English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps A Case Study from Malaysia by Dr. Ria Hanewald, Malaysia

IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps: A Case Study from Malaysia Dr Ria Hanewald, CfBT Education Trust, Malaysia Abstract Language holiday camps for children or adolescents who are learners of a second or additional language are a world-wide phenomenon They are particularly popular in the USA, Canada and Britain for languages such as French, German and Spanish Youth camps (also called summer camps) during the European school holidays to learn English or other languages have also enjoyed a long tradition In Malaysia, English language holiday camps are prolific and have been running since the 1940s With such popularity that these camps enjoy the world over, the subject is coming under research In line with such researches, the present study covers a four day long residential English language holiday camp in Malaysia for 31 female students (aged 16) during May 2013 Its aim was to identify activities that actively engage learners and increase their attitudes positively in regards to learning English The paper is intended to stimulate further research into extra-curricular activities, specifically English language holiday camps due to their global abundance, to build a corpus of literature in order to fill the current vacuum, and to gather empirical data on the value of such camps The findings of the focused study have broad relevance internationally due to the significant numbers of language camps around the world and will contribute to the scanty knowledge currently available on this topic It is anticipated that the issues discussed in this paper will be useful for students, teachers, researchers, policy makers and practitioners of English language studies alike Keywords: holiday camps, English language, attitudes, adolescents, Malaysia International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 33 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria Introduction 1.1 Historical perspective Residential camps for children and adolescents have been in existence for almost 140 years In 1876, Swiss Pastor Hermann Walter Bion organized a holiday camp for a group of 68 underprivileged children from the Swiss city of Zürich It afforded them some time away from their often crowded, poor and unhygienic homes to spend their school holidays in the clean air of the Appenzeller country side while engaging in recreational activities for example hiking, singing, dramatic performances, adventures games and kite making The success of the initial camp led to a larger cohort of campers the following year It grew to 3,500 youngsters by 1899, hailing from 29 different cities in Switzerland Before long, the idea of holiday camps spread around Europe and to the USA, South America and Asia (MOTIF, 2008) In the United Kingdom, camps are attributed to Lord Baden Bowell, who founded the Boys Scouts in 1908 and introduced camps with outdoor activities for children The number of annual summer camps in England increased exponentially after the end of World War II The British training of educators during the 1940s established the idea of holiday camps for children and teenagers in Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia (Pulliam, 2013) 1.2 The global context Camps are held either on weekends or during the school holidays and offer supervised programs for youngsters Day camps are usually offered for younger children so that the participants (also called campers) can go home every night to sleep Residential camps are frequently designed for older children or adolescents as they include one or more overnight stays Camps are commonly focused on either recreational activities in the areas of sport, music, performing arts; enrichment pursuits such as cooking, yoga, photography, comic book design; or educational development concentrating on computer/technology or second/ additional languages classes In recent years, weight loss camps, bible camps and Tech camps (with 3D Game creation, robot building, and web design) have been also advertised Establishments offering camps can be divided into non-profit organizations, charities and commercial providers Examples of the first are religious groups, girl or boy scouts, and youth music organizations The latter are wide-spread in the USA The International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 34 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria American National Camp Association (NCA) reported nearly 10,000 camps during 2013 with the majority (60%) being residential (also called sleep-away) camps Each year, over six million youngsters attend camps at the average cost of U$ 2,500 for a four weeks stay (NCA, 2013) The British Activity Providers Association (BAPA), who sets the standard for quality safety and value for activity centers, residential and day camps for private sector providers acknowledges copious annual summer camps with large number of youngsters attending but has no statistics on these However, more than twenty camp providers are listed, some with up to 130 person capacity and others with a history of running camps for more than 30 years giving an indication of the scale of operations (BAPA, 2013) Likewise, the European Camping Association established in September 2003 with the member countries of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine aims to enhance the quality of camps by establishing standards in services and programs but has no statistics on the number of youngster attending (Pulliam, 2013) The literature on language camps is limited to descriptive reports that date back 30 years ago such as covering the activities, schedule, staffing, fees and special events (Trujillo, 1982; Vines, 1983); publicity materials and volunteer forms (Griswold, 1989) or a sample syllabus, proposed budget, teacher packet and schedule (Shrum, 1983, 1985) The only empirical data available was published by the American Camp Association (2010) and consists of a 12 question survey administered to 228 camps across the United States The top reasons for running a camp were given as revenue raising (55%) and keeping young people engaged throughout the year (43%) Overnight camps (80%) were the dominant form, with two and three days stay (51 %) followed by a half or full day stay (47 %) Campers were mostly from middle school (88 %) while the top activities in this English speaking nation focused on Environmental sciences (75 %), General Sciences (51%), and Biology (47%) While a third of the camps indicated that they linked their lessons to learning standards from the main stream syllabus, almost a quarter did not assess the learning outcomes Hence, what learning really occurred as part of the camp is not known to almost half (40 %) of the staff (American Camp Association, 2010) International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 35 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria The outlined literature above shows the proliferation of camps, the size of this industry, the significant number of young people and educators engaged in these as well as the considerable amount of time spent in camps It also clearly demonstrates the lack of empirical data on any aspects of the camps (quality of teaching and learning environment, curriculum and materials evaluation, assessment of learning outcomes) It is therefore argued that the current capacity of camps - and specifically English language camps - should be of interest to students, teachers, researchers, policy makers and practitioners of English language studies Furthermore, it is hypothesized that globalization will lead to an increase in demand for English language camps and it would be advisable for the various stakeholders to harness this potential as it emerges 1.3 The local context Malaysia is located in the Southeast Asian region, with a population of 28.3 million, of which 1.6 million live in its capital Kuala Lumpur (Department of Statistics, Malaysia, 2013) It is a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and multi-religious country with three major groups: Muslim Malay (67.4%) who speak Bahasa Melayu, Chinese Buddhists (24.6%) who speak Cantonese, Mandarin and other dialects as well as Indian Hindus (7.3%) who speak Tamil or related dialects (UNESCO, 2011) English was introduced and served as the official language under the British government until 1957, when Malaysia achieved Independence Bahasa Malaysia (also referred to as Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malay) became the national language, with a course of language cultivation perused by the Malaysian government for over 40 years Increasing globalization and the need to communicate with global market for business, trade, tourism and more recently education has given English increased importance It led to the Malaysian governments’ decision to establish English as a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools (Gill, 2005) The English language has been historically associated with British Imperialism in Malaysia Internationalization combined with the status of English as a lingua franca for the world changed attitudes amongst the population Another issue is social harmony as multi-lingual Malaysia holds 137 living languages (indigenous language such as Iban, Kadazan and Dusunic) and English serves as a common one, which underpins the country’s aspiration for national unity International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 36 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria The development of English language holiday camps in Malaysia can be traced back to the late 1940s due to the British training of educators (Pulliam, 2005) The holiday camp tradition for children and teenagers survived into present times despite the 1957 Independence of the British Oral accounts of adult Malaysians recall fond memories of attending holiday camps as children during the late 1980s (R Hanewald, personal conversation, May, 29, 2013) This assertion is further strengthened by various reports in the mass media such as an English Language Immersion Camp for 80 students (Embassy of the United States, 2010); a facebook site with photos of a 30-day English camp in Kuala Lumpur (PD & U Academy, 2012); a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant’s photos of a camp, which he helped to run (Pan, 2013); a camp schedule by KDU College in Penang, Malaysia (KDU, 2013) and several clips on