Flexibility, Flexibility

When we first got here, Sam told us we would need to be “flexible.” Now we know what she meant: “Think like a Slinky with a good heart and a sense of humor.”

This is because, as much as we might prepare, tomorrow will most likely look nothing at all like today. This is summer camp for these kids, after all, and their schedules, motivation, and temperaments are as variable as ours. Last week we had 14 fifth- and sixth-graders; today we had 3. And these included the very best student in the class, who volunteered to “translate for the others,” to the most challenged, who said, with his head in his hand, “I cannot do.”

Luckily, we knew enough by now to table the synonym worksheet and the Bingo game we had planned. Instead, we gave our star student—and her sidekick—a few challenging Wordsearch puzzles while we worked with our struggling student on basic nouns and verbs. Regular school teachers should be so lucky.

I’m not sure how our volunteers did this in the pre-Internet days. We are saved daily by quick access to online worksheets, word games, conversation starters, and teaching ideas. What did people do when they couldn’t Google “ESL?”

On the other hand, our most successful activity so far was our own inspiration: a scavenger hunt. Would these kids think it was fun to go scouring the school grounds to find out what was hidden in the corner by the teachers’ office or how much Nestea costs in the school store? Whoa. We have succumbed to their pleas and will do it again tomorrow. And that will be our last day. For now.