August 25, 2009

Thought for the day: "All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them".~ Walt Disney

By Ryan, Age 13

The day started out with breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and the usual bread with Nutella followed by cheese fritters and orange juice.

Caroline and Kasia split the eleven-year-olds from the nine-year-olds apart this morning to better meet their vocabulary needs. Caroline taught her section to play ultimate Frisbee using English – of course – and she and Kasia plan to teach them “Farmer in the Dell” for Parents’ Night. Dorota taught Megan’s class using a worksheet that asks students to form words of many sizes out of the supposedly longest English word “Supercalifragilisticexpialidoshus” from the movie “Mary Poppins.” Another Morse Code worksheet that must be translated into English words was well received. Our students enjoyed working picture puzzles with the fastest finishers reading the English words aloud. We also decided what to do on Parent’s Night and worked with each student practice their part.

Two groups played the Siedlce bingo game created by Jean (John). His students practiced the script he prepared last night for their Parent Night presentations. Jane’s group tried the green Apples to Apples game followed by volleyball. They also practiced singing for Parents’ Night and requested some programs to help their parents sing the lyrics. Zack’s and Pete’s class played cards in English. Marge’s kids changed their minds about their skit but discussed new options in English as to what would work and not work for their presentation. They considered doing a commercial or singing a song from the “Lion King.” Then they played Jingo in English for a while.

During 4t hour the volunteers taught football and dancing. Lunch included tomato soup with noodles along with pork loaf and potatoes. The afternoon meant more class preparation and tennis, dancing rehearsal and fun for the kids.

Marek invited us to see a famous Polish tennis player in a match with Madzia’s dad, the camp tennis instructor right after supper. Madzia’s dad did well especially since he is a lot older than his opponent.

At about 7:30 p.m., everyone started to prepare for the campers’ wedding ceremony for four “couples” including Caroline and my pal Peter. The tent was set up like a church with flowers and an altar. Zack dressed up and loaned me a white shirt with a collar and tie for the ceremony that went just fine. Marge, Jane and Pete sat on the bride’s side in the front row. Caroline wore a pair of lace curtains over her clothes and carried a huge bouquet of wild flowers Judy and Jane picked fresh from the field next to Reymontowka. John wore a suit to be father of the bride and Alesha from the eleven-year-old class wore peach-colored curtains as Caroline’s maid of honor. The time after was spent at a “reception” with dancing.

Yes, looking back as I type this installment of the journal this was a very good day.

Tak, bardzo dziekuje.