YouTube about various English Language camp experiences The evidence shows that substantial numbers of English language camps by various organizations have been taking place for decades in Malaysia Despite this sizeable involvement, there is no data available on the quantity or quality of English language camps In an effort to fill this void, this action research was conducted to identify effectiveness of such camps in teaching English and providing enjoyment for the participants within the context of a Malaysian school holiday camp The action research project In planning the English language camp, the age, gender, nationality, religious beliefs, geographical location and language level of the learner have to be considered (Tomlinson, 1998) In this case, the campers were a homogenous group: all 16 years old female Muslim Malays from a rural area in the northeast of Malaysia 2.1 The participants The four day residential English Language Camp was held from 27th May to 30th May 2013 with 31 Muslim Malay students in Form (16 years old) under the leadership of one English language educator This particular age group was selected as they had already settled into their secondary schools (during From to Form 3) and thus were ready for a challenge but not yet in their final year (Form 5) which might distract them from their exam preparations International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 37 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria The all female campers came from a pool of about 20 rural schools in a northeastern state of Malaysia The camp package included transportation, hostel accommodation with six meals per day and an excursion to the hot springs Due to English being a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools, it was assumed that their language skills were at a reasonably high level However, English language proficiency levels of students in rural areas are typically lower than those of students living in urban areas as exposure to (native) English speakers and media or events (newspapers, movies at the cinema, theatre productions, concerts) are fewer The camp took place at a residential school with a modern campus that has excellent facilities The high quality learning environment included a designated (airconditioned) language room with ample resources, an extensive library with a large English language collection as well as a computer laboratory containing 30 desktops Most activities of the English learning and teaching component were held in the language room, with the exception of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which was held in the computer lab of the library There was also a recreational component, which consisted of an excursion to the hot springs for bathing In conceptualizing the camp structure, schedule, recreational and English language program a number of cultural, linguistic and social-emotional considerations had to be taken into account for all Muslim Malay campers For example, it was decided that a single gender cohort would be easier to supervise due to the overnight stays in strictly segregated Muslim dormitories and the reluctance of many students to participate in mixed gender teams within a classroom The five daily Muslim prayer times and the six associated meal times (provided at the residential school’s dining hall) were the corner stone for the daily schedule around which the English language program had to be constructed Although the camp ran from AM to 10 PM, the total amount of English learning added up to only 14 hours; the remaining time was allocated for five daily prayers, six daily meals, daily afternoon rest and an excursion 2.2 English language learning activities In designing activities and creating the camp program, Tomlinson’s advice that “…materials can achieve impact through novelty, variety, attractive presentation, and appealing content” (1998, P:7) was taken into consideration Hence, educational International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 38 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria games, art and craft activities, quizzes, songs, music, dramatic performances, puppet plays and ICT sessions were devised This range offered a variety of texts and classroom management choices while drawing on subject areas such as the Arts, Computer Technology and Physical Education Such an activity-based organization principle has as its main advantage that individual sessions are like building blocks A modular approach enables greater flexibility as units can be selected to fit the students’ needs, interest and energy level Activities can be changed every day to ensure variety as well as a balance between artistic, intellectual, physical and recreational activities Given that the English language instructor was unfamiliar with the students, their ability levels, learning styles and preferences, it seemed the most sensible tactic In the light of the fact that only 14 hours of English language exposure were available, it was unrealistic to expect huge improvements in the students’ proficiency levels, especially since these were unknown in the first place Therefore, the goal was to raise students’ motivation to learn English by providing them with pleasurable