I can't believe I forgot about English Camp!

English Camp

ZOMG I just realised I never wrote about English Camp with my school! Blogger fail...

English Camp at my school took place from February 8-9 in Rayong Province.  In the days leading up to English Camp, we (the foreign teachers) were given very little information about what would happen and what we would need to do. So as usual, we went in having no idea what was going on. 

 I arrived at school on Friday the 9^th at around 8am – all the students were gathering in the hall/auditorium area. English Camp was open to students from P6 to M3 (grades 6-9), and I think there are about 200 or so students attending. All the Thai English teachers were going, as well as a few other teachers to help manage the students and run activities. I think around 9 or so we all boarded our non-air-conditioned buses... lovely. Needless to say the ride was very hot, and involved much napping. Needless to say, when we got off, we were all sweaty, sticky and disgusting.

Our first stop was at the Pattaya Floating Market for lunch. It was quite an elaborate set up of boardwalks, bridges and shops. Very maze-like too. We somehow managed to find a restaurant, and wil the help of the Thai teachers, were able to order lunch. We aren’t incompetent I swear. We didn’t do any shopping as we were only there a short while, and everything was super expensive. Our next stop was at the Silver Lake Vineyard. Like the vineyard we stopped at for teacher retreat, it was very picturesque and beautiful. We walked around and took pictures. It was also SO hot, so we didn’t do much running around. Lovely spot though.

We arrived at the hotel around 3:30/4 I think. It was actually quite a nice hotel, and I’m pretty sure the school had rented out the entire place. It was right on the beach, and our room faced the water. Very nice. In the evening, we had activities for the students, involving singing and chanting and whatnot. There was a water balloon passing activity, which was quite fun. It also degenerated into a water balloon fight, naturally. Then we all went in the water. After a little bit of swimming, we realised that the boys and girls were swimming in different sections, separated by a line of Thai teachers. Midly amusing. We had also been told before that “swimwear” meant shorts and a t-shirt. But we still had a blast, including splashing and sand-fights with the students and teachers. Also buried our friend Bank in the sand. Teehehehe. 

In the evening, we had dinner and more activities. The students were divided into groups, and each given a theme. We weren't told to do anything in particular, so we wandered around aimlessly for a little whille. Then, Laura and I decided to join a group of p6es who were doing a fashion show. We helped make a fisherman, bikinis and a ghost out of balloons, construction paper, newspaper, garbage bags, and tape. It was a lot of fun! Other groups presented stories, songs, sports, ASEAN, and more. Each group then presented their scene. Then the English teachers gave a special... presentation. This was a dance to a song called “I’m the best”, made popular by a group of Thai lady-boys on “Thailand’s Got Talent” (If you are curious, refer to the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFGTMSSLKNQ) . So their presentation involved lots of outrageous costumes, hilarious make-up, and Deaw and Bank dressing up like women. I nearly fell off my chair I was laughing so hard. 

After all the presentations were over, the students headed to bed. We all decided to hangout in our room for a while. We may have jumped on the bed. Laura, Anna and I also went to sit on the beach, which was completely deserted. We were staying near Ban Phe, which is the port you leave from to go to Ko Samet. You could see the island from our beach, which was kind of cool. It was lovely to be able to see the stars...

Sunday we got up early to have breakfast. Afterwards were more activities: the students rotated through various stations about homonyms, acronyms, synonyms, and other grammatical... things. We ended the morning by all singing and dancing to “Sha-lalalala” on the stage. 

We then had lunch, and left the hotel. On the way, we stopped at one of these giant shopping market stores, so the students and teachers could buy snacks and gifts for their families. I had been passed out on the bus, so was incoherent for much of this stop. We eventually made it home around 6:30pm, only 3 hours behind schedule! Hahaha! But it was a fun weekend for sure! And hopefully the students learned something...