1. Camp English:
Preparing a Short-Term Intensive English Language
Experience

2. Our Backgrounds
• Elizabeth Reyes
• Director, Intensive English Program
• Elgin Community College
• Susanna Graham
• Instructor, Intensive English Program
• Elgin Community College

3. Proposed Schedule:
4 Day Camp
English instruction in the morning
- 3 days, 3 hours, 3 classes
• (Listening, Reading, Grammar/Writing)
- 55 minutes each
- 5 minutes between classes
Cultural experiences in the afternoon
- 3 hours on campus
• College orientation, library research
instruction, cooking class
- 1 afternoon visit to a local private high school
Weekend excursions
• Weekend prior to on-campus immersion

4. What we expected before the students arrived...
- Told all students had "good
English skills."
Anticipated that students would
be tested before arrival for class
placement (using the Focal Skills
assessment.)
Thought we would receive class
lists of which students were to be
in each module.

5. When students arrived,
we discovered...
57 students, 56 of whom tested into the same module: listening, our first module.
• So, we...
Divided the entire group into three sections, and taught each group the same curriculum.
Each group of 19 students were in each module each day, changing classes after 55 minutes.

6. Curriculum Development
• Our Plan was....
• Use a theme to tie skills together and create continuity in the 3-
day camp
- Listening module
• Guided viewing of the movie "Forrest Gump"
- Reading Module
• Research and read about issues related to the time
period.
Protests
The Vietnam War
The Civil Rights Movement
• These topics were to be explored in the students'
afternoon session with instructional librarians.
- Writing /Grammar module
• Write responses to the movie using simple present and
present progressive verb tenses.

7. Curriculum Revised
• Met students for first day of class and found their
expectations and needs didn't match what we had
planned.
- Evident the students were not
interested in a focused academic
environment.
- They wanted to be entertained.
- Readings selected were challenging
and required more focus than the
students were expecting.

8. Product Needed
• Their school....
- Had asked for a product which reflected their learning in the camp.
- Originally, this which was to be done in their afternoon session with
the instructional librarians.
- However, at this point we discovered that what had been planned for
them required a greater understanding of the English language and
library databases.
• So,....
- We were faced with reworking our curriculum after day one.
- Instruction needed to reflect the students' true abilities and interests.
- We also needed to focus on creating a product of the work we were
doing in the morning classes.

9. Final Curriculum:
Listening
- Curriculum and plan stayed the same
- Students watched Forrest Gump.
- Teacher facilitated viewing by clarifying
vocabulary, characters actions, and historical
and cultural perspectives.
- Special focus was placed on themes of civil
rights, the Vietnam War and protesting.
- Students watched film over the course of
three days, an hour at a time.

10. Final Curriculum: Reading
Followed the same themes as in the listening
module: civil rights, Vietnam War and
protesting.
Chose readings from the Forrest Gump
graded reader to correspond with scenes the
students viewed that day in the film.
Prepared materials to guide the students in
researching the themes.
On the final day, students used all of their
knowledge to stage a protest.

11. Protesting Traditional Language Instruction

12. Protesting Animal Cruelty

13. Final Curriculum: Writing/Grammar
Used, as originally planned and taught
on the first day, the simple present and
present progressive verb tenses.
Incorporated scenes from Forrest
Gump for written analysis.

14. Final Curriculum: Writing/Grammar
• First, the students were given the short task of
relating the movie to each of their lives - one or
two sentences was all that they were asked to
write.
- Students were not comfortable analyzing and
comparing fiction to reality.
- Their language ability did not match the task.
- Product was weak. Students either did not
know what was expected or did not have the
language skills to express their thoughts.

15. Grammar and Writing:
The Final Project
• Problem to solve:
• For the last day and a half, it was
clear that we had to change focus
and increase motivation.
• Goal:
• Use the movie to inspire and
motivate the students, while
encouraging them to produce
writing using the grammar taught:
simple present and present
progressive.

16. Grammar/Writing: Final Product
• Task: Students were given a photo still of a
scene from the movie. They were asked to
create the dialogue for that photo. They may
or may not yet have viewed that part of the
film, but needed to incorporate all that they
knew from the story in producing their
scene.
• The scene only had to be 6 to 8 lines long.
• Issue for students: They had never before
been asked to do a task like this. As soon as
they understood that "having fun" was
allowed, they produced quality scenes.

18. Implementing the Thematic Camp
in Other Ways
• Summer workshops
• Expand this idea of using a theme to our four-week long
summer workshops.
• Summer tends to be multi level groups in one class.
• Theme: American election process
• Movie: "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
• Text: Newspaper and online articles about the 2012
presidential election
• Final product: Wrote campaign speeches on a political
issue relevant to their lives: immigration,

19. Implementing the Thematic Camp in Other Ways
Our IEP program with electives:
4-week long quarters and conducive for the use of a theme
Higher Level: Pre-Collegiate Module
• Lower Level: Reading Module
Movie/Text: "The Filipino and the Drunkard"
• Movie/Text: About a Boy (William Saroyan)
• Theme: Life Issues Theme: *Prejudice * Stereotyping * American
law from a historical perspective
• *Depression * Suicide * Single
Parenthood * Bullying * Special guest: lawyer
Difficulties of Growing Up
Final Product:
• Final Product:
Wrote a script, produced and acted in a one
• Literature Circle to discuss life act play imagining the trial of the Filipino.
issues in text/movie

20. Implementing the Thematic Camp
in Other Ways
• Summer immersion college camp:
6-week program for university students from China
3-week program for high school students from China
2-week teacher training of teachers from China who are investigating the use
of themes and the Focal Skills Approach
Annual 2-week teacher training sessions for English instructors from
Sanyuan Foreign Languages School (high school), who already use the
Focal Skills Approach.

21. Great Press Always Helps
http://triblocal.com/elgin/2012/01/17/chine
/

22. Questions?

23. Thank you!
For a copy of this presentation:
https://sites.google.com/site/susannamintongraha