Last week I got to leave my little town in Algeria (basically) and go to camp in Taza with some of the coolest Moroccan teens I've ever met. And I promise, I'm not just saying that because we're all Facebook friends and they're probs going to read my blog. These kids were legit cool, like so cool that I was hoping that at some point the girls could take me shopping and give me a makeover and lessons on how to be cool a la how JFK transformed Ghandi from a nerd to a stud in the makeover episode of Clone High.
Anyway, my main responsibilities at camp were teaching English and then running a club activity. And performing the "Go Bananas" song like 10x a day because the kids in my class really liked it and kept asking me to do it again for them. I taught an intermediate English class, and it was....so weird. In all the classes I've taught in the Gaf, I've never had students who understood enough English that I could get by only speaking in English. It was nice to have a break from having to clumsily and awkwardly explain things in Arabic, only to have the kids stare back at you and tell you that the thing you just said wasn't actually a sentence and they have no idea what you want from them. These camp kids knew what was up, which totally made playing games with them 1000x easier. (I don't know if you've ever tried to explain Simon Says in Arabic, but it didn't go over so well when I did it. Even when I explained it to my class at camp, I had one kid who was confused about who Simon was and why I was being Simon when I had just said that my name was Meetra.) It was basically a week of Pictionary, Hangman, Never Have I Ever, and rocking out to Lady Gaga (which actually put two students to sleep....) And some grammatical review, just to round things out. I didn't manage to get a pic of all the kids in my class, but here's some of them:
Camp was simultaneously a nice break and a really exhausting experience that I now need another break to recover from. As nice as it was being able to speak English for a week and catch up on the latest celeb gossip from the girls in my class (and hang out with 3 other awesome Americans), by the end of the week I missed my kids in the Gaf. So, now it's back to work as I scramble to see if my kids can get this Earth Day play ready in time for next week. The camp kids gave me a cold, which is why I'm currently hopped up on Cepacol throat lozenges and orange soda, which my local hanut guy insists has the same healing power as orange juice. I've been downing this soda all day and I don't feel any better, so I'm somewhat skeptical.
Anyway, my main responsibilities at camp were teaching English and then running a club activity. And performing the "Go Bananas" song like 10x a day because the kids in my class really liked it and kept asking me to do it again for them. I taught an intermediate English class, and it was....so weird. In all the classes I've taught in the Gaf, I've never had students who understood enough English that I could get by only speaking in English. It was nice to have a break from having to clumsily and awkwardly explain things in Arabic, only to have the kids stare back at you and tell you that the thing you just said wasn't actually a sentence and they have no idea what you want from them. These camp kids knew what was up, which totally made playing games with them 1000x easier. (I don't know if you've ever tried to explain Simon Says in Arabic, but it didn't go over so well when I did it. Even when I explained it to my class at camp, I had one kid who was confused about who Simon was and why I was being Simon when I had just said that my name was Meetra.) It was basically a week of Pictionary, Hangman, Never Have I Ever, and rocking out to Lady Gaga (which actually put two students to sleep....) And some grammatical review, just to round things out. I didn't manage to get a pic of all the kids in my class, but here's some of them:
Camp was simultaneously a nice break and a really exhausting experience that I now need another break to recover from. As nice as it was being able to speak English for a week and catch up on the latest celeb gossip from the girls in my class (and hang out with 3 other awesome Americans), by the end of the week I missed my kids in the Gaf. So, now it's back to work as I scramble to see if my kids can get this Earth Day play ready in time for next week. The camp kids gave me a cold, which is why I'm currently hopped up on Cepacol throat lozenges and orange soda, which my local hanut guy insists has the same healing power as orange juice. I've been downing this soda all day and I don't feel any better, so I'm somewhat skeptical.
first, i hope you don't actually believe orange soda is good for colds. it probably tastes good, though, so you should drink it anyway.
ReplyDeletesecond, i misss youuuuu
third, oh my gosh camp was an entire week of hit or miss games, and simon says definitely was a miss in mine too. i did teach my kids what it means to conceive a child and got hshumad though, and that was pretty funny.
Yeah, I knew the orange soda wouldn't work, but I thought it was so funny that the hanut guy kept insisting that juice and soda are kif kif. I don't know why Simon Says never seems to work here - I remember liking it as a kid. I miss you too, and I had a really embarrassing moment today at my dar chebab and I wanted to call you afterwards but I don't think I have any money on my phone so I'll just have to tell you the next time you're online.
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