English Teaching Camp
Thailand, like many countries around the world, sees English as an opportunity for the people to improve their position in life. From this fact, the English Teaching Camp (ETC) idea was birthed.
An English Teaching Camp consists of the following:
- an opening session,
- English classes (usually about 1 hour in length),
- then a Vacation Bible School program.
The camp lasts 5 days and is typically held from 8:30am until noon a short distance from the school. This way we can better control the students environment so they are not distracted by other activities that might be going on at the school.
Teaching English
The first several times we held an English Teaching Camp, we began
with English alphabet, then simple but specific and common words like
"the", "in", or "there". This worked well, but we discovered that
many of the students already knew the alphabet and knew it pretty well.
They also knew a number of words, however, their pronunciation was often
incorrect.
One common thing in many Asian cultures is the idea of saving face - not making mistakes in front of your peers. That means it is better not to say anything than to say it wrong and be corrected.
So this year we approached our English camp with two ideas.
First, teach pronunciation to make sure they were saying things
correctly. Second, encourage the students to speak in English using full phrases. For example if pointing at a blue object
asking "What color is this?", we would expect the answer "That color
is blue" not just the word blue. It took a little doing, but the
students got the idea and began to speak in full sentences.
Vacation Bible School
This is our ultimate goal! Each day the students are split into 3 groups. Each group then rotates between the Bible story, a craft time and games.
The primary purpose of the Bible Story is to teach the students values based on stories from the Bible. This year we used the story of Joseph. Each day we would tell a portion of Joseph's story while emphasizing the value for that day. Our 5 days consisted of these topics:
- Day 1: Pride - Joseph, favorite of his father, with his special multi-colored jacket, and his special dreams.
- Day 2: Courage - As Joseph is sold by his brothers into slavery. He works hard and becomes an important person to Pitiphor. He had the "courage to run" when Potiphor's wife came after him.
- Day 3: Obedience - Joseph served the people around him even when falsely accused and put into prison.
- Day 4: God's Plan - God has a plan for Joseph's life. God training Joseph to be an obedient servant, while preparing him to be Prime Minister of all Egypt.
- Day 5: Forgiveness - Joseph does not blame his brothers when they arrive in Egypt. He tells them what they did for evil, God used for good!
In the Craft section, the students create something each day related to that day's teaching. This provides a way for the students to take something with them at the end of the day as a reminder of the teaching for that day.
With Games our primary purpose is teams and teamwork. Getting the students to work together while encouraging one another in the process - win or lose!