Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Winter English Camp

There are some sadistic parents out there who send their kids away to English camp during winter vacation. These unfortunate kids have to study English 9 hours a day for an entire week. Even more unfortunate are the teachers who sign up for the gig. This year, two of those teachers were me and Jason.

We taught a three week English camp that was held at a resort about an hour south of where we live. Jason got the job first and encouraged (or more accurately bullied) me into applying for it too. It paid well, so I decided it was something I could do. It didn't sound so bad in the interview...in fact it sounded kind of fun and different. In addition to the regular English classes, we also taught science, math, cooking, music, and would go sledding with the kids.

I was under the impression that I would be with the kids for 5 or 6 hours a day - ha! I was required to be with them from 8:50 in the morning until 10:00 at night. Well, actually I had the littlest kids (8 - 10 years old) and it was decided after the first week that 10:00 was a bit too late for them to stay up. The second and third week we ended class at 9:50 instead.

The kids were super cute though. It wasn't their fault that they were shipped off to bootcamp, so I somehow mustered up the energy everyday to teach, sing, play, dance, and mother them. I only had a few criers, a few ADHD kids, and one pooper the whole time - the rest of the kids were fantastic.


The woman in the middle was my TA during the camp. Kate is a university student and was gaining experience for her resume.


All of the kids received certificates of completion during the graduation ceremony...and then they had everyone sign them like yearbooks.

This little cutie was in my second week class. She warmed my heart when she told me that she very very loved me. :)


Week three students showing off their certificates - they were really proud of them.


The girl on the right had a crush on one of the male teachers (she's only 10!). She told my TA Kate that she couldn't sleep at night because she was thinking of him. All the other teachers gave Alan (the male teacher) a lot of hell for that one.


This is Cathy. She was showing off the bow-tie that she colored for our Wipeout Korea skit. When I looked at the photo I started laughing. She asked why I was laughing and I told her that it looked like she was giving me the bad finger. To this she replied, "Teacher! No f*ck you! No f*ck you, teacher!" - which made me laugh even harder.


On Thursdays we went sledding with the kids. The runs were a lot steeper than they look in this picture. I went down a few times and my legs would be all jiggly afterwards because I was a little freaked out by the speed I picked up.


Two TA's (Vanessa and Stacy) and Niall teacher enjoying the winter weather.