experiences in the language It was hypothesized that a range of fun activities would nurture positive attitudes towards English and an interest in continuing to pursue it The central idea of the program was therefore enjoyment and engagement It was further reasoned that without the fun element, the holiday camp would replicate a normal school week It was speculated that it would be highly likely that this may cause resentment, boredom and frustration in the students who – in turn – may refuse any involvement in future English language camps Furthermore, the students may not have self-selected for the camp but may have been forced to attend by their parents or school, causing them to be unenthusiastic and uninterested as they might have been coerced to spend their holidays with extra lessons while their peers are travelling or relaxing 2.3 Research questions Since the focus of the English language camp was on increasing learners’ motivation, interest and enjoyment of English, the research aims focused on finding activities that would enable this most effectively The central research problem was to explore the relationship between learner participation, satisfaction, motivation and types of activities Specifically: International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 39 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria 1.) What is the most effective camp structure to ensure students’ satisfaction? 2.) What are the types of activities that encourage students and actively engage them? 3.) What are the types of activities that interest students most during English camp? 4.) How satisfied are students with the various aspects of the camp? 2.4 Data collection For this action research project, a mixed-method approach was employed, consisting of pre-and post camp questionnaires, observations, visuals and individual interviews of campers The questionnaire used a five-point Likert-scale for most questions, and a ‘choice of yes/maybe/no’ as well as indication of frequency for the remaining question The language for the questionnaire was kept simple in terms of length, structure and sentence complexity Campers were asked to ‘tick the box’ that was closest to their feelings on the range of ‘strongly dislike’ to ‘strongly like’ It was based on the notion that the participants were learners of English, teenagers (and not adults) and may lack previous experience with this type of questioning due to cultural norms in Muslim Malay rural communities Each of the Likert-scale question questions had an extra line (named ‘others’) to include a short explanatory sentence if desired However, it was hypothesized that this would most likely be kept blank or perhaps filled with a compliment due to the Muslim Malays culture of nonconfrontation Reluctance of English learners to write freely may also be based on fear of spelling mistake, hence open-ended questions and free commentary were seen as inefficient and therefore kept to a minimum on the questionnaire A number of noted observations, visuals (still images) and individual interviews were gathered in situ At the beginning of the camp, the pre-questionnaire was given to all students with instructions to leave off their names to ensure anonymity, which afforded them the freedom to answer uninhibited The purpose of this pre-questionnaire was to establish previous camp experience, reasons for attending, perceived English proficiency and preferences for activities The post-camp questionnaire aimed to gauge students’ satisfaction rates and reflections on their English language attitudes in terms of International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 40 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria enjoyment, interest and motivation The completed pre-and post-camp questionnaires were then compared to detect and measure any differences Findings and Discussion This section deals mainly with the examination and discussion of the findings from the pre-and post camp questionnaire Then, a comparison between the two sets of data was drawn and the difference deliberated in terms of its significance 3.1 Pre-camp questionnaire The main goal for the pre-camp questionnaire was to seek insights about the learners’ previous experience of camps, differentiated into English language and other subject areas Since the literature search had found evidence of English language camps in the form of photos, videos and a media release on websites, Facebook and YouTube that revealed substantial activity in this field, it was hypothesized that the students have had some prior involvement with camps Therefore, the first question of the pre-camp survey aimed to explore if and how often the learners had been to camp (see Table 1) Table Pre-camp Question to Elicit Prior Camp Experience of the May 2013 Camp Cohort How often you go to Never 1-2 before 3-4 before more than camp? before English language camp 13 Sport, Art, Music, Science 13 camp Why? Why not? Note: Some participants did not respond The responses (n=31) were unexpected as their answers showed that the majority (60 %) of the cohort (29 out of 31) had been to one or two previous English language camps One camper had been to at least three English language camps, averaging one camp per year