ESL at Summer Camp

       This past summer I was a counselor at a summer day camp near my house. I took this job to help me gain experience with children. I had no idea that this summer experience would give me an opportunity to work with children who were still learning English. Two of the campers that I was able to work with were from Japan and had only begun to learn to speak English. I was able to see how difficult it is to communicate with someone who speaks another language. Through out the summer we used multiple techniques to try to communicate with these campers. Often I would do movements in order to explain what activity we were doing next. For example if we were going to the pool I said swimming over and over while moving my arms like I was in a swimming pool. We also often pointed to what we were talking about so that these campers would understand the instructions. I quickly realized that having these campers understand me was not the only challenge. I also had to understand what they were saying. Sometimes I would have them repeat what they were saying multiple times before knowing for sure what they were asking.