During the summer of 2013, the author participated in a six-week work exchange program through the YMCA in Longueuil, Quebec, a city near Montreal. They worked full-time at a day camp for children ages 5 to 13, taking on responsibilities like sanitizing toys and tables, helping with field trips, and making meals. Through this experience, the author gained skills in communication, French language ability, responsibility, efficiency, and organization. To obtain the position, the author was required to have past experience, create a French resume, and interview with their employer and the YMCA coordinator. The work emphasized teamwork, and the author developed skills in working with others, accountability, commitment, and evaluating if they could

1. Unit Five Final Project
Work Experience

2. Criteria One
During the summer of 2013 I went on a
six week work exchange program
through the Y.M.C.A. I stayed in a city
called Longueuil. It is a twenty minute
drive from Montreal. Over the six weeks
I worked five days a week from 8 in the
morning until 5 in the afternoon at a day
camp for children ages 5 to 13. I worked
over 200 hours that summer!

3. Criteria Two
Everyday I would have two main jobs. I
would start by sanitizing toys and tables
in the various playrooms and then I
would work on reorganizing their
storage area. I also went on the weekly
field trips to help with the children. I had
other jobs like making meals for
children, setting up activities like crafts
and sports, watching the kids while they
swim, and I also got to help the
secretaries organize and sort through

4. Criteria Three
I gained new skills and improved old ones. These include:
- Communication Skills...worked with other throughout day and had to
ask questions about what to do, how long my break was, things I needed
help with, etc.
- French Skills… spoke in a different language for the whole time
- Responsibility… was responsible for myself by biking to work every
morning and arriving on time and was responsible for others by making
sure children were same on field trips and at the pool
- Efficiency and Speed… learned to work quickly to complete jobs to the
best of my ability
- Organization… organized LOTS of storage at the day camp and was
able to work out a system that made things easy to find and neat. From
working with the secretary I learned how important it is to stay on top of
things like payments and receipts and that things will quickly get out of
hand if they arent organized

5. Criteria Four
The preparation I had to do in order to
receive this job was:
- have had past experience
- create a resume (in french)
-have an interview with my employer
and the Y.M.C.A. job coordinator

6. Criteria Five
Working in this job required lots of teamwork to complete various
tasks. I developed better teamwork skills at the daycamp by working
with others almost everyday and learning to help them where they
needed it and to be able to ask for help when I needed it. Secondly, I
saw the importance of a team when working with the kids. They did
better in games and activities when they had a support team cheering
them on. Next I realized the importance of accountability. I have
always been accountable, but I saw how it was key to working with
others. If one person didn't do their part, it was a problem for
everyone. I also improved my ability to commit. I really wanted to
work at the day camp, but I realized what a commitment it was to stay
at a host house for six weeks, communicate almost always in a
second language, and step out of my comfort zone. Now I am better
able to evaluate if I will be able to commit and stick with it before I say
yes and can't handle something. The things that made me and my
team of coworkers great together was our ability to help each other,
communicate, trust one another.