Language Camp A: Maisarah’s Post-Reflection

Salam everyone! :)

As the saying goes,

“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst”.

In everything we do, yes we expect everything to be perfect. But, sometimes flaws come in and made us upset. There’s nothing to be worried about as we have prepare for the worst.

Same goes to this camp, I think we all have done our best right? Be POSITIVE, reflect ourselves and let’s make improvements over the flaws in the future. The most important thing is we are whole-heartedly to facilitate this camp and God knows our good intention.  Rewards are waiting for us, friends.

There’s nothing much to say as everything have ended successfully.

Good day mate! <3 

After Language Camp A

RELIEVED!

It was a nice feeling at the end of the program. The students were still hyperactive. Hahaha. But overall we felt like all the hours spent were worth it. The students seemed to have a great time and we did, too. 

I suppose if there was a camp commander, things would be a but more smoothly. And last minute meeting is not the way. Haha. 

During Language Camp.

During the language camp, Alhamdulillah, everything went a-okay! Though, there were a few problems here and there but are managed well by all facilitators. 

One of it was that the hall was so warm! We were sweating. And the kids were splashed with their own sweat. Humid and that made a lot of people uncomfortable. That was out of our control, but we managed to make the students sit and do the work.

Besides that, the students were restless! We couldn't keep them to stay at one place for long. They just wanted to move. We were exhausted after lunch, but they didn't even seem to lose energy. In fact, it's like they just gulped a huge Mountain Dew. It was good, in a way. But maybe we, well maybe I, was just not expecting it. 

I suppose that was it. The others were just minor problems. 

Language Camp A: Maisarah’s During-Reflection

So, this time I’m going to share some of my thoughts during our Language Camp A held in SK Kota Masai 1.

The students could be seen from far and I could already feel the thrill as this is my first time to be involved in Language Camp as the facilitator.

 As we have planned before, we as the facilitators have divided ourselves into 20 groups and what’s interesting was the name of each groups was taken from the name of cartoons characters exist in the world! LOL. We would have Batman, Superman, Captain America, Hulk, Power Rangers and even Upin Ipin! Mine was the infamous Captain America (to be honest I haven’t watch the movie, YET) :p

Thank God that after the ice-breaking session, I could identify a few boys in my group who were quite talkative and actively participating in the activities. Unfortunately, most of the girls were shy and I have to approach them more frequently.

The most exciting part during the camp was when our group, the Captain America made to the final round for Skit Competition! I was blessed to see that my students listen to my instructions well; able to carry out the activities enthusiastically and cooperate with their group mates even they just knew each other that day.

We enjoyed ourselves so much even though we were really really tired as we start early in the morning and ended the camp at almost 6pm.

Thank you everyone who gave their effort for this camp. May God bless ya! <3 

Wan Zahidah's Post Language Camp A Reflection

After the language camp, there are many things that I realized. Some of them are I realized that primary students and secondary students have energy levels although they are both young. Secondary students might be active, but primary students are even more active. However, there are also students who prefer to remain passive although the facilitator has tried to engage them into the groups.

Apart from that, we also did a post-mortem during class. In the post-mortem, we discussed on the good and bad things that we found during the language camp. We also talked about the problems encountered and possible solutions to these problems.

Post-mortem is very important for  any activities or events held as this will help the organizer to identify the problems and this will help them improve the next event. 

Wan Zahidah's Language Camp ( During)

On that day, we gathered at D06 before we left UTM for SMK Masai 2. We arrived at the school around 8.30am. By that time, most of the students from different primary schools already arrived and done with their registrations. As soon as we arrived, we were asked to introduce ourselves to the students.

The ice-breaking started as soon as the introduction of facilitators ended. After a few minutes, the students finally gathered in small groups. The facilitators went to their respective groups and continued the rest of the ice-breaking activity. We also played a lot of games, for instance, ‘Win, Lose or Draw’ and charades after we had our morning break.

Right after the lunch break and Zohor prayer, we started the short skit competition. The students were very enthusiastic to play the drama although they were not very competent in the language.

The language camp ended around 5pm and we arrived at UTM around 7pm. It was very tiring but was joyful. This is because I had no or little experience dealing with primary students and through this camp, I had a little bit of exposure on teaching primary students.

Language Camp A: Maisarah’s Pre-Reflection

On Saturday, 27^th of September in the early of 7am, I gathered at D05 along with other facilitators. Some of the lecturers seemed to already prepare to load the materials and other stuffs.

