SJA Jeju hosted a government sponsored summer camp for students of economic need this summer (2019). The students were in 5th grade to 3rd grade and were beginners with regards to English language acquisition. We followed a partial immersion model with a Korean speaking co-teacher. The students also had a Korean staff that was assigned to one group (big sister, big brother) that helped transition the groups around our campus. I was teaching language classes in the morning and then STEAM (Marshmallow towers, hovercraft, balloon rockets) in the afternoon. The schedule was:
1. Language classes in the morning.
2. Afternoon rotations with STEAM, Art, and sports (badminton, scooter ball, indoor bowling, basket ball, indoor soccer and outdoor soccer).
3. Some days groups of students were attending filed trips to local museums.
A TV crew made a mini documentary about the camp. You can see me at 24:10.
The camp was a lot of fun and the students were very eager to learn and participate. For next time I would do the following:
1. Use mini-marshmallows instead of tape for the marshmallow towers.
2. Pre-teach the vocabulary for the towers to be included in the story telling activities for the language classes.
3. For pre-training the teachers, I would have us all agree on the ways in which we would manage our classes. For example, what set phrases of teacher talk we would use (Teachers: Class! Class!, Students: Yes, Yes!). We could then pre-teach these to students on the first day and ensure a more effective use of class time.
Kent Dwyer created nice certificates for staff and students. We had a nice graduation ceremony at the end. Hope we can do it again next year!
SJA Jeju Summer Camp Certificate