English Winter Camp #1: January 7-11

I finished and survived my first week of English Camp last week! I feel the need to clarify on what this camp entails, as I have received a few questions from back home. This sort of camp is definitely not what I consider "camp" in Canada, meaning there isn't any camping, bonfires, canoeing, etc. English camp takes place at school, usually lasts for a few hours a day, and is led by the foreign English teacher at each school. Last week, my camp was for students in grades 3 and 4. The twenty students that signed up were divided into two groups: high and low level. Each camp lasted for 1.5 hours. Since the students are technically on winter break, I really wanted to make the camp fun for them. I also had a relatively big budget that allowed me to do so! I was lucky, since I know a few other foreign teachers that didn't receive any funding from the school and therefore had to pay for everything out of their own pockets.

For my camp, I decided to give each day a different theme. Monday, day one was an introductory day where I could evaluate their level, and the students got to know one another. Tuesday was Olympics Day! The students were divided into teams, and had to choose which country they wanted to be. It was cute how in both high and low level camps, the students were arguing over who got to represent Canada. It was settled with a simple game of rock, paper, scissors (they actually call it rock, scissors, paper which always throws me off). I use rock, paper, scissors as my go-to tool for conflict resolution in elementary school. After deciding on countries we played several games to see which country got the gold! Wednesday was easy- it was movie day! The kids voted to watch Ice Age. For Thursday, I organized a pirate camp, where the students made eye patches, made a pirate ship flag, and went on a treasure hunt. The last day of camp was cooking day, where the students made sandwiches.

Although camp planning takes work, I really enjoyed getting to know my students. In a regular week, I teach so many students (~500) and it is hard to remember them all. Winter camp gave me the opportunity to talk (or as much talking as a grade 3 kid is able to in English) and play games with my kiddos.

This week I am deskwarming again, which is fine because I am really just counting down the days til Saturday, when Ian and I fly to Japan! We are going for a week of skiing in Mt. Niseko and I couldn't be more excited! This will be our first international trip since coming to Korea and it will also be our first time skiing together. The week after Japan, I have my second and final English camp for students in grade 5 and 6. I am using this week to prep for this camp, which is Harry Potter themed.

Here are some pictures from my camp :)

Opening ceremonies for Olympic day. We had a torch relay.

Olympic Torch

Spoon and ping pong event

Arm wrestling event

Arm wrestling event

During the closing ceremonies.

Go Canada!

This event I had the students wear rubber gloves, and when I called a number they had to open the book to that page. 

Spoon and ping pong

Pirate Day!

Becoming pirates and making eye patches

Making pirate ship flags. Yes, this team's name is Nadia Hook. 

Pirate eye patches

Pirate eye patches

The final product - a delicious sandwich!

This is an event in the Olympics. The kids had to use chopsticks to pick up objects and place them in a box.
(Even when I tried to demonstrate I was unable to do it)