Message of the day: Men achieve certain greatness unawares, when working to another aim. (Attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson).

Our first teaching day had a rainy start, but it didn't dampen our ability to teach and to teach in an enjoyable manner for our students. It seems as though all of the teachers never fell short of activities, showing that there's more to learning English than lectures on grammar...an important reminder due to the age groups and levels (varying beginners) we are teaching.

For instance, learning was seen through with games of Simon Says, Boggle, Mathematical Jenga, Uno, and Hangman-... Build-a-Person rather, and I Spy. Of course, there were word searches and hidden pictures. To further the learning experience for my own group, I had 5 hidden picture sets. With 10 students in my class, I made sure no two students near to each other received the same hidden picture puzzle. It took them a bit to realize that they didn't have 10 different puzzles. When they were finished with one, I had them say the items that were found, to check and correct pronunciation. They received the next puzzle, until all 5 were completed. A lesson by another teacher incorporated the use of collages, where students put together their interests and went into explanations, which eventually became one monster collage, entitled "Our World."

We have been practicing songs with our children and what this meant for today was performing the song in the last hour. The songs included, "Take me out to the Ball Game," "This Land is Your Land," "The Farmer and the Dell," and one that I'm partial to, "Older" by They Might Be Giants. I can't get across how proud I am of my own group of young students. If I had interaction with the others though, I know I'd feel the same. As I've seen their personal talents at the show they provided later on.

As I've said, this was Talent Show night for the student campers. It's a great feeling to see some of students' talents. Some of their talents included, singing, dancing (break-dancing), illusion, a roving art display, and classical piano from several of them.

And so, I await Polish night with great anticipation!