Second Teaching Day at Language Camp 1

Today I planned to do a walk around to find objects that could fill out a chart from A-Z. But first I did the usual morning opening, having the students identify today's date and now today I added also information about the weather. They wanted to say windy and cold, so I introduced the concepts of warm and cool, explaining we should save cold for temperatures approaching 0 on the Celsius scale. But quickly, even with jackets, we decided cool really was cool and finished the rest of the class inside the building. Since Reymontowka is an amazing place, we could find many objects and discuss their English name within the building.

For the 2nd lesson I had each student select a sticker that shows a bird found in the United States. Then they wrote the name of the bird and added five words that described the bird.

For the third lesson we played Number Bingo. This game has the numbers from 0 - 20. This gives students practice in pronunciation and also helps them to quickly say a particular number rather than having to go through rote memory in their heads.

During lesson four we all gathered in the tent and began to introduce American dances such as YMCA and Cotton-Eye Joe.

 The campers had great fun with this. I told the other volunteers a lesson of dancing is how we can eat the great Polish food and still go home without gaining any weight.

After lesson four we quickly ate the mid-day meal and then drove into Siedlce to meet the county governor. The County of Siedlce is our official host and volunteers groups always meet with the governor.

The Governor said he was so pleased to see young volunteers, a sign that volunteering continues to be an American value.

After the meeting most went on a tour of Siedlce. Because I have been to Siedlce so many times I went my own way for awhile. One goal was to go to the bookstore and pick up a Polish grammar book I had ordered when in Siedlce in June.

When we gathered again, we all went to the company store for Chopin Vodka, a vodka made in Siedlce, so volunteers could purchase a souvenier.

 Then Dorota and her husband took Amy and me to the train station to purchase train tickets for weekend travel. I am going to Lodz (pronounced Woodge) and the volunteers here from University of Central Missouri are all going to Krakow. We wanted to coordinate our coming and going at the Kotun train station to make it easier for transportation by Reymontowka staff.

Then we all stopped at the McDonald's on the east side of Siedlce. We have one teen volunteer, who says he is a "very picky eater" and that's no exaggeration. At Reymontowka he eats only kotlet for obiad and at breakfast and the evening meal, basically bread with nutella. He was really looking forward to McDonald's!

I enjoy a visit to McDonald's to see how they are different in European locations. I got a Magnum McFlurry. Americans will easily recognize what a McFlurry is; a Magnum McFlurry has pieces of a Magnum chocolate bar in it. Yum! good!

In the evening the campers' entertainment was Date in the Dark.

Americans of a "certain age" may remember Dating Game on TV. The idea is the same. There are three candidates who answer questions and then the contestant picks one of the candidates for a "date." Here a date might be sitting in the dining room and having ice cream sundaes together.

Some of the "young volunteers" participated.

The volunteer pictured here was picked by the boy for a "date." I asked her what the date was and then said she had gotten the best -- a horse carriage ride.

As one the volunteers said, "Yet another FANTASTYCZNY day!"