A few weeks ago we had our English Fun Camp for the little primary one to three students. There were 5 groups of ten kids and at my station we were playing a simple spelling game.
We simply split the kids into to teams, and then we showed them a flashcard of an animal, food, occupation or activity. We then elicited how to spell the word and the first two competitors step up to the line.
Each letter of the word is worth a point for the team. It was simply the fastest person to bring back the letter won the point for their team.
Before the competitors set off for each letter we would remind them of the letter they were looking for. It was s simple game with a competitive side that the kids love to have.
Pretty quickly, lunchtime had arrived and gone. I wandered back to the room we had booked for the day to enjoy some peace and quiet while the kids ate. Not before long I heard a bit of commotion and kids started arriving in the room. Soon the room was filling fast of kids running an absolute muck. They had been let go and walked the good 400 odd metres by themselves with no supervision.
It was a priceless scene. Kids were going berserk. Running around and screaming, climbing over chairs and the best was they had found the cordless microphone and were screaming into it. Now all around us were other rooms with groups holding meetings or seminars.
I was naughty as I didn’t do a thing. I did watch the kids and make sure no one was going to get hurt, but I was enjoying the usual Thai organization of supervision. I mean who in the right mind would allow kids to go to a room unsupervised and expect them to behave like adults.
Finally some Thai teachers returned and tried to bring things under control. After a few minutes the kids were lying on the ground after being encouraged to take a small power nap.
They had about 20 minutes before the last activities started for the day but I think the chances of them sleeping were pretty close to nil.
The last two stations were completed; we had shortened them as the kids had been told to bring their swimming costumes. So to allow them to have time for a swim the activities were shortened. None of us complained.
Now fashionable was important indeed. A bright pink costume and a blue cap to keep the hair dry.
Over at the shallow kiddie’s pool there was more running amok happening. There were plenty of teachers watching the kids but a lot of unsafe things happening. Some kids were climbing onto the water feature wall and jumping into the waste deep water.
Thankfully most of the kids were smart enough to get out of the way of some of the bigger kids leaps. Not just from the large splash but being crushed.
The kids were having a ball and it was soon to get a lot better for them. They were in for a surprise but I will blog about this another time.
Brunty
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