As soon as the bus arrived, all of us hurried to load the materials and did needed preparations to ensure the smoothness of this program.  

Then we rode the bus to SK Kota Masai 1 which was the camp location. The journey took almost 1 hour and to be honest most of us were quite starving as we did not take any breakfast yet. We should have brought some buns or biscuits as our tit-bits on the bus... :(

After that, we quickly unloading the stuffs from the bus and put them at the school hall as we arrived there. 

Wan Zahidah's Preparations Before Language Camp A

Being an introvert, I am not quite comfortable doing outdoor activities or activities that includes a lot of strangers. However, being 22, I want to challenge myself and get outside of my comfort zone. Thus I decided to volunteer to join Language Camp A before it was changed to course assignment.

Before the language camp, facilitators had a meeting with the lecturer to get a brief explanation on language camp as some of us were not familiar with such activities.  We got into small group and each person was divided into smaller groups. Each group is handed a task to manage one of the activities that is going to be conducted in the Language Camp. Each group that manages certain activity is called game master.

A few days before the camp, we had a meeting at our college residence. The meeting was to do a briefing on each activity that was assigned earlier. Each group briefed on their task, starting from ice-breaking until short skit presentation. Game master also needs to prepare materials needed for each activity. All preparations from every aspects were given an emphasis to ensure the process of the camp will flow smoothly.

Language Camp A: After all 'ave been said and done..

People learn new things each day and as we learn more we think back on what can we fix. Looking back at the Language camp A, there is only one thing that is lacking.

During the camp, there were lack of authoritative figure in conducting this camp. Facilitators were a bit at lost on who should we consult when unexpected thing happens. It is good to have one figure that conduct the flow of the camp. in addition, just the existence of the position could also boost morale for a leader can become the pillar of comfort to facilitators.

I think a knowledge of human resource management is quite vital in organizing this type of event. Despite this minor setback I had so much fun being a part of this fun event.

Language Camp A: On the job! Facilitating a group of minions like a Boss!

Hello peeps, it's me again~ ^A^/

In this post, I'm gonna talk bout my experience during Language Camp A. I hope my experience during this camp can come in handy for you guys. 

I woke up that day with anxiety and in all honesty I really have no idea what to expect. I have never until that day handled a group of elementary school kids. When I stepped into the hall I was overwhelmed by the sheer sight if all the small lil' students. I had to convince myself it's going to be just fine just to be able to not panic. 

That whole day I tried my best to interact with my students as much as possible, they are really shy at the beginning but slowly they warm up to me after I made one of them laugh at my gesture later during the one of the games. I spotted that one of the students in my group is really good at getting others to join in, it was a blessing for me. The lil' angel really helped a lot to get others to warm up to me and participate more actively in the activities. I also assign simple small tasks for each student in my group while conducting the activities such as cleaning up and arranging things to let them feel like they are a part of the group. I think my group of students like it. My group students really like the attention given to them when I call out their name to help me and when I listen to what they want to say. 

My group English proficiency is mixed, some are low and some are intermediate and high. I needed to ensure my instructions where simple enough that they can easily understand and I did cheat a little by repeating my instruction in Malay.  The high and intermediate proficiency students get bored easily since they can do the activities faster than most of their peers in the group so I asked  them to help their friends during the activities especially during writing and reading activities to keep their interest and attention. .

The best moment during the language camp was during the drama activity. They are elementary kids, so I have taken it upon myself to write out their scripts in big letters so they can read them out but I had all of them contribute telling me what they want to say. My kids love making the props for the skits, we did the props together and well long story short it was a messy, a very FUN MESS.

At the end of the day, I had tons of fun. I love those cute lil' angels. I am very proud that my group manage to do the drama successfully since all of them overcome their shyness to talk in English at the beginning of the camp. I wish to have more and more fun experience like this again.

Language Camp A: Preparation

Greetings earthlings, aliens, and all beings that have internet connection~ [^A^]/

This is an intro, you can skip this paragraph and directly go the subheadings for the main point. ... Oh! you are still here? Cool! You must really like reading! Me too!! I love books, pamphlets, brochure, billboards and simply all things that have words that I can comprehend(Beware of things said on the net they are not all true, especially this previous sentence) . I am taking a degree for Bachelor of Science with Education(TESL) and this post and my following post is a based on experience related to the language camp(s) that I have participated and contains suggestions for future language camp facilitators

ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY WALK INTO MORDOR A LANGUAGE CAMP 

Surviving Language Camp 101

I listed down the preparations that my fellow facilitators and I did that works for me. I also inserted some aspects I think is important for any facilitators to pay attention to before conducting a language camp.

