What to expect: English summer camp ~ coucoukorea

Summer camp. Some teachers love it. Others hate it. I was in the former camp. But it left me pooped in the end.

Summer or winter camp. As a guest English teacher in Korea, you have to do either. Myself, I was signed up by the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education to do the first, and may have to do the second (although I think there is a stipulation in our contracts that advises we should only be doing one... will have to check).

What to expect... Well, I've been talking with some of my friends (all of whom had to do summer camp) since the beginning of camp and we all pretty much agree: it's a hell of a lot more enjoyable than regular classes. Now, see, most of us generally only teach in English Centres, that is, after-school programs. The students come into our centres at 3pm through to 5pm, and the second wave from 5pm to 7pm. Often they move on to hagwons, or private academies, after us, which may very well last until well past 9pm.

In short, these elementary school students have insanely long days (and I feel terrible saying this, but I'm glad I was not brought up on the same schooling system).

So, summer camp has been a breeze especially because they're not exhausted from their long days. We taught from 9am to 5pm, again in two waves, and it was so much more enjoyable than regular classes because the kids were fresh, attentive, behaved (more on that below), and much more motivated.

Ah, yes, behaviour. Most of us regularly teach without a co-teacher, a bane in our lives really because while it's an excellent way to teach them authentic spoken English without them relying on a co-teacher's constant translations, which could potentially impede on their learning process (and trust me I learned English this way myself so yes, it does work), again, they usually come into our centres after long days and all they want to do is play games. But now that we taught at regular school hours and had a co-teacher in class with us to keep them in line... life was beautiful. Some of the boys I had trouble with during the regular semester were behaving like little angels, and if there was a bit of chaos it wasn't the type that had me yelling like a lady dragon to keep everyone's attention.

So, what to expect? It really depends on each summer camp. Some will be themed (I wish mine had been), some will have you assigned with topics to cover, and some will just be the same old, same old. But, as always, the very venerable website waygook.org will be able to provide plenty of help and inspiration for your classes :)