english camp 2011

English Camp 2011

Nová Louka

Albrechtice nad Vltavou

Every year for the past 9 years a team of Christian Canadians come to the Czech Republic to host an English Camp meant to serve the community and share their faith in God. We are so pleased to be a part of this with them and to carry on the work they start after they have flown back home.



Level 1 (beginners) taught by Dan and me
back row: Zdeno, Ruda, Eva
front row: Alena, Betka, Tana and Edita



Level 1 waiting to perform their play



A typical day at English Camp begins for the teachers at 7:15 with prayer. Then we meet in the dining hall for breakfast usually consisting of a mix of cereals, bread, fruit, salads, cold cuts and coffee and tea. After breakfast, a quick change around and we are ready to teach our Level 1 class right there in the dining hall. There are 4 levels and we had to be creative to find rooms large enough to teach them in these bed and breakfast type accomodations.We thoroughly enjoyed teaching our class. They were lots of fun and had a great time practicing their English and learning new things. For Danny and I it was a joy as we had the privelege of befriending our students. From 9am to 12 pm there were English lessons with a 15 minute break.



I look like I am going to eat my students...what a creepy teacher

 After a hearty and huge Czech lunch (often soup, meat, potatoes and a vegetable-type thing) we regrouped for conversation class from 1-2:30pm. We were broken into groups, given a task and had 30 minutes to prepare a presentation to be given in front of the entire camp. Some of the tasks were: advertise your new travel agency, perform a short play about a particular topic, etc... The results were always creative and hilarious!



Martina, Meagan and Roxie chillin' during freetime

After conversation there were daily activities offered. Each day there was a choice of four or five varied activities catering to a wide range of interests. We had a couple of spa days with manicures, card and book mark making, stamping, wire crafting, candle making, football, baseball, volleyball, yoga, belly dancing lessons and video games.

Kristyna hittin' a homer



Helca and Iva making candles



Honza running away from something unknown and unbelievably scary



Icebreaker game on the first night

When you were done exploring all the activities you had an hour or so to relax and lay on your bed, have coffee with a new friend, get some ice cream or go lay out by the lake...or swim in it. Dinner was served at 6 pm...again meat and potatoes. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with meat and potatoes and the food was quite good. There just is only so much vegetable and fruit depravation that one can endure before developing scurvy, mate. Straight away after dinner, at 7pm, we began the evening program starting with "Icebreaker Games". I am not known as a fan of icebreaker games but I did my best and tried to join in as much as possible. They were cute games and Roxie totally dug them. The rest of the insolent Coyan clan made up sketchy excuses about forgetting something in the room...etc...

...another icebreaker game where you have to hang on to your group and walk aroung all at once



Albert, Martin and Zdeno waiting for the evening program to start

Around 8pm the real evening program began usually with singing...ala campfire songs. Totally fabulous! Then there was a special speaker. I spoke the first night about finding joy in our lives. Dan spoke another night about scientific evidence for the Bible and Ed (from the Canadian team) used both of our talks to weave together a call to put faith in God. He did a great job. There were such great responses from the campers. Many have expressed interest in attending our Bible Study and many have already started attending our Ladies' Night. On the last night of camp, traditionally, the Czech campers put on a special presentation for the Canadian team. This night was very special indeed...so much so that it deserves its own post...stay tuned.

Roxie and Bekah hanging out during the evening program

As the evening program draws to a close, people gather in the dining hall for "Second Dinner" consisting usually of some sort of bread and spread combo. Then there are more video games, chatting over wine, beer or coffee in the attached pub, laughing until all hours. Some nights there is a special after hours program planned. We had a huge bonfire and weenie-roast complete with marshmallows that we had brought (leave it to the Americans to bring marshmallows). Many had never had roasted marshmallows before...it is so fun to watch that first facial expression! Albert, my new favourite person, a 17 year old from Prague, came up to me during the bonfire and said two words while holding out his prized marshmallow: "synthetic polymers". Then proceeded in almost perfect English to regale us with his opinion about eating what he sums up as "plastic foods". Telling us that he has eaten so much plastic in his lifetime, generating mostly from the school cafeteria that he has assembled quite a nice collection of raincoats that he has, most crudely stated, "pooped" out. We were literally in hysterics while he was saying all of this. I think I actually stopped breathing once.

A really big bonfire

Thank you my God, for this amazing opportunity to serve You and your children whom You love. Thank you for the friendships and the memories. If it is Your will, we would like to serve at camp again. Thanks.

English Camp 2011
Albrechtice nad Vltavou