of secondary school attendance, which makes this an annual event for the learner Eight campers indicated that they had never been to an English language camp before, although they may have previously been to a Sport, Art, Music or Science camp as twenty learners indicated Three campers had been to five or more camps, which was considerable and averaged to more than one camp per year during their secondary schooling The interpretation International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 41 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria of this data is made somewhat challenging due to learner’ missing reply, with two answers omitted on the English language camp experience and ten absent for the other subject area camps Two comments in the ‘why’ and ‘ Why not’ line were “I don’t know” and “Because I don’t know”, interpreted as no prior awareness or knowledge that camps and an opportunity to participate in them exist, which might explain why eight campers had not been to any previous camps However, the majority of campers’ previous experience shone through during the four days, as they quickly and smoothly adjusted to the hostel accommodation, layout of the campus, English language program, prayer and meals routine, instructor and group dynamics The second pre-camp survey question (Table 2) aimed to unearth the motivation for attending this particular camp (own, parents or school’s choice, academic or social purpose for attending, and rating of own perceived English skills) Table Pre-Camp Question to Elicit Motivation for Attending the May 2013 Camp Why did you come to camp Strongly disagree disagree Ok Strongly agree Agree My parents said I should go 12 My school/teacher said I should go 3 11 My English is poor and I want to improve 10 18 Holidays are boring and I want something to 13 I just want to have fun and meet new people 1 14 Note: Some participants did not respond to each statement Almost a third of the campers (12 out of 31) indicated that their parents sent them to camp, whereas six decided for themselves that they wanted to attend Twelve learners seemed to be at camp due to a mutual decision between their parents and themselves as they ticked ‘ok’ This interpretation of the data in Table was confirmed by follow-up interviews with individuals, who stated that they discussed and jointly decided the issue with their parents The influence of the school or teacher was acknowledged by a third of the campers (14 out of 31) The entertainment, recreational and social aspects of the camp rated highly, as the majority (19 out of 31) campers were looking for something constructively to during their holidays, which International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 42 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria were perceived as boring The follow-up interviews with individuals revealed that they would usually either “watch TV all the day” or be involved in doing chores such as “….cook the food…clean the house…wash the clothes….help my grandparents pick the fruit” Since the participants all came from a rural area of Malaysia with little or no public transport, recreational facilities (i.e sporting venues, public libraries) and entertainment options (i.e museums, theatres, cinemas), the option of attending a camp may have seemed like an attractive alternative Socializing with peers was valued by eleven (n=31) campers, while two campers did not value it at all The driving force to attend the camp seems to be a self-perception of poor English language skills and a desire to improve their proficiency by most of the attendees (28 out of 31), with only one learner disagreeing The next question explored the campers’ favorite activities ( Table 3) to tailor the camp program to their needs, interests and preferences, which would have been possible with very short notice due to the modular plan that allowed great flexibility in reshuffling, additions or omissions of activities Table Pre-Camp Questions to Elicit Preferred Activities for the May 2013 Camp What activities you want to do? Strongly Disagree Disagree Ok Agree Strongly agree Brainteasers/ Crosswords 12 Songs/Music 9 Poems, Stories, Jokes Art and Craft 10 Cultural/ drama night Quiz session 12 12 Visit to the Hot Springs 0 25 Physical Education 10 16 Certificates giving 12 13 Others: Note: Some participants did not respond to each statement In ascertaining preferred activities in the Table campers (30 out of 31) unequivocally determined a visit to the Hot Springs as the most desired activity Follow-up interviews revealed that six campers had never been to a Hot Spring and only three campers could actually swim The Hot Springs visit was preceded by a International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 43 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria preparation session, which included a power point presentation of the facilities, a map of the venue, which was used to practice directions (i.e north, south, to the left, right) and prepositions (i.e near, next to, behind, in front, between) Information on the health benefits of the Hot Spring waters and some reviews from Trip advisor were made available from the Internet, as well as some trivia like the setting of an