ELT News Think Tank

This Month's Think Tank Panel

Marc Helgesen

Peter Viney

Curtis Kelly

Panelists: Marc | Curtis | Peter
Date: July 2004

Topic: "What can be achieved through English camps/intensive courses?"

Marc Helgesen

Rethinking English Camps/Intensive Courses
(OR) How I spent my winter non-vacation.

Like most Japanese universities, my school takes students abroad for a short (3-week) Intensive English Course. In the past, we've gone to Australia. Useful ­ and an interesting trip ­ but going to Oz is something learners don't really need a school trip for. It is easy to do on their own.

“We see English as a vehicle to learn about people from all over the world, not just Britain, the States or other English-speaking countries.”

A couple of years ago, a colleague and I decided to rethink the English study trip. We teach in a Department of Intercultural Studies. We see English as a vehicle to learn about people from all over the world, not just Britain, the States or other English-speaking countries. (Last year the other departmental trips were to Oman/Zanzibar and to France. Next year a group is going to India - so I'm fortunate to be in a department that encourages "out of the box" thinking).

The result was a group tour we took last December and January. We went to Ban Phe, in the south of Thailand. Twenty-three of my Japanese students and 35 Thais spent three weeks together - studying, living and learning - in an English Adventure Camp. My students don't know Thai. The Thais didn't know Japanese. Of necessity (and design) English became the shared language - they had to communicate, and English was the only option.

The camp was organized by TEFL International, a non-profit organization that mainly does teacher training. Several years ago they started offering English camps for Thai kids. This was the first time they did an international camp for Japanese and Thai university students.

The curriculum included four major components: English reading (often about Thai cultural elements like Muay Thai kick boxing and traditional Thai massage ­ events that we would take part in outside of class), environment (split between classroom tasks and activities like cleaning up a beach), cultural (students learned to talk about their own culture, then explain it to students from the other country), and adventure activities. Activities such as climbing a rock wall (photo 1), negotiating a cat-walk 5 meters off the ground (photo 2) or helping friend through a rope spider web (photo 3) built self-confidence and a sense of cooperation.

1. Climbing a rock wall	2. Cat-walk	3. Rope spider web
4. Toilet facilities	5. Bungalow	Click photos to see larger version. Photos will open in a new window.

Of course, anything new comes with some problems and this camp was no exception. We had wanted to make it tri-cultural by including some students from Korea but couldn't find a school that wanted to partner with us (and we didn't have any luck recruiting individual students).

Thailand is very hot, even in December. The temperature averaged 36° but, because of the low humidity, the students didn't realize how much they were sweating. Many students experienced dehydration (including two that had to be hospitalized for a few days!). A learning experience for me as well as the students - next time, everyone carries a water bottle all the time from day one.

Many of the students experienced culture shock. Part of it was the physical environment. The toilets (photo 4), for example, were clean but simple (here the students might substitute the word "simple" with "funky"). And it was fascinating interacting with the Thais. For the first couple days, they were really reserved and shy. You can imagine how strange it was to have a group of Japanese seem absolutely outgoing in comparison to another nationality group. But they were. Once people got to know each other, however, everyone warmed up.

As tough as it was, it was part of the learning. They were able to pass through the stages of culture shock. One student even commented afterwards, "I had a lot of culture shock. I was surprised by the toilets and shower room. But I gradually got used to them by using them. Meals and food were culture shock, too. Thai food was VERY spicy. I thought my stomach was on fire. But culture shock was a GOOD experience. In fact, it was hard but I learned many things. I could do it!" (For other student comments, click here.)

As the person organizing a camp for my students (although TEFL International put on the camp, I had a lot of input into the program), I thought that we accomplished several things that we couldn't have with a more traditional study-abroad program:

• There was real cultural sharing between equals. The Thais wanted to learn about us. We wanted to learn about them.
• Students lived together in bungalows (photo 5). That meant they had English from early morning to late at night. They used English with each other and with their teachers (who were native speakers). Contrast this to a typical homestay, where you are lucky to get an hour of quality interaction time with your homestay family each day.
• The total cost for three weeks was less than ¥200,000. Students knew that this wasn't going to be a resort holiday. The low price meant people were going because they really wanted to work on their English, not because they wanted a holiday on the beach.
• I've taken students abroad maybe a half-dozen times. For me, this trip was the most satisfying. There was real sharing, real interaction, real learning --- and the tears when we were leaving spoke to the real relationships they developed.

Panelists: Marc | Curtis | Peter

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Marc Helgesen, Miyagi Gakuin Women's College

Co-author of English Firsthand and Active Listening

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