1. Have awareness that you are going into complete disorder and confusion a room full of people/kids which have their own "unique" personality, be prepared Mentally and Physically (I tried to find out what cartoons school kids nowadays like so that I will at least have something to talk about with them) 
2. Prepare a COMPLETE Language games instruction that suits your participants. a good instruction should have clear and easy to understand steps, list of materials as well as estimated duration. However, as conductors of these activity you must bend and alter the activities to suit the targeted participants.( having games that is not suitable for your target students is a recepi for migraine and it will not go smoothly. Believe me, I am talking from experience here. >~<lll it will be awful)
3. LOTS of DISCUSSIONS on how the games should/need to be conducted. You can do like what we did, we tried to play the language games among ourselves first to be able to see how it might go wrong or what can be improved or maybe you need extra material, etc.
4. Building up group dynamics among the facilitators (it ensure smooth execution of games later)
5. Read and read again. It is very good for you to read the instructions multiple times and know it by heart before the actual day. (This step helped me a lot and avoid me from getting panic attack while conducting the games.)
6. Make sure you have enough materials. (be aware how many participant is there and be prepared for excess or lack of materials)

Survival kits

Conducting as a facilitator for Language Camp A was my first experience so I was puzzled on what stuff other than materials needed for activities that I should have on hand and such( I freaked out actually). Here are things I think would become quite useful( I wish I had brought it along with me T^T)

1. A light but high capacity bag. Shopping bag or summer bag that can be folded is ideal. (ease your movement and you will not lose stuff like extra papers, pens and small materials left off from for your games)
2.  Tissue and wet tissue. (We had activities which used crayons and markers and it got all over my students hand, shirt, simply put everywhere. These guys really are saviors at those times)
3. Candies (no matter what, everyone like getting rewarded, it is good to bring lil' extra sweets to motivate participation)

  That's all from me on preparation for language camp! I hope it will help! This are certainly not all in term of preparation. In this blog my comrades posted their experience as well so please do click on the labels and/or cruise through my friends posts for more!! ^x^

Reflection (After the Language Camp A)

After the camp

On our way back to UTM, all of us started to discuss about the difficulties in handling primary school students because they are very active. They cannot stay sitting in the same position for a long time. They started to feel restless after few hours the camp started. Luckily we have some activities that include movement such as Charades and Skit presentation. During our Language Games class, we discussed about the positive things as well as the problems that we faced in the camp. Hence, we came out with few suggestions to make sure that the performance for the next Language Camp can be improved.

Reflection (During the Language Camp A)

During the camp

On 27^th of September, we gather at 7 a.m and departed from UTM by bus. We arrived SMK Kota Masai 2 after an hour of journey. All of us feel a bit nervous because we do not know the participants. While walking into the school’s hall, we saw primary school students around the hall and that moment we know that they are the participants for this Language Camp. Almost all of the facilitators do not have the experience of handling primary school students.  The camp started with registration for both participants and facilitators. We were asked to make a line on the stage and briefly introduce ourselves to the participants. We did a small scale of morning exercise before we divided them into 20 groups. The grouping part was fun because both facilitators and participants are eager to know their groupmates. Next, we proceed with the first activity which is ice breaking. I believe almost all facilitators faced the same problem whereby some students were too shy to speak. Luckily we manage to overcome the problem by guiding the students to speak. We proceed with the next activity which is drawing logo and create group cheer. As for my group, I have no problem in conducting the drawing part. However, it took a long time for my group to come out with the group cheer because they do not have the experience of listening or even creating a group cheer. As a solution, I gave them an idea and let them practice it together. Next, we had our breakfast before moving to the next activity. For the next activities, we have to combine with the other group for few games. We played charades and Win, Lose or Draw. I found that all of them enjoyed these activities so much because they are able to move and compete with the opponent. After finished playing these two games, we create stories in a game named Tandem Writing. Most of my students do not know what to write. Hence, we create the story together. I asked for their opinion but still according to the sequences. Based on the story that we created, we have to act out in front of the other groups. During the rehearsal, my students were very excited and they practiced again and again. When it come to the performance, all of them started to feel very shy and they kind of whispering on the stage. Still, I congratulated them for their effort. We had so much fun together. My students started to speak in English from time to time. I really hope they will always enjoy learning English.