egg boiling record, which occurred there As expected due to the cultural traditions, certificate giving was desired by two thirds of the campers (25 out of 31), with only two campers not valuing them Physical Education rated highly (20 out of 31), as did a quiz session (16 out of 31), songs/music (16 out of 31), poems, stories and jokes, art and craft (15 out of 31), brainteasers/crossword puzzles (14 out of 31) and a cultural/ drama night (11 out of 31) This initial pre-camp ‘wish list’ was later compared to the actual post-camp evaluation of these activities to gauge the difference between expectation and actual experience The final question (in Table 4) dealt with the English language attitudes of the campers Table Pre-Camp Questions to Elicit English Language Attitudes of the May 2013 Campers How you rate your current skills? Strongly Disagree Disagree 18 I enjoy socializing in English 0 15 11 I am not afraid of making mistakes in English 13 I enjoy watching English programs and movies 0 12 I feel confident speaking with native English speakers 18 I am aware of my strength and0 weaknesses as a user of English 13 11 I am highly motivated to improve my English 10 I feel confident speaking English in public Ok Agree Strongly Agree Others: Note: Some participants did not respond to each statement Seventeen (out of 31) campers were highly motivated to improve their English, perhaps in the light of the fact that they were approaching their final year of International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 44 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria secondary school soon and thus facing examinations The self-rating of ‘poor English’ in pre-camp question (of Table 4) combined with their self-choice of attending underpins this hypothesis Campers’ confidence of speaking English in public (3 out of 31) and with native speakers (8 out of 31) was low, whereas enjoyment of English programs and movies (14 out of 31) and socializing in English (13 out of 31) rated much higher, with half of the cohort responding positively Almost a third of campers were experiencing fear of making mistakes in English (9 out of 31) which may inhibit speech and written production and in turn hinder progress in acquiring the language Half the campers in the cohort (15 out of 31) were aware of their strength and weaknesses in English The gathered data at the beginning of the camp showed that a supportive, fun environment needed to be created that would encourage risk taking in using English while acknowledging learners’ efforts to strengthen their confidence and enjoyment of using the English language 3.2 Actual camp program The modules aimed to incorporate the four macro-skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) while traversing various subject areas to provide a variety of fun activities, listed here by subject category with a short explanatory statement: 3.2.1 Music/songs: three pop songs as part of a listening comprehension task, a battle of the choirs in groups of seven to eight students in each that chose a known song or wrote an original song and performed it, and a ukulele sing-along for the whole cohort to finish off the module 3.2.2 Drama: props made by campers as well as a story and dialogues written and then performed as puppet play in groups of four students 3.2.3 Brainteasers/crossword puzzles: a variety of crosswords, trellises, first and last activities, word searches and alphabet soups for individual students, finished off with a challenge to design a brainteaser or crossword themselves in either pairs or trios 3.2.4 Social night: a birthday celebration for one camper and games in pairs or small teams such as Scrabble, Who’s who?, Hangman, Battleship, Snap and Celebrity identity 3.2.5 ICT sessions: individual creation of a greeting card to family or friends with padlet (http://padlet.com/), the production of a comic with Toon Doon (http://www.toondoo.com/) International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 45 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria 3.2.6 Excursion: power point presentation of the Hot Springs, reading of a map and giving directions, research on the health benefits of the water, reviews from Trip advisor 3.2.7 Jokes/ stories/poems: reading and re-telling of prepared ‘question and answer’ jokes in pairs or small groups, individual reading of a variety of texts and use of the reading laboratory 3.2.8 Art and craft: reading of instructions for egg decorating, origami, greeting cards 3.2.9 Quiz session: individual, pair, trio or small grouping to answer quiz questions in writing 3.3 Post-camp questionnaire The first question after the camp, that is as part of the post-camp questionnaire was trying to gauge the campers’ overall satisfaction, indicative of an expressed desire to participate in another camp The post-camp questionnaire was administered to only 30 campers, as one camper fell ill and thus was unable to participate Table Post-Camp Question to Elicit Satisfaction with the May 2013 Camp Would you like to go to another camp? Yes Maybe No English language camp 26 Sport, Art, Music, Science camp 21 Note: Some participants did not respond to each statement The overwhelming majority (26 out of 30) of campers