{"id":701,"date":"2009-09-01T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2009-08-31T15:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/?p=701"},"modified":"2011-04-07T10:45:44","modified_gmt":"2011-04-07T01:45:44","slug":"miki-summer-camp-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/2009\/09\/miki-summer-camp-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Miki Summer Camp 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"<\/a>If you keep an eye upon the Hyogo\u00c2\u00a0AJET mailing list around May or June (so consider this fair and early warning), you may notice calls for assistance\u00c2\u00a0from ALTs for various English summer camps being held over the break. Answering Miki Senior High School\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call, Emma and I, along with Eric Lord and Shellian Forrester, joined the home-ground ALTs Michael Anziliero and Amy Louie and 40 MIC (i.e. advanced English course) students\u00c2\u00a0for three days of controlled chaos\u00c2\u00a0at Ureshinodai Lifelong Education Center, Yashiro. (Ureshinodai? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153other Yashiro\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnot the Full Metal Jacket Yashiro you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thinking of.) The MIC Summer Camp provided yet another\u00c2\u00a0glimpse into what magic can transpire when the minds of Japanese high school students are temporarily permitted to run around in the exercise yard for a bit\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut then you will see that for yourself at your own school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bunkasai next year.<\/p>\n

Each ALT was assigned a group of 6 to 8 students, with whom we were to share meals, advice and moral support as they prepared for their singing and drama contests. On the first night, our groups interviewed us and prepared\u00c2\u00a0posters based on the results, which they presented to the rest of the class. I was not offended in the slightest\u00c2\u00a0that mine depicted me as Dracula in a polo shirt.<\/p>\n

We were also assigned lessons to deliver to the groups on a rotational basis. Shellian was in charge of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Describing\u00c2\u00a0Someone,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Eric led his kids on a Treasure Hunt; Amy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lessons yielded some delicious chocolate. Emma occupied the director\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chair for Drama lessons, and Michael hosted\u00c2\u00a0a Quiz which, seeing as I am currently\u00c2\u00a0in the middle of compiling my Semester Two teaching programme, he should consider stolen. For some reason it fell to me to ruin run the Music\u00c2\u00a0lessons and help prepare the students\u00c2\u00a0for their choral competition\u00e2\u20ac\u201ddespite my inability to hold a tune to save my life, as anyone unfortunate enough to have attended karaoke sessions with me can attest. In any case, all of the groups performed admirably\u00c2\u00a0in the chorus contest on the morning of the final day, no thanks to me. And Eric, I agree: your girls were gypped by the Japanese judge! (And I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Country Road\u00e2\u20ac\u009d out of my head.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The highlight of the camp, as I think all who participated would agree, was the drama contest. AFAIK the brief was to (i) take a well-known fairytale\u00c2\u00a0and (ii) modify it slightly; (iii) write the script in Japanese, then (iv) translate\u00c2\u00a0it into English; (v) make the costumes\u00c2\u00a0and (vi) learn the lines. The kids managed steps (i) to (v) with aplomb; but, damn it, we ALTs on the judging panel (a.k.a the nosebleed section) were there to be entertained\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand the occasional well-timed stumble into fits of uncontrollable (and infectious) giggling\u00c2\u00a0because of unremembered lines was precisely what we had paid to see. Meccya kawaii! I also learned an important cultural lesson that evening: hormonal, painfully-shy yet too-cool-for-school teenage boys . . . REALLY LOVE DRESSING UP AS WOMEN! Needless to say, the vibe of the camp lifted several atmospheres in the wake of this event.<\/p>\n

There is always a danger when working with students of this caliber at summer camps, ESS seminars and the like: you can lose sight of the fact that your own students might not have the same level of English competence.\u00c2\u00a0Nothing is more disappointing, from an ALT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perspective, than bringing\u00c2\u00a0home a great idea that worked really well with high-level students, only to see it fall flat on its face in your own classroom\u00c2\u00a0because it is too difficult. Still, I envy Michael\u00c2\u00a0and Amy for the privilege of being able to work with the MIC students on a regular basis, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been inspired enough at least to consider\u00c2\u00a0running a drama contest in my own classes. Rampant transvestism\u00c2\u00a0aside, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the worst that can happen?<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153SAY THEIRS\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

By way of a P.S., here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little game that went down a treat with my music lesson students. All you need is a deck of playing cards placed in the middle of the table, and a category: let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153musical instruments.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0Going around the table, each player announces their instrument (e.g. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Guitar,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Trumpet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Piano,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d etc.), and everybody else repeats it. Have all players repeat together each player\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words in sequence, so that everyone remembers everyone\u00c2\u00a0else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s word.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Players then take turns drawing\u00c2\u00a0cards from the deck, laying the cards face-up in front of them on the table. If two cards match (e.g. 1=1, A=A, etc.), those players\u00c2\u00a0must race to say each other\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s words first. The winning player takes the loser\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pile of drawn cards: these become \u00e2\u20ac\u0153point cards\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and are placed face-down in a separate pile from the winner\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s drawn cards. A drawn card remains in play until it is a player\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s turn to draw again, in which case the new card is placed face-up on top of his or her pile of drawn cards. Losing players\u00c2\u00a0relinquish only their piles of drawn cards; they get to keep any point cards they have won.<\/p>\n

The game continues until there are no more cards left in the deck, at which point players add their point cards to any drawn cards they still have on the table. The player with the highest total number of cards is the winner.<\/p>\n

The ideal number of players for this game is around 8 to 10. If you have less, you might try matching suits instead of numbers to get more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153duels\u00e2\u20ac\u009d happening. This game is a winner, but don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t thank me: thank the team behind the wonderful ESL Teacher Talk podcast\u00c2\u00a0(http:\/\/www.eslteachertalk.com\/).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you keep an eye upon the Hyogo AJET mailing list around May or June (so consider this fair and early warning), you may notice calls for assistance from ALTs for various English summer camps being held over the break. Answering Miki Senior High School\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call, Emma and I, along with Eric Lord and Shellian Forrester, joined the home-ground ALTs Michael Anziliero and Amy Louie and 40 MIC (i.e. advanced English course) students for three days of controlled chaos at Ureshinodai Lifelong Education Center, Yashiro. (Ureshinodai? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153other Yashiro\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201dnot the Full Metal Jacket Yashiro you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re thinking of.) The MIC Summer Camp provided yet another glimpse into what magic can transpire when the minds of Japanese high school students are temporarily permitted to run around in the exercise yard for a bit\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut then you will see that for yourself at your own school\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bunkasai next year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false},"categories":[143,13],"tags":[144],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/mikicamp1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}