Detective Kristy and the Case of the Winter English Camp

Just like last year, at the end of the school year in January, we had a winter camp. It was set up slightly different this year, in that there were four classes that rotated each day. So for five days, we each taught the day one lesson 4 times and on Friday, we would have the first class again and teach the day two lesson. The camp consisted of all of the EPIK teachers in our town and Gia (the other ETA at my school) and I. We were each in pairs teaching one of the four classrooms. Gia and I were paired together and made a Detective themed camp based on the board game CLUE.

Day one was the detective day. We played a bunch of games calling it "detective training." We played games where they had to remember the shapes on the board, spot all the differences in a set of pictures.

Then we learned "what am I?" poems. We called these clues, so the students would read three sentences like "I am red or green" "I am a fruit" and "I am crunchy" and they would come up with the answer apple. We read a few, wrote one as a class then the students had to write one for themselves (or pairs). I am so surprised at how well some of the students did. They were really good at coming up with them and when I had them read their clue aloud to the class, the class was able to figure it out as well. We then used this skill to complete a scavenger hunt around the room, using the clues to get them to the next object and ultimately to the winning sentence.

We did day one four times and each time was slightly different. Some classes went faster than others, some really enjoyed certain activities more than others, some just ended up not even getting to do some activities. But it was fun adjusting every day on the fly.

Day two had us actually playing the game CLUE. We made our own modified board with objects and rooms that they would better be able to learn.

After playing a few games to get the students familiar with the appearance and household vocabulary words, we set them to play the game (after 20 minutes of explanation in both English and Korean). Surprisingly, most of the groups really understood it. One group didn't even need any help, freeing Gia and me up to monitor the groups that need help playing. The strategy part of the game was a bit difficult as it was third graders we were playing with. Some groups really got into the game and some even finished before it was time to go. They were so invested, they didn't want to stop playing while they got their snack.

I'm really happy with the camp that we made this year and I hope the students enjoyed it as much as I did.