Reflection (Before the Language Camp A)

Before the camp

Greetings everyone.

I am one of the facilitators for the Language Camp A at SMK Kota Masai 2. Before we proceed with the camp, I would like to tell you about our work progress and preparation before the camp. We have been assigned to prepare our activities together. We were divided into few groups according to different activities. Each group has to come out with the written procedure and rules of the activity. My group had to complete the written document of Win, Lose or Draw. We have learnt about this activity during our class. Hence, it is easier for us to know the rules of this activity. As to make it more comprehensible, we watched the recorded video of this activity on YouTube. A day before the camp, all of the facilitators gather early in the morning to discuss about the tentative and to clear up any confusion regarding the activities. Each group takes turn to explain on their activity. Q&A session took place after the presentation of each activity. Apart from that, we did a brainstorming session to give names for each group. We decided to name the groups with the name of superheroes and well-known cartoons. Before we end the meeting, we ask around if there is any other question for the activity and we end the meeting with a hope that all of us are able to conduct our activities successfully. 

Skit by NS

Before: English Language Camp 1, September 26, 2014.

English camp is a FUN camp. As one hears the phrase, he or she would think the camp will be filled with lots of games and activities.

For this camp, I have been provided with games and information of the participants. Basically, the games were; Ice-breaking, Logo and Cheers making, Charade, Win Lose or Draw, Tandem Story and Skits. Each and every activity has been distributed to each group for us to prepare the lesson plan. Discussions and meetings were done periodically to produce a good activity for the students.

As for me, I was in the Skit group. We were having discussion via media social (Whatsapp) and face to face meeting. Basically, we have three people with different task (Roles, Instructions and Rules). As time went by, another person joined us; another task was added – Scoring.

First, we were having problems with theme. As from my experiences with ETA (English Teaching), we usually focus on a theme for a camp so that we could focus on certain scope. With that, it could help the students to focus on certain life event based on the theme given. Then, we decided that the Skit would be depended on a list of words prepared by us.

After Mr.Ghazali class end, we were informed to just use the story from the previous games – Tandem Story, just like we did in class. So, we decided to have a discussion with Tandem Story groups.

As planned, a meeting was held two nights before the Camp Day. We were informed that we have to divided the 20 groups into 3 zones; Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C. Before the Tandem Writing starts, we decided to give 3 different themes for each zone; Love, Horror and Aliens. Basically, after the Tandem Story ended, the students would choose a story for them to use in the Skit.

The four of us, wrote down our papers.

Skit by NS

During: English Language Camp, September 27, 2014.

Right after the Tandem Story ended, we started the Skits. We asked the students to choose one of the stories produced by them. Unfortunately, they couldn’t decide which story. To make it easy, I chose the story for them. After that, I appointed a director and script writer. Again, they could not start anything. I have to help them to come out with a story line and script.

It was a bit hard to make some of them talk. Even when they talked, their voices were low until I have to make them repeated more than twice. I told the flow of the Skit which only took about 5 minutes. Some of them listen, the other were talking and bugging others. I was pretty sure and understood they were very excited to join this yet it was not that easy to make them listen carefully to what I was saying and of course they made me repeated the same parts more than twice. 

After they were all listen to the flow of the story, I asked them to act accordingly to the story. Most of them understood their roles yet they were still confused about which and when they should say the lines.

So I guided them to do a pre-skit starting for the first person to enter the stage until the last person. It was a great thing to do because they kept on giving me ideas to improve the Skit. They were really into the Skit thing.

During the presentation, they were all nervous. They were really scared but at the same time excited to do the skit. Even the story line was changed due to certain circumstances, they were all glad it was over.

Before The Language Camp

We were all pretty excited for the language camp, really. The first group are mostly volunteers - meaning all girls. I kind of self appointed myself as a director (?). Not that it's something new, but I guess it has become a habit (?). Now, maybe I need to self reflect more. Anyways, point is that we had a group of 20 pretty TESL girls, all experienced (all of us have had experienced being a facilitator or conducting a language camp) and all psyched.

