German Summer Camp
Today was the first day of German Summer Camp. I have 18 campers between the ages of 6-12 year olds. I try to let them experience a little bit of everything in this one week/three hours a day camp: Music-History-Culture-Food-Language.
The overall themes for this year’s camp is the capital of Germany: Berlin
I talked to them about how Germany lost World War II, that the country as well as the city of Berlin was split into four sectors. I explained in broad terms, that the four allies did not see eye to eye on how the future of Germany was going to look like…how West Germany and East Germany were suddenly two different countries…how many East Germans were trying to leave their sector and trying to get to the West…how borders were closed and a wall was built to keep people from leaving and being free…how John F Kennedy lobbied for their freedom to Ronald Reagan demanding to "tear down that wall".
I found these video clips on Youtube , they seem to bring some of the emotions closer to my campers. Just watching these videos gave me goosebumps.
John F. Kennedy "Ich bin ein Berliner"
ABC News Report :The Fall of the Berlin Wall
After watching the videos we built a wall out of boxes and shoe cartons. Each camper had an opportunity to write graffiti on one side of the wall… before we tore it down… and then watched the third video. Incredible that it has not been even 18 years…
1989 Rock Music Song "Tear Down The Wall"
Greetings from Nebraska!
I am a German teacher writing on behalf of our local German American Society. There has been some interest in creating a summer German Day Camp at our facilities and to that end, I have been doing some internet searching. I found the information about your program and would be extremely interested in hearing about the general organization (daily schedule), logistics and program materials that you use.
I wondered if you might be willing to share some of these with us, as we consider this possibility for our members’ and community members’ children. Do you use any TPRS methods? Our club also has a school-year Sat. mornings program for elementary & secondary students, which could use a little refreshening.
I am acquainted with summer language camp experiences, having worked in the 70’s at Waldsee in northern Minnesota. I founded a camp in Nebraska, which is a residence camp, currently under other directorship. I teach German at the university level and have the advanced adults, in the GAS program. But feel that this type of program needs all the resources I can find.
Thank you for considering this request!
Karen Mullen,
The German Saturday School in Mountain View California has a summer day camp. They might be able to give you more info. I know they have rehearsed and presented a German play as the final celebration of the two week camp.
Hello. I am currently involved with a camp in New York. Although the camp has various programs, I am looking into doing various “mini-classes” to have our children learn different cultures and a bit of their history. I found what you were doing is fundamentally important. I praise you for your efforts and I will contact the school in California that you suggested for the other commenter about how I may be able to incorporate some sort of template for not only Germany, but a multitude of countries to keep our campers excited about learning during their upcoming summer experience in 2009. Thank you very much.
Sincerely
Tamara Jones