Monday, July 23, 2007

By Ellen

We’ve survived the first day, but some just barely. Everyone came back with adventures to tell, but I should start at the beginning.

We all made it out of bed for breakfast, some with stories of campers running around until 4am, alarms going off throughout the night, late-night conversations with camp counselors and even a possible owl sighting. The highlight of breakfast was cream filled crepes, although some of us were too nervous about our first day of teaching to fully enjoy them.

I’m pretty sure that the thought of the day helped:
“Sometimes we have to reach out in new directions in order to change and grow.”

At 9:30am we went out to begin our first 45 minute lesson. We each lead four of these throughout the morning, with 10, 30 and 10 minute breaks in between sessions. My experience began with the realization that everything I had prepared would not work. My group consisted of seven campers, ranging in age from 12 through 15. The youngest in the group are two 12 year-old girls and the rest are rambunctious boys. They are by far the loudest and most energetic group, and they are a challenge! I had planned to begin with a name game, where campers say their name and an adjective to describe themselves, but I learned within 30 seconds that this would not work.

It turned out that they have quite a vocabulary, but I had overestimated their experience putting words together into sentences. We switched gears and I taught them how to play Spoons, a card game that I learned at their age and still love. After we mastered that game, I asked them to return the favor and they taught me a game of theirs called Chooch, or something like that. The second session we played Charades, which went well because they could get up and jump around. In the next session, we played the same game, but against Lynsie’s team, which was of a similar age group, although more advanced. In the last session, we played volleyball against Tom’s team. Although my team lost, they had a good time, and by that time it felt like they were starting to like me, which sounds silly, but felt really good.

At a beautiful lunch of Polish meat loaf, potatoes, mashed beats (which tastes much better than it sounds) and sautéed mushrooms, we all let out a deep breath and reviewed the morning’s experience. Everyone had very interesting stories to report, which I will do my best to briefly recap.

Didi had some of the youngest campers, and it sounds like she used her experience working with little children to her advantage. She was very creative and succeeded in engaging them using the hand-carved wooden statues that are scattered around the Reymontowka grounds. She had them name body parts, count fingers, and name the musical instruments that they hold. She also brought maps of the US and the world and had the children find the states and their direction using the compass rose. They practiced their colors by finding objects on the grounds of certain colors.

Judy was thrilled with her group of 11 year-olds, who she has experience with from her own son and from being a counselor at a summer camp. She took them on walks around the grounds, where they counted sticks in the fence (up to 100!). This came in handy later when Judy unknowingly stepped on a snail that one of her girls found. They had just learned “no problem” so the little girl told Judy, “No problem. There are many, like, 100!”

Greg also had a great experience with his group. His laid-back attitude worked perfectly with his group of enthusiastic and creative students. He was able to engage them in a plan to build a student center. His campers worked together to decide size of the rooms, furnishings, etc. They also helped him with ideas for future lessons. What a dream!

Erik’s group, the giants (because this team consists of most of the tallest boys at camp) seems to have gone well. They seemed a little quiet, but Erik is not at all discouraged. He and Lynsie are facing similar challenges in finding activities that are challenging and cool enough to engage some of the older and more advanced students.

Ann also returned with some wonderful success stories. She had some of the younger children, and was able to have them count to ten, which has inspired her to ask Dorota to help her learn her numbers in Polish, so she can surprise her group tomorrow. Her group was also a challenge and required her flexibility because, like many of us, our expectations regarding their abilities and interests was not exactly correct, thus our preparations didn’t always work.

A perfect example of this is Jennifer, who had to come up with all new activities on the spot when her children were not interested in the Bingo and other games that she had prepared. We suspect that some of their disengagement might come from staying up running around all night, and we’re hoping that tomorrow will be better.

No one hopes to go in a different direction more than Tom. Poor Tom had some of the most advanced students, including a little girl whose mother is Polish but they live in New York. She is with a group of boys with very powerful personalities and, unfortunately, they spend their lessons fighting with one another, or in sullen silence. Tomorrow, Tom will attempt to take a stronger hand, with the help and supervision of the camp director!

The afternoon was a good break for us all and gave us a chance to rejuvenate a little. Some of us took a needed nap while others were treated to Marek’s special whiskey and 4-wheeler rides or took a walk to a nearby hamlet, about half an hour away. This evening I am writing the journal on the back porch of the manor, while the whole camp is gathered in an adjacent tent to play Pictionary. Kids are loud in any language.

For me, the day is concluding with a sense of excitement and hope. I have a mischievous bunch, but I’m really starting to like them. They will challenge me to find activities for the next four days that will allow them to run around together and be loud while they learn something. The good news is, I think they’re on my side, and our team of volunteers is working wonderfully together by sharing our experiences and ideas. I can’t wait to hear the stories we come back with tomorrow!