Education Development > English Immersion Camp for English Teachers in Baojing County

English Immersion Camp for English Teachers 2009

English Immersion Camp for English Teachers in Baojing County
4 August - 7 August 2009

Organized by Institute for Integrated Rural Development, Hong Kong
Supported by Baojing County, Western Hunan, China
Sponsored by Chan Deng Social Services Foundation

On 4th August 2009, a group of volunteers organized an English immersion camp for the teachers in Bo Ching Yuen, Wu Nam. The camp lasted for three and a half days. It is an extension from last year’s immersion camp. Last year, the focus was on primary school teachers; whereas this year secondary school teachers are the focal point. There are altogether 38 participates from 16 secondary and vocational schools. The aims of the camp are to improve the teachers’ English ability and enhance their teaching methodologies. This would benefit the tens of thousands of students in the region.

Equip with last year’s experience and the engagement of several participants from last year’s camp, we did a lot of preparation work, such as, the setting of teaching content, teaching methods and the work of allocation before setting off. Upon arrival, the preparation for the camp got off to a good start when the volunteers met face to face with the officials and participants of the camp. During the meet and greet occasion, English games were used to allow the participants to get to know each other. English pronunciation was also taught.

On the first day of training, the volunteers helped to improve the participants’ English pronunciation. They also talked about the importance of using games in English teaching in order to arouse students’ interest in English learning. By using games in English teaching, students will have fun in classroom and at the same time increase interaction with teachers. As a result, it is hoped that teachers will also be able to grasp the strength and the areas that the respective students will need to work on.

On the second day of training, the volunteers organized class demonstrations for the participants. One of the volunteers who are a native English speaking person did a demonstration of an English class with 50 students. The volunteer integrated lots of games into her English teaching to increase the interaction between teachers and students. After that, 38 participates were divided into 4 groups. A representative from each group used what they had just learned to teach a lesson. Although the representatives were really nervous, they tried their best to finish the task. They all agreed that this task increased their confidence in using games in English teaching.

On the third day of training, the participants showed great improvement in English teaching, both in idea and ability. At the concluding part of the camp, the participants showed their mastery of the teaching main points. They demonstrated the techniques they learned from the camp by designing English games that were both interesting and creative.

This camp is just a starting point. We hope that all the participants can make good use of all the teaching concepts and techniques to make their lessons more interesting and meaningful so that the students (mostly from villages) can grasp the International language, English. This will allow them to achieve higher grades (English is a compulsory subject in the higher secondary school examination), have better job prospects, bring a wider horizon to their lives and to gain more confidence.

We promise to provide different kinds of support, for example, the provision of an on-line English learning platform which is sponsored by i-Learners, the publishing of teaching material, CD player, fees for teachers’ interaction activity. The teachers joined the group for development for campers. Its aim is to enhance the professionalism of English teaching, so that the students can receive high quality of English teaching. We will obtain feedback on the teaching materials after a period of usage and make changes recommended by the users. We will then make large number of copies to circulate amongst more English teachers working in poverty-stricken regions.

We understand that education helps children and their families to improve the standard of living and escape from poverty. As a matter of fact, a large number of children from the remote area of China do not have the opportunity to receive education due to poverty, health problems as well as social problems. Moreover, the quality of education is usually poor due to poor teaching method and teaching materials. Wu Nam is just the tip of the iceberg. We will continue to do the best within our ability and hope that every one of you can give a helping hand to the students and teachers in the village areas so they can receive better education and teaching resources.

Photo albums

Volunteers List

Feher Rachel Marie	Experienced Teacher (Hong Kong)
Atkinson Sarah Jane	English Education Consultant (England)
Tse Sze Wan, Shirley	Analyst (Hong Kong)
Wong Hei Fung	University Student major in linguistic (Hong Kong)