Day one of English camp was packed to the brim and we have already seen God's gracious work in us, as well as the students. The camp literally hit the ground running yesterday with a 7am run/walk and exercise. That was followed by a yummy Russian breakfast of tea, Russian corn flakes (they're REALLY tasty), hard boiled eggs, and a type of Russian porridge.
Our designated room for all of our teaching supplies was like a busy beehive with each of us gathering what we needed for class. Once we'd downed an alarming amount of coffee(we brought our own stash), we were then off to the first hour of English class! Armed with our curriculum, teaching supplies and God's grace, the teaching teams dispersed throughout the campground to meet with our assigned students. We all spent the hour lesson getting to know each of them and teach them how to speak English. The Russians are very attentive and eager to learn, and overall seem to have a great sense of humor, which makes teaching them fun and a little easier for us!
It was time for a quick mid morning tea break and then back to the next class with a reading lesson. We used scripture for our reading content and were able talk through commonly misspelled or how to pronounce words and explaining word definitions with the students; we also shared the context of the passages we were reading and why it is important for everyone to know. The general consensus from the students was that they loved this class time.
Then it was already lunch time! We ate a Russian lunch of soup, fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, salad and yet again, more tea(and of course the teachers had more coffee)Then a few hours of crafts and games. The craft was a hand made journal for the students that they can use to document their time here at camp. It was a successful time and the campers appeared to love the activity. The outside activities included kayaking, volleyball, foosball and climbing the rock climbing wall.
It was then time for our final lesson with the students. We used this time as structured conversation time and explained some parts of english they didn't know.
Then a wonderful dinner that complimented our "Roadtrip Across America" camp theme. It was New England day, so we had chowder and baked beans...and of course more tea.
Then we had free time to get to know more students, which is one of the most fun parts of this experience!
We finished out day one with the Late Night show, which included great songs, funny skits, games and an interview from one of our Idaho team members, Cynthia.
The evening was spent eating Boston Cream Pie(another ode to New England), tea, playing board games, and just hanging out with our teammates and campers.
I am so grateful to see God's work today and my heart is as full as the day. I am writing this very late into the night, but I can't wait to get up and see what is in store for day two of camp!
Much love,
Deborah
Abrielle and Buster checking out the new climbing wall with some students
Deborah and Nathanael teaching their class
The food here is yummy… even if we don’t always know what we’re eating :)
Becca kicking off the first day of crafts and showing students how to make journals