ENGLISH CAMP

Perhaps teaching English is my calling. At least, I'd like to think so after such an amazing weekend helping SatsuDai with its annual English camp for freshmen.

Jess, Kellie and I had been approached by the English department professors a month ago with the opportunity to help out for a three-day English camp for 13 freshmen English majors. We of course said yes (enthusiastically), and with no real instructions or expectations we arrived at the Seminar House (like a fancy cabin right behind the soccer field) on Friday afternoon. Other than the English department professors, we knew no one, so we took turns leading group discussions in Japanese about the students' hobbies and their reactions to Michael Jackson's death. (The TV was turned on to news coverage of the incident, so we figured it was relevant.) The students, realizing we knew some Japanese, grew less bashful and asked us about American pop culture, music, and sightseeing spots.

Obviously, I could write ten pages on this weekend's events, so I'll sum up what the students learned quickly from the professors and us, the "energetic, effervescent exchange students" who assisted them.

Friday night's activity was the hardest board game I've ever seen. Imagine Monopoly without the money, and each spot on the board corresponded to a scenario (written in English) about traveling gone wrong: lost luggage, stolen passports, problems at the Japanese Embassy, and more complicated questions. I'd often ask my group what they thought, and they'd stare at me with blank expressions. I reassured them that these situations (which I translated the best I could if they needed it) were difficult even for English speakers, which appeared to reassure them.
Later that night we bonded with the other girls in our cabin, talking about normal, girly things (boys, music, clothes, celebrities) before going to bed in our bunk beds.

Saturday morning brought a make-believe customs and immigration lesson. Each student stood in line to be admitted into America, passing through customs (with Jess as the chief official) and later booking rooms with hotels (all three of us). We also played a game of international-themed Jeopardy!, acted as shopkeepers who bargained with the students for items they "needed," and ate catered lunch in Linden Hall's second-floor business room.

Students in line for "customs inspection"

Takuya and Asato relish in the victory of making it to "America"

Our catered meal of rice, pickled vegetables, salmon and ebi tempura (fried shrimp)

the girls' table

Kellie and some of the girls

the boys' table

Post-lunch ice cream break with some of the girls

The main exercise of the weekend was an English skit on any topic about which the students wanted to write a script. The 13 students were broken into three groups and then paired up with one of us.

My group was (from left) Ken, Takumi, me, Asato, Yuki and Yuuko. Our skit involved Takumi and I as newlyweds who keep running into problems with hotels for our honeymoon. Ken was our "humor aspect" whose main role was to do Michael Jackson's moonwalk at the end.

Jess's group consisted of Tomomi, Ryutaro, Akame and Minaho. They created their skit around the difference in hand gestures between American and Japanese cultures and how one family's vacation turned into disaster because of it.

Kellie's group, including Maya, Takumi, Ayumi and Wataru, wrote a script about how a man was left behind in the Australian outback when his tour bus left him while he was in the bathroom. Takuya, the abandoned tourist, was stuck in the middle of nowhere when a snake (Wataru) cornered him in the bathroom stall. Oh, whatever shall Takuya do?

We took turns cooking Genghis Khan, Hokkaido's lamb specialty, at the Seminar House's grill area for Saturday night's dinner.


                    Jess and Akame cutting veggies for dinner

Takuya and Yuki fanning the grill's flames

This atmosphere was much more laidback than during the classes, mostly because now the students could speak in Japanese again, and we spent three hours finally getting to know each freshman. Yuki and I talked about our favorite Aiko songs, Kellie introduced Akame to "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," and Jess brought up Harry Potter. By the end of the night, we had exchanged cell phone numbers with everyone (via infrared technology - such an amazing concept) and already made plans to see the new Harry Potter movie together next month.

On Sunday morning, we rehearsed our skits for the last time and then presented them in front of the other English camp students, professors and a video camera. Each group's classmates voted on the MVA (Most Valuable Actor) in each skit, but unlike American competitions, all the students received the same prizes of book or music gift cards no matter whether they won or not.
It would've been hard to say goodbye to our new friends after becoming so close-knit during the weekend, but we know we'll just run into each other on campus tomorrow.




NOTE: Some photos included in this post are courtesy of Jessica Beehler.

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