Language Camp B by Jacqueline Limantan Rantai (Post)

Post

            I would like to thank all the community members and language camp team b for making this camp a successful one. I am happy for sharing this journey with my fellow course mates and meeting the students. Before the camp ended, I had asked my  students their  opinion about this camp. All of them, love the activities in the game but they wish to have more fun games and activities. Some of them even asked for one night language camps so that they can play for the whole day. Moreover, they never think English could be fun and entertaining.

            However, there are few adjustments need to be taken into measure. Firstly, they should consider reduce the spiciness of the foods. There are some people who have problem handling spicy food and one of it, is me. I couldn’t take my breakfast and lunch, the only food I ate are the banana and bun. Some of my students forced themselves to eat it because they were hungry. This worrying me as they may get sick throughout the end of the day. Secondly, the venue of camp should be changed to a better hall with better air ventilation. My students kept on complaining about the heat and some of them prefer to just stay outside rather than stuffing themselves in the hall. They were happy when I chose to rehearse the skit outside the hall. Lastly, maybe there should be some warming up activities to get the students excited. For example, dancing or singing session whereby everybody will do it together.

            At the end, I learnt a lot during the journey and hope to join another English Language Camp. As teacher to-be, I must hold responsibilities to educate my students and this camp provides me with great teaching and learning experience.  

Language Camp B by Jacqueline Limantan Rantai (During)

During

            On the day, we need to wake up early in the morning and prepared the needs for the camp. This is because the event started at 8.30 a.m and our bus departed at 7a.m. Luckily, all transportation to D05 had been arranged, thanks to the members who offering us the ride. The journey to SMK Kota Masai 2 took us almost one hour. Upon the arrival, we immediately went to the hall and settled everything before the camp started. However, we encountered technical problems from the P.A system which cause the event to start late. Thankfully, our emcees and program director managed to handle the situation efficiently.

We started the camp by dividing the students into their assigned group facilitator. My group name is Nemo, yes, the cute orange Disney fish and my group was the smallest group out there which had only 7 members. Nevertheless, they gave good cooperation and participations during the camp even though some of them were shy.

There are few problems that I encountered with the students during the activities. Firstly, they had trouble understanding English instructions. I need to keep on repeating the instructions slowly and use the simplest English. Somehow, we need to always remember that the students are L2 learners and rarely expose to English instructions. Secondly, they had difficulty communicating using English. Most of the time, they tend to mix English with Bahasa Malaysia (rojak language) during the conversation. However, I respect their effort for trying to use English whenever they speak with me. As facilitator, we need to emphasis the use of English in daily conversation by keep on speaking in English even though the students speak in Bahasa Malaysia with you. Lastly, the students were having difficulty expressing their ideas in writing during tandem writing activity. Some of the students in my group, are forced by their teacher to enter this camp because of their low English grades. Therefore, they need guidance from me especially in grammar and sentence- structured. Consider that the participants have low English proficiency, the activity should be given more time to complete.

Nevertheless, the camp was a complete success. All the students in my group were happy to participate in this activity and they would love to come again.

Language Camp B by Jacqueline Limantan Rantai (Pre)

Pre

This is my very first time joining Language Camp as a facilitator. However, I did participate in one Language Camp during my high school era. As far as I can recall, it was a fun camp and less pressure than the other camps (leadership camp, training camp, etc). So, I still can get a little bit insight on what to expect during the camp later.

In order for the language camp to be successful, proper preparations must be taken. At the beginning, a meeting had been conducted to elect and assign members to their respective tasks. My tasks are to be facilitator and one of the game master for “Win, Loss and Draw” session. As part of the “Win, Loss and Draw” team, we prepared the materials, instruction guidelines and briefed it to the facilitators. After the final briefing, all of the respective game masters posted instructions documents for us to print as guidance. This is important to avoid any confusion and problems whilst the games were conducted.

Before being a primary school language camp facilitator...

         Being a language camp facilitator is not new to me. Before this, I had been a language camp facilitator in a secondary school and also UTM. However, I did not involve in the preparation of the games before this. This time, I was interested to join because I wish to see whether there are any changes on my performance after going through my practical teaching. In my practical teaching, I had tried to implement some simple games but most of them resembled competitions. Thus, I am interested to know more about language games. Perhaps, this is the reason why we were arranged to take this course after our practicum.