So, what we did was appoint a game master for every activity and also crews to help. The reason behind this is to ease the burden of the group mates (besides, everyone should be lending a helping hand and not ride the bus for free). So, the day before the camp, we did a little group hug group meeting. We shared our progress and ideas for activities. All game masters explained how their games work and gave the steps and rules for their activities. We don't want facilitators to not know what to do. We also discussed on other alternatives, just in case things happen differently. Every game master should provide the necessities for their game. 

Example:

For the game charade, they would have to prepare the sets of words for every group.

So, basically everyone knows what to do and what is what. In the meeting we also discussed on other things like dress code, theme for the skit, group names and a few others. Generally, everyone was given the tentative and task. Everything went well during the meeting. Everyone was well prepared and responsible, which made everything easy. Hah. 

After the Language Camp

Assalualaikum

Hello there!!

If you haven't read the previous post, you might want to click here and here first before you read this post.

As you guys know, I volunteered in the language camp for primary schools' students. I like to join this kind of activity especially to gain experience and improving my skills too. This is my first time handling primary schools' students. And I do have the experience handling language camp for secondary school's students.

I found out that primary schools' students and secondary schools' students have different energy level. Before I went to the camp, I prepared my mind that the kids will be energetic but I didn't expect them to be soooooo energetic. They have a lot of energy through out the whole program. I felt that they do not feel tired at all.

I also learnt that guiding the students with low English proficiency and give them all the attention they need will motivate them in learning English. I constantly entertain all the questions and sometimes I have to use Malay just to get them understand the words I said previously. Basically they don't have a lot of problems in understanding the language. They can understand simple words. I just need to give them clear instructions and they can play the games well.

I am really grateful to have all the facis work together as a team and help each other through out the whole camp. I believe that a good language camp came from an organized community and a strong teamwork.

In a nut shell, I felt the language camp organizer should discussed all the activities with the facis first before we all conduct the camp. Maybe we might be having other activities that is more age appropriate.

Till we meet again.

Good luck!

During Language Camp

Assalamualaikum

Hello there!

Photo credit : Ain Diyana

On the 27th of September 2014, me and my friends went to SMK Kota Masai 2 for the language camp. The moment we reached the school, most of the students were there sitting inside the hall. After all the facis taken their attendance, we all start the language camp with some refreshment activity. And yeah, it is a spontaneous refreshment activity. I could see the students enjoy it very much.

Then, we group them into 20 small groups. My group is group Mickey Mouse. There are 9 students in my group. We start with ice breaking and than we did our group logo and group cheer. During ice breaking, I noticed that there are students who can't speak in English even though I asked them to repeat after me. But they can understand English.

After that, we play charade and win, lose, or draw. They enjoy it soooooo much. I am impress how they can figure out the things just by a simple gesture. And I also noticed that they have almost the same thinking. There is one student draw a face with pointed ears and the group member answer monkey. Andddddd, they got it correct!! Wow. I'm amaze.

When it comes to tandem writing, the students could not come out with their own stories. Hence, I offer them a group writing where they all write on their own based on the story that we all discussed. I have to provoke them with questions like 'what do you think happen next?' , 'What did Pak Lim did?' , etc. And I also help them construct the sentences. They all have the idea but they couldn't write it in English. They do not know how to come out with full sentences. 

Based on the story we wrote together, the students practice their skit performance. They are very shy at first. But when I encouraged them to practice for several times, they got all excited and they want to rehearse over and over again. Then we all make some props by making use of the items we have. They use the mahjong papers to make an apron, shovel, and also cooking utensil. I am very happy to see them work together to come out with soo many ideas just by using blank papers for props. 

They presented our skit after lunch and Zohor prayers. Although they didn't win, they are happy to be able to act in front of their friends and able to watch other groups' skit presentation too.

All in all, I admit it is a tiring day but I had fun with all the activity and especially the teamwork and participation given by the students.

Before the Primary School Language Camp

Assalamualaikum.

Hello there.

I will be talking about the preparation before the language camp. We have 20 facilitators among the 4th yr TESL students. And as expected, all girls. Amira, Wan Zahidah n me assigned to prepare a handout for all facis about the ice breaking.

We already know the ice breaking game. Just that we need to make it more organized for the students. And the group breaking..hmm...we have a lot of ideas but we also have a lot of thought about the kids. Would they be ok if we give them papers or a piece of puzzle each. Since they are just primary school students, we decided to come out with group names and give it to them. Thus, we prepared 20 group names consists of superheroes and cartoons.

You can refer the full plan here!