High School English Seminar
This post is quite late in being posted! I drafted it back in August and only just now remembered to publish it. - Dec 19, 2017
This year, I participated for the second time in the Oita prefectural high school English seminar/camp. The camp was held near Saiki, at a facility called the Marine Culture Center. The facility overlooks the beach, and it played host to 30-odd English ALTs, several Japanese camp staff, and about 170 high school students this past weekend.
When I participated in the camp last year, it was held in Yufuin, a town known for its cute shops and comfortable onsen (hot springs). However, the building in Yufuin suffered damage from the Kumamoto earthquake in April 2016, and we were unable to use it for camp this year. This change, among others, made for a logistical challenge, one that the camp coordinators - two ALTs and one Japanese English teacher - had to take into account when planning.
At the camp, my role was that of a group leader, just like last year. However, unlike last year, this time I now had experience working with Japanese high schoolers, and I also knew something about how the camp would go. I went into the experience blind last year, and was a bit too overwhelmed to properly reflect on it. But this year, I had a clearer head and clearer expectations.
I was a little worried going in this year about being "genki" enough. The word "genki" translates to "healthy" but it also has connotations of energy, enthusiasm and happiness. For example, when you ask someone how they are, you ask, "(O)genki desu ka?" Roughly translated, this means "Are you doing well?" There is an expectation of genki-ness in Japanese culture for many situations, especially for foreigners teaching English. We are supposed to be happy and fun all the time, because we are meant to help associate English learning with that sort of energy and attitude.
By nature, I am not a particularly genki person. Rather, I have my own energy that doesn't always manifest as energetic and happy. I can be in good spirits without being "genki." I guess this is just the introverted side of me. In any case, I had worries about my genki-ness at the camp but I think I overcame them by helping my group to bond over the course of the two-and-a-half day camp, and encouraging them to work as a team.
The camp broke students up into four color groups, with each color group representing a Pokemon, per the camp's Pokemon theme. Charmander, Pikachu, Squirtle and Bulbasaur were all represented! :) Within each color group, there were four or five teams of 10 to 11 students. My group was an 11-member red team. We worked as a team to complete various activities, such as sports (water balloon toss, dodgeball and capture the flag), scavenger hunt around the premises, drama (lip sync battle) and art (create a Pokemon).
I had some really great students in my group, and one of them was even the daughter of a teacher at my school! Some of them took the lead in the activities, and others were more keen to participate in the meal-time challenges, which were English written puzzles, like codes, word scrambles and crosswords.
At times, I found myself feeling very worn out by all the activities, both physically and mentally. There were very few breaks in the busy schedule, but I used them to recharge in my room, which I shared with three other female ALTs, all of whom were lovely company.
At the end of the second day of camp, there was an evening program with performances by the winners of the drama activity, the Japanese staff, and the ALT staff. The ALT skit we performed was planned very quickly and rehearsed hardly at all, but it went off really well! It was all Pokemon-themed, of course, and I played a tree. 😂 The quintessential school play role!
Overall, I was happy to have attended the high school English camp, and had a good experience there. It was quite different to have my own group of students, since I had been a co-leader last year. But I met some great students (some from my own schools! Including my calligraphy teacher's daughter) and made good memories with them and the other ALTs. Here's hoping next year's camp lives up to its reputation!
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| Saiki Marine Culture Center - via TripAdvisor |
When I participated in the camp last year, it was held in Yufuin, a town known for its cute shops and comfortable onsen (hot springs). However, the building in Yufuin suffered damage from the Kumamoto earthquake in April 2016, and we were unable to use it for camp this year. This change, among others, made for a logistical challenge, one that the camp coordinators - two ALTs and one Japanese English teacher - had to take into account when planning.
At the camp, my role was that of a group leader, just like last year. However, unlike last year, this time I now had experience working with Japanese high schoolers, and I also knew something about how the camp would go. I went into the experience blind last year, and was a bit too overwhelmed to properly reflect on it. But this year, I had a clearer head and clearer expectations.
I was a little worried going in this year about being "genki" enough. The word "genki" translates to "healthy" but it also has connotations of energy, enthusiasm and happiness. For example, when you ask someone how they are, you ask, "(O)genki desu ka?" Roughly translated, this means "Are you doing well?" There is an expectation of genki-ness in Japanese culture for many situations, especially for foreigners teaching English. We are supposed to be happy and fun all the time, because we are meant to help associate English learning with that sort of energy and attitude.
By nature, I am not a particularly genki person. Rather, I have my own energy that doesn't always manifest as energetic and happy. I can be in good spirits without being "genki." I guess this is just the introverted side of me. In any case, I had worries about my genki-ness at the camp but I think I overcame them by helping my group to bond over the course of the two-and-a-half day camp, and encouraging them to work as a team.
The camp broke students up into four color groups, with each color group representing a Pokemon, per the camp's Pokemon theme. Charmander, Pikachu, Squirtle and Bulbasaur were all represented! :) Within each color group, there were four or five teams of 10 to 11 students. My group was an 11-member red team. We worked as a team to complete various activities, such as sports (water balloon toss, dodgeball and capture the flag), scavenger hunt around the premises, drama (lip sync battle) and art (create a Pokemon).
I had some really great students in my group, and one of them was even the daughter of a teacher at my school! Some of them took the lead in the activities, and others were more keen to participate in the meal-time challenges, which were English written puzzles, like codes, word scrambles and crosswords.
At times, I found myself feeling very worn out by all the activities, both physically and mentally. There were very few breaks in the busy schedule, but I used them to recharge in my room, which I shared with three other female ALTs, all of whom were lovely company.
At the end of the second day of camp, there was an evening program with performances by the winners of the drama activity, the Japanese staff, and the ALT staff. The ALT skit we performed was planned very quickly and rehearsed hardly at all, but it went off really well! It was all Pokemon-themed, of course, and I played a tree. 😂 The quintessential school play role!
Overall, I was happy to have attended the high school English camp, and had a good experience there. It was quite different to have my own group of students, since I had been a co-leader last year. But I met some great students (some from my own schools! Including my calligraphy teacher's daughter) and made good memories with them and the other ALTs. Here's hoping next year's camp lives up to its reputation!
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