English Language Summer Camp

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The best possible escape from hot sandstorms of the Marrakech region is the breezy Atlantic coast. I got to spend the two weeks with fourteen other PCVs and four JICAs (Japanese International Co-operation Agency) in a camp close to downtown El Jedida, and only a five minute walk from the beach.

There are lots of camps sponsored by the Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports, but four are billed as English speaking camps, of which this camp was Session 3. English Language camps are partly staffed by PCVs from the Youth Development sector; there are also professional Moroccan staff and some Moroccan volunteers who work with us.

A typical day breaks down like this: breakfast at 8:00. National anthem and announcements at 8:45. English class 9:00 to 10:40. Beach from 11:00 to 12:30. Lunch at 1:00 then rest/nap time until 3:00 when we had American clubs. After out clubs we had break and tea then the Moroccan staff did their activities until 7:30. The kids got a half hour break before dinner at 8:00. From 9:00 to 11:00 we had evening activities.

It was a full schedule and we added to it field trips to the historic Portuguese cistern, a less populated beach a short bus ride out of town, “Jedida by nite” and a whole day in Casablanca. There were also theme days like Environment Day or AIDS Day, which was actually my favorite. The kids were broken up into groups according to age and sex since AIDS is a very difficult subject here. We had all sorts of activities that they really got into, especially the skits. Most kids love theater and they were very enthusiastic about their roles in the improve skits. One scenario involved an HIV positive student who wanted to attend college. The roles were one of the student’s parents and the university’s director who wanted the student to attend and a professor and the parent of another student who didn’t want the HIV positive person at school. The kids were very insightful and took it all quite seriously.

Evening activities were everything from talent show and dance competition to costume party and impressions. I loved the costumes and dressed all in black, using a girl’s hijab (head scarf) to wrap around my face and make me a ninja. I made num chucks out of old waterbottles and had a lot of fun trying to use them. I mostly ended up hitting myself. The kids didn’t have much in the way of costumes though and liked the impression night better. They were really good at it too. They mostly impersonated the counselors and staff, which was really funny though they also did famous people. One kid did Mr. Bean so well I thought I was going to fall out of my chair laughing. It was amazing.

There were enough volunteers that we could choose to either teach in the morning or do clubs in the afternoon, so we all had time off to hang out around town or participate in activities instead of having to lead them.

The clubs we did after lunch are chosen by the volunteers and change every camp session. For session 3 we had art and Japanese dance led by the JICA volunteers. There was science, environment and hip hop dance led by PCVs. Every camp has to have GGLOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World) which is leadership and gender activities all rolled into one.

I taught the beginner group just above the real beginners that didn’t know a word of English. It was a big class of mainly boys and usually lessons quickly got out of hand, though mostly with enthusiasm which didn’t bother me. I didn’t try to teach anything academic because I remember being at camp and I know that these kids are on vacation and really are just counting the minutes until they can go to the beach. They don’t want to think. I brought a Calvin & Hobbes comic book with me to camp and it helped me keep my perspective on days my fun games turned into riots or water fights. It’s hard to be mad at a kid when you can think of them as just being like Calvin.

That said, this camp was overcrowded and had far too many boys. Out of 96 kids only 28 were girls. The worst part though was that this camp, the facilities, schedule and activities are designed for young teenagers. It was billed as a camp for kids 13 to 16. We had quite a few who were 18 and even one who was 21. We had issues.

But we worked through them. Camp always had its highlights and one of mine was a demure little girl who was very shy and always wore hijab (only five of the 28 girls wore hijab). She was the exact same size as one of the PCVs and they even looked similar, which naturally made them inseparable. They were the singers and I absolutely loved watching this little girl lead songs I used to sing at Girl Scout camp in McCall, Idaho. Her signature song was Boom-Chicka-Boom but she also did a great Princess Pat (the one who has a rigabamboo that’s red and gold and purple too).

And it flew by and the kids were crying the last night and then I had a day off before the next group came for the 4th and last session of English summer camp in 2006.

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Photos

The Fishbowl
This was the building the volunteers stayed in and also the library. Living in Morocco is being in a fishbowl, but the architecture of our housing at camp really made it obvious to the campers. When they visited us inside they got to feel what it's like to be stared at from all angles all the time.

Portuguese Cistern
El Jadida has an old Portuguese quarter that is partly opened up for tourism. The cistern is the city's symbol and most visited monument. The campers had fun splashing around in it and prevented us from taking postcard photos that show the reflection of the ceiling.

Science teachers
Sokmala and Jocelyn led the science club and did cool projects like soda/vingar volcanos on the beach and an egg drop off the roof. Campers picked up trash and used it to create protective housing for their eggs.

Origami
THe JICA and Peace Corps volunteers teamed up for lots of activities. Note: I don't have many photos of campers for liability, privacy issues.

Costume Night
Rebecca was some sort of Greek goddess (which isn't really a costume for her) and Tia was obviously the Statue of Liberty. Rebecca's favorite camper Bashir got points for a creative costume though I'm not sure what exactly he was supposed to be.

More Costume Night
PCV Erin and her other half cross dressed as each other and even did a little skit acting like each other. The pink hijab belongs to the girl on the left and the patched hippie clothes should be on the PCV on the right.

Comments

[sara]

sara
I was in this camp and I hade great time there with new friends from differents places !