2024 Summer Series Part 1: English Olympics Summer Camp

After almost four months of a hot and humid Summer, the cool breeze of Autumn has finally arrived! Just last week temperatures were still peaking between 34-36 degrees and we were still using air conditioners. What a relief it is to have pleasant weather again. I feel like I have come back to life! I have so much to share! My third summer in Korea was hectic; the school semester ended, English summer camp flew by, travel plans commenced and visitors from South Africa came and went! So much happened that this will be a three-part series. Let’s get into it!

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English Camp — one ticket to Paris, please!

I can't tell you about my Summer without mentioning English Camp. My theme for my 5^th camp was the Paris Summer Olympics! Yes, the theme was an easy choice but in reality, I had planned this camp since I started teaching in 2022. I love sports and I love the Olympics so I knew I would use the theme at some point. And when Paris 2024 came around, it was the easiest choice.

Each team chose a country and had to design a team mascot. A friend texted me after to say that the NZ team were using an Australian animal as their mascot! LOL

There was another mistake we found here in one of the flags. Let me know in the comments if you find it. The countries are Italy, Germany, Argentina and Canada.

Knowing that not everyone loves sports as much as I do, the activities I chose were a mixture of games, crafts, writing and reading, learning new vocabulary and completing team tasks. We had 29 students sign up for the two sessions. The temperatures were really high that week and because there were renovations taking place at our school we hosted camp at a neighbouring school. I worried students might not show up since it's a bit of a distance from where they live but everyone showed up most days!

Writing activity about the history of the Olympics.

Know your host cities!

I covered different Olympic host cities as sub-themes, starting with London 2012. Students filled out a profile page for each city, with facts on that particular Olympic games and city. This was a good way to get them writing. We learned about Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020 and ended the week with Paris. On the first day, we had a timed team challenge where they had to build an Eiffel Tower using newspaper and tape. Other activities included a country flag project and a craft activity making sun catchers.

Learning about Tokyo 2020

Eiffel Tower Challenge!

Some of the newspaper Eiffel Towers. This was a really fun challenge. Got them working well together on the first day.

Working on their flag presentations.

Country flag presentations.

Making sun catchers. Not everyone's cup of tea. You could quickly tell who had the patience for it and who did not. LOL

Olympic Games Summer Camp style

On other days, we had our official English Olympic Games events, where teams competed for a Gold medal. We had a Track and Field competition, where we adapted events like shotput, discus and javelin to the classroom. For example, the person who could throw a cotton wool ball the furthest was the winner in the shotput. In the javelin, each athlete got 7 straws and had to try and throw them in cups with different scores at a distance. The athlete with the highest score was the winner. We also had a fun balloon relay, which got them laughing so much. The games became more popular than I expected; though I suspect it’s more to do with the chocolate gold medals!

Track and field event. We used paper plates as a Discus to see who could throw it the furthest!

Balloon relay race.

Epic Midweek Challenge

Another awesome activity I did with them was a task-based challenge where they had to answer questions about what they learned the first few days as well as do some research and action challenges. For example, they had to find the words for hello, goodbye and thank you in their chosen country's language or tell me the names of three Olympic sports where a bat is used. Action challenges included taking sports action photos as well as making a video of them teaching me Korean sports songs and slogans. This challenge was really fun with most students getting into it. After they were done, they had to upload the photos and videos to Padlet where we could look at them together and have a good laugh.

They had to answer questions about the Olympics and some random ones like this.

Fencing pose

One of my favourite action pics. Basketball shot!

Taking a picture of a teammate losing the Gold medal in a Final. This was hilarious. Some of them really got their acting skills out!

Inclusivity!

My favourite day and activity was Day 4 where we covered Tokyo as well as the Paralympics. It was important to highlight the Paralympics and show them events they’ve probably never heard of before, for instance, goal ball, para-athletics, blind soccer, wheelchair basketball and fencing, etc. The main competition that day was Sitting Volleyball. The older students were a bit awkward at first but slowly got into it while the younger ones later enjoyed it so much they asked if they could play again the next day. There was also a boy with a broken arm on one team and he didn’t want to sit out of the game, so a boy on the other team put one arm in his t-shirt to make the game equal. They kept calling the broken-armed boy ‘Paralympic’ for the rest of the time. It was really funny but also just got them into the spirit of that type of competition.

Game: Sitting Volleyball. We used a beach ball and adapted basic volleyball rules. This was really fun! Highly recommend anyone to try this in the classroom when they have the time.

Finale: Paris 2024

The final day's activities included learning about the Paris Games, doing a final quiz where they could win some points, a multisports event as the final Olympic Games competition and a dessert decorating activity, where they could get their creative juices flowing. The last day is usually meant to be relaxed so there's not too much focus on learning. It's all about trying to get some last-minute points before the winning team is announced at the end of the day.

Game: Ping Pong Ball Bounce. You have to keep the balloon in the air while placing table tennis balls on cups. The athlete with the fastest time without letting the balloon drop was the winner.

Decorating Korean-style biscuit croissants with deco icing pens.

Using their phones to find designs. 

Another camp has come and gone

Yet again, the English camp was truly a rewarding experience. Though stressful, I love planning camps and activities I feel students would enjoy and allow them to relax. It’s super important for me to make those 3 hours as fun as possible, and where they don’t feel any pressure. The appreciation I received from them at the end of the week was truly heartwarming.

❤️

Again, thank you for reading. For a look at my trip to Taiwan see Part 2 of this Summer series!

Till next time.

Meryl Joy Burgess

Ps. Happy birthday to my dearest Dad who celebrates his birthday on the day of publishing this blog. 

Pps. When leaving a comment, please add your name (instead of anonymous) so that I know who is commenting and can respond in kind. 🖤