"Everywhere we go
People want to know
Who we are
So we tell them
We are the ETAs
The mighty mighty ETAs!"
We 15 ETAs entered the pavilion chanting this call-and-response song to the delight our of 100 SMK Raja Ali Form 2 students. An energetic and exciting start to our incredible six hour long English day camp. We spent the day singing songs, developing team spirit through the creation of countries (my team was Atlantis-Narnia), competing against other teams in the English Olympics, and watching Leslie make a fool out of herself.
Here are some of the highlights of the day in photo form:
Designing the Atlantis-Narnia nation flag
Practicing the National Anthem (to the rhythms of Taylor Swift's 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' and One Direction's 'What Makes You Beautiful')
Team Photo! The lion has two bodies, representing unity, one for Atlantis and one for Narnia. The names of every member of our team is written around the outside. We may not have won the Olympics, but we had a fabulous time in all of the activities.
Here are photos from some of the Olympic games:
Tongue Twister Race. Each student had to correctly say an English tongue twister and pass the balloon to the next person in line until all students had completed the tongue twister.
Balloon Race. Carefully carry the balloon from one side of the room to the other using only your backs!
Telephone. Somehow a line such as 'I like to dance gangnam style' becomes "I went to the store."
National Monument. In groups of four, the students had to build the tallest national monument using only nine pieces of spaghetti, one marshmallow, and a long strip of masking tape. We had some masterminds in our country!
Blindfolded Race. Teammates had to help a blindfolded friend put on three articles of clothing using only English. No touching allowed!
It was an incredibly successful day. The teachers complimented us on our endless amount of energy and ability to engage the students in fun, English-learning activities. This was the first English camp any of these students had attended, and I hope it will not be the last. I would certainly do it again!
Award ceremony
My fan club
ETA GROUP PHOTO!
Wonderfully exhausting day. I wouldn't have it any other way.
Firstly, thank you from a (very urban) Malaysian for making the sacrifice of venturing out to our countryside to teach English to the next generation.
ReplyDeleteI can't give you any tips on Labis, but what I would recommend - if you haven't done so already - is to read some of the blogs written by the Teach For Malaysia fellows to get a sense of the potential challenges and rewards that may await you over the coming year:
http://cherylestt.wordpress.com/
http://abelcheahszewei.blogspot.hk/
http://sweatlee.com/page/2/
All the best - no doubt the coming year will provide you with memories to fill a lifetime. Plus you'll have spent more time in the Malaysian countryside than half of KL/Penang/etc!