Week two has flown by and it’s time for a quick update!
Peace Corps Volunteer Amanda here filling you in on
everything that happened at camp.
The 85 individual students we had at camp this week worked
really hard to learn the English words that related to their school. The
stations were the same, but that definitely doesn’t mean things have gotten
monotonous. With the addition of Peace Corps Volunteer Sara the students also
gained a Frisbee for their outdoor games. The older students really took to
playing Ultimate Frisbee and Sara found a way to bond with the students. We were
sad to see her go on Friday.
We also gained an enthusiastic volunteer named Morganne. She
was “Row Row Rowing her Boat” and “Bah Bah Black Sheeping” her way into the
hearts of the students all week. The pupils also reviewed many of the songs
from week one and really seem to like “5 Little Monkeys”.
In the reading room I split time between reviewing
vocabulary, reading to the students, and having the students read to the group. I find
it helpful for review to play games using the vocabulary words, so this week we played
hangman. A lot of this has to do with the fact that individual letters are so
important to the English language so I want the students to be able to
recognize individual letters outside of whole words. My favorite part of camp
is when I can find an enthusiastic reader to read aloud to his or her peers. I
tend to find three a day who really want to take on the challenge of reading to
the other students, so I try to make that time enjoyable. More than just a
reading station, I hope we can also encourage a culture of books within the
students.
This weeks art classes were a lot of fun, because we were
focusing on colors. Taylor was able to use water and food coloring to
demonstrate different aspects of blending colors. Joanne was able to encourage
a lot of use of colors when she helped the students make rainbows using color
and coffee filters. It's always nice when we can find a way for the students to express their creativity through art.
Field day Friday came around lickity split and the teams
were ready for their three legged races. Like we say, work hard and then play
hard and play hard they did. Everybody tried their best, but the white team
came out on top. That was ironic for the week focusing on color and white wins.
Oh, science.
All in all it was a very successful week of camp. The
students are eager to come and the volunteers are all eager to help them learn.
We can’t wait to see what week three will bring.