            Before going to the language camp, all of the facilitators were given a briefing on the tentative of the program as well as the tasks. We were assigned to prepare the instructions and materials for different games. This provided a chance for us to adapt and design games to suit the needs of the targeted learners. Among all of the facilitators, I worked with a few of them to prepare a game named “Win, Lose or Draw”. Throughout our discussions, we always thought of the appropriateness and difficulty level of the game so that it was suitable for the students. Since most of the targeted learners have low English proficiency level, we prepared simple instructions without forgetting to remain some challenging elements in the game. The instructions were also clear and precise so that it was easy for all of the facilitators to conduct the game. After preparing the instructions, all of us gathered up and had a short brief on the games. I personally think that this step is important before conducting a language camp because it can ensure all of the students to achieve the same learning objectives. In a language camp, all of the facilitators need to be clear on the rules and objectives of the games beforehand. By this, the implementation of the games in every group will be smooth and structured.

The instructions for "Win, Lose or Draw"

(*This is a game which consists of two groups to compete with each other to get the most number of correct guesses from sketched picture clues.)

1. Objectives:
- To enrich students’ vocabulary in English
- To encourage students to use English language

2. Language Components: Vocabulary

3. Level of Proficiency: Intermediate

4. Duration: 30 minutes

5. Materials : 4 mahjong papers, a roll of masking tape, 2 marker pens, 3 pieces of A4 blank papers

6. Procedures :

Brief

1. Facilitator divides the students into two groups.
2. Facilitator pastes one piece of mahjong paper in front of each group.
3. Facilitator distributes 3 pieces of A4 blank papers to 3 students randomly.
4. Facilitator asks them to fold the papers into 8 parts and tear off.
5. Facilitator distributes 3 paper strips to each student.
6. Facilitator asks students to write the name of one cartoon character on the first paper strip; one fruit on the second paper strip; and one animal on the last paper strip.
7. Facilitator asks students to pass all paper strips to them according to their own group.
8. Facilitator swaps the paper strips collected from group A and group B.
9. Facilitator asks for one representative to be the sketcher of each group.- The sketcher needs to announce the category of the name first, then proceeds to draw out the word while his/her group mates need to guess the word. (*He or she is not allowed to make any sound when drawing. No letters, words or numbers can be drawn.)
   -Both groups will be given 5 minutes to guess as many correct guesses as they can.-The opposing team helps to keep track of the time. They should remain quiet when the other group is guessing.  

Demonstrate

    10. Facilitators demonstrate the game.

Start off

    11. Facilitator A starts the game by showing the paper strips to sketcher A while Facilitator B becomes the time-keeper.

Debrief

   12. Facilitators count the points scored.
   13. Facilitators briefly review the words that written by the students.   14. Facilitators asks the students what they have learned from the game.

English Language Camp 2 (2014)

Date: 11 Oct 2014
Time 8.--am - 5.00pm
Venue: SEK KEB KOTA MASAI 2
Facilitator: 20 TESL students

PARTICIPANTS: 200 SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

English Language Camp 27 Sept 2014, SMK Kota Masai 2

Selected photos from the English Language Camp 

Language Camp - Sek Men Kota Masai

VENUE: SEK MEN KOTA MASAI 2, PASIR GUDANG

TIME: 8.00am – 5.00pm

TENTATIVE PROGRAM

Time	Activity
8.00 -8.30	Registration
8.30 -10.00	·       Icebreaker – Line Up ·       Group Logo/Group Cheers ·       Charade
10.00 – 10.30	Coffee Break
10.30 – 1.00	Games ·       Win, Lose or Draw ·        Tandem Story/Skit Rehearsal
1.00 - 2.00	Lunch/ Prayer
2.00 – 4.00	Games ·       Skit Competition (1 team : 5 mins)             Zone A – 7 teams ( 35 mins)             Zone B  - 7 teams ( 35 mins)             Zone C – 6 teams ( 30 mins)
4.00 – 4.30	·       3 Finalists - Skit Competition
4.30 - 5.00	·       Prize Giving ·       Closing ·       Tea Break