How are you doing? Alan’s phrase of the week is, “Did you do anything special last weekend? If you follow us, doubtless you’ll know we just had our 3rd annual English camp last week. Excuse me for writing another post about it but it’s one of our events that showcase the school, like the speech contest, and we are very proud of it.
This year, we had the camp at a new venue, Mt. Fuji Sanrokuyama Village, and we were blessed with great weather. We stayed in a lodge this year. That means the 3 year veterans who have been to all of the camps have seen 3 different campsites and stayed by a beautiful lake, up near the mountains and in a lovely forest. They have also stayed in a bungalow, a tent and a lodge. This wasn’t by design but what a great opportunity.
The English camp is a wonderful opportunity to use English outside the classroom and in different situations. At the camp, in just 24 hours, we used English playing interview games with every student and teacher, playing outdoor English games, exploring the campsite and forest, using flags to send messages in semaphore, cooking, chatting around the table at mealtime, singing songs around the campfire, reading a bedtime story and then meeting characters from that story the next day in real life.
In addition to learning English, there were lots of other things to take away from the camp; wonderful memories, interacting with nature, learning new skills, making and deepening friendships. I think there is a Hario camp spirit of people having fun, cooperating and enjoying a shared experience.
The staff all worked hard in preparation and during the camp and the students showed their best selves on the camp. Thank you to everyone. So to answer Alan’s question, yes, we did something very special last weekend. How about you? Did you do anything special last weekend?
Thanks for reading. Have a great week,
Kevin