Did you ever go to camp? Or how about a mission trip led by
older students? I went to
“Wilderness Camp” and I remember my counselors perfectly because I worshipped
them as real life heroes. I
noticed all the things that they wore, said and did and I tried to imitate them
as best as I could. It was very
easy to pick out the especially cool counselors. You know the type – they knew how to wear their bandanas the
right way, they had arms full of colorful and crazy bracelets, they played the
guitar and above all they were extremely confident and extroverted which was
both fascinating and terrifying to a shy camper like I was.
Granted, language camp is a little different. Most of the counselors are older and
are some sort of educator in their “real” job. Most of them are not from the U.S. and many of them can’t
even speak English. In addition,
the campers who attend CLV are more than likely the type of youth who are a
little different anyways and are probably trying to avoid mainstream coolness what
with its trendy bandanas and bracelets.
As we’ve been studying about how to teach to and relate with people of
all ages this week, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it was like to be a
camper myself and I remember that I just wanted to be noticed, valued and heard
but I didn’t know how to make that happen or if I did, I was afraid to
try. I wanted someone to take the
time to get to know me and think that I was special just for what I had to say
and who I was.
One of the parts of my staff handbook particularly stood out
and made me laugh, “For villagers, health includes reasonable cleanliness,
enough sleep, time to poop, and a counselor who hears what the villager is
really saying.” We also learned to
apply the acronym WAIT (Why Am I Talking?) as much as possible as a reminder
that it’s not about us. One of my
goals this summer is to be patient and listen so that I can really get to know
the villagers and make them feel valued and special – something that I wish my
own counselors would have done more of.
Participating in such a large and diverse orientation is
awesome but it does come with its own intimidation factors and kind of feels
like being a camper all over again.
I planned a lesson today with a Brazilian computational linguist who’s
just here between working on new and different models for GoogleTranslate and I
was in an afternoon discussion with a Venezuelan artist who does set design,
costumes and makeup for one of the most famous soap operas (telenovelas) in
South America. So much of camp is
outside of my comfort zone even as an adult as there is a huge amount of acting
in silly dramas, singing, dancing, speaking a language other than English in
front of a large group of people and writing chants and songs as a team. It’s easy to feel insecure and
inadequate about what we each have to offer.
I felt the same way when I started teaching at Ohio State
and the first two weeks of teaching every day were some of the worst of my life. But eventually, after much struggle, I
learned that I could be a successful teacher just by being the best at who I
am. In short, I learned that all kinds of teachers and counselors are
needed. Since I was a quieter
student growing up, though I liked the funny and entertaining teachers, I really
loved and valued the ones who were a little more serious and who actually made
time for me. While teaching at
OSU, I learned that students can feel true authenticity and can ultimately sense
if you really care or not – it didn’t matter if I was funny or cool. Similarly,
with Girls on the Run, though I wasn’t able to connect with all of the girls, I
had some particularly strong relationships with a few of them.
Campers arrive on Monday and during all of the preparation
and planning I’m trying to remember those lessons in order to not feel too
overwhelmed. One of the most
important things is to truly care – to mean it and to show it. The other thought is that while I can’t
be everything for all the villagers, I can mean something for some of them –
truly it takes a village. This
summer, I’m excited that I’ll be in a village where everyone speaks this same
language.
Post a Comment