make friends quickly. It's a God-given gift." She said, "It certainly is!" On Hike Day, I got to talk with some of my English Class students for a while, and as we were walking out in nature, suddenly their questions started to rise, "How was the world created?" and "What happens after we leave this world?" I loved listening to their questions and sharing God's love with them as I continued them to keep asking questions and seeking answers! God was definitely working on some hearts at camp during the week.
Camp just isn't camp without a little mess. In this activity, one partner blindly fed the other while both were laying on the ground! We're not sure really how we ended up like this because our strategy at the start was premium... and then, somehow, when the whistle blew to start, we lost all tactic and both ended up with yogurt all over our faces! After the yogurt container was empty, with half of it all over our faces, we rolled over to look at each other and couldn't stop laughing!
I got to connect with some of the little kids at camp week also - kids of youth leaders and families who helped run camp - and when their sweet little faces look like this, it just is impossible not to go back, so I'll be volunteering again with this church to help with their Kid's Day-Camp (VBS style) as the youth group leads!