English BY camp
Who are we? What do we do? And why we do it?
“english BY camp” is a team of Belarusian enthusiastic teachers who – since August 2020 – have been supporting schoolteachers of English in Belarusian secondary schools in organizing English day camps. Our team regularly organize camp counselor trainings and design themed programs for such camps.
See results of Year 1 here
See results of Year 2 here
“english BY camp” is a local initiative that is becoming a movement. The dream of the “english BY camp” team is to bring English day camp into each school in Belarus, because we believe that each boy and girl who study English as a school subject need – at least once in their school life – to attend a language camp. Why? Because such camps provide a unique opportunity for taking the foreign language outside classroom walls and using it as a tool for informal communication with peers and adults and for taking active part in entertaining and educational camp activities.
What is English day camp?
English day camp is an intensive short-term language immersion program for 9-14-year-olds who study English. Camp is organized during school holidays in a school or gymnasia which campers attend, and where camp counselors work as teachers.
We promote the model of English day camp that is affordable to each child regardless of their family financial situation. Thus, our camps are free for children.
We encourage school administrators to find ways of rewarding their teachers who organize English day camps – which are totally beneficial for all stakeholders (language learners, their parents, school, teachers) – in order to make such camps a regular extra-curricular program at secondary schools in Belarus.
What do children do at English day camp?
At English day camp, campers do all kinds of fascinating non-academic activities that give them a break from school and at the same time develop them socially, emotionally, physically, cognitively and linguistically. At least five types of activities are included into each day’s program at English day camp.
Is it possible to see what English day camps are like?
Sure! Here is a link to a folder on Google Disk.
In the folder, there are a few slideshows from English day camps organized by English teachers in Belarus who were trained and supported by the “english BY camp” team.
What is a camp counselor training?
Camp counselor training is an intensive virtual professional development program for schoolteachers of English who are eager to work as camp counselors at English day camp. We recommend that teachers take such trainings right before the school holidays when they will organize their camp so that their enthusiasm and inspiration do not fade away.
What is a camp program?
Camp program is a package of ready-to-use materials that includes
- detailed plans for 5 days of camp where each day is 5 hours long,
- printables, presentations, games and other materials suggested in the plans for the days,
- other necessary templates, documents and guidelines.
The “english BY camp” team designed or facilitated design of 9 themed programs: Travel, Jobs, Pirate School, Eco Kids, Academy of Superheroes, Time Travelers, Video Games, Drama for Young Learners, Winter.
Each graduate of our camp counselor training is gifted with one program from this collection, depending on their campers’ age and interests.
The packages of themed materials are on Google Disk. This is how a package for the program “Camp Travel” looks like.
The “english BY camp” promote English day camp through all available channels:
- we publish articles in local and international media and professional journals,
- we support TV in making reportages on English day camps,
- we present at national and international professional conventions.
In 2021, the team and a few teachers, our dearest project participants, presented at the bi-annual conference organized by BelNATE (Belarusian National Association of Teachers of English). Together, we made nine presentations on English day camp :
BELNATE conference, October- 2021. Presentations of the speakers
Session 1 - Английский школьный лагерь: english BY camp - проект для Беларуси - https://youtu.be/UYTe2r4HraI – Алла Маккой
Session 2 – Organisation of the environment at English day camps - https://youtu.be/8Ni6DOAZ0tY - Inna Tokarivich
Session 3 – A camp counsellor as a new role of an educator at camp - https://youtu.be/7KNL8gdP2CQ - Viktoriya Ramanenka
Session 4 – Формы работы в английском школьном лагере - https://youtu.be/KRuekfsXnaE - Вероника Орлова
Session 5 - Английский школьный лагерь: онлайн формат - https://youtu.be/wPbRys05hfw - Елена Трофимчук
Session 6 – Формирование 4К навыков и компетенций - https://youtu.be/86LLMp3B6yk - Екатерина Воронище
Session 7 – Геймификация в лагере - https://youtu.be/Hdq2IVBZCLs - Светлана Колодич
Session 8 – Трансформация педагога - https://youtu.be/4vPb1_lA5-8 - Анна Папко
Session 9 – 15 причин, почему нужно проводить английский школьный лагерь - https://youtu.be/Ia8klakLB-U - Елена Петренко и Алла Маккой
Got interested? Join our community on social media!
So that you stay connected and get inspired by the community of English-day-camp-minded teachers, and so that do not miss an announcement for the camp counselor training whenever you are ready to sign up for it, join us on social media:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/englishBYcamp
VKontakte - https://vk.com/englishbycamp
Instagram - englishBYcamp (@englishbycamp)
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5tU1F3NwVLR4TEUlgL56IA/videos
Have questions? Email us!