would attend another English language camp, which seemed to imply high satisfaction with the experience Twenty-one other campers were interested in participating in a camp with another focus The second question of the post-camp survey rated the food, the activities, the peers, the instructor as well as improvements in the campers’ English skills and confidence in using English The average scores were as displayed in Table below: Table Rating of Food, Peers, Instructor, English improvement and Confidence Postcamp What you think? Average score out of International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 46 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria The food was great 3.6 The other students were great 3.9 The teacher was great 4.7 The activities were great 4.3 The camp improved my English skills 3.6 The camp improved my confidence in using English 4.3 While the food received the lowest score (3.6), the instructor received the highest (4.7) There was also high satisfaction with the fellow campers (3.9) and the overall activities (4.3) In terms of English language skills improvement, the average score (3.6) reflected the short duration of learning opportunities which amounted to a total of 14 hours The other factor may have been the high ratio (1:31) of instructor to students A smaller group of perhaps 20 students may have yielded better results on that score However, campers’ confidence in using English was self-rated rather high (4.3) The next question aimed to ascertain satisfaction with specific activities, with averages displayed in Table below: Table Post-camp Rating of Individual Activities for the May 2013 Camp Which activities were most enjoyable? Average score Brainteasers, crossword puzzles 4.4 Songs/Music 4.7 Poems, Stories, Jokes, Art and Craft 4.2 Cultural/drama night 4.4 Quiz session 4.1 Visit to the Hot Springs 4.9 Certificate giving 4.4 Overall, the visit to the Hot Springs received the highest score (4.9 out of 5), followed by music/ songs (4.7 out of 5) These were followed in equal places by the cultural/ International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 47 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria drama night with the puppet show, the brainteasers/crosswords and the certificate giving (4.4 out of 5) The poems, stories, jokes and art, craft (4.2 out of 5) and quiz session (4.1 out of 5) also received high scores The post-camp’s final question (No 4) was identical to the pre-camp survey For ease of comparison, the pre-and post-camp averages as well as the difference are shown in Table below: Table Post-camp Rating of Campers’ Attitudes Towards English for the May 2013 Camp _ What you think? Difference Before Camp After Camp I am highly motivated to improve my English +0.5 3.6 4.1 I feel confident speaking English in public 1.0 2.7 3.7 + I enjoy socializing in English 0.2 3.5 3.7 + I am not afraid of making mistakes in English 0.8 3.6 4.4 + Campers’ confidence, enjoyment and motivation increased positively during the four day camp The most significant increase was on confidence gained in speaking English in public, which showed an average of 2.7 in the pre-camp questionnaire but had increased to 3.7 on the post-camp questionnaire Equally impressive was the gain in students’ motivation, which scored an average of 3.6 before the camp and 4.1 after the camp Although the total English language teaching and learning opportunities amounted to only 14 hours, the measurable improvements in the participants’ attitude towards English was a most pleasing result It is hypothesized that a smaller instructor/ student ratio instead of the 1:30 ratio for this camp will produce even better results as more individuals will receive greater attention and more teaching input A line at the bottom of the post-camp questionnaire was titled “Any other comments?” and elicited the following replies repeated verbatim (inclusive of spelling International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 48 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria and grammatical errors): “No”, “This camp is very enjoy!”, “Awsome”, “do more physical activities”, “thank you for teach me in the english”, “I want join this camp next time”, “may be no, haha”, “I hope this camp will keep going year to year to improve English among students“, “more physical activities like jungle trekking, flying fox, bungee jumping, etc”, I love this camp”, “have improvement skill camp” and “I like to the brain teasers and something that can challenge my brain.” Limitations and future research direction The greatest limitation was the dual roles of the camp instructor and researcher A large group (31 campers) and a long day (from AM to 10 PM) made the running of the camp a challenge The data collection was therefore largely limited to the pre-and post questionnaire Some opportunities for observational notes and still images occurred in situ Individual interviews with campers were held during the six daily meal breaks on an ad hoc basis A designated research assistant or a smaller group size (instead of the 31 teenagers in attendance) would have yielded more qualitative data due to the availability of time to peruse the data collection process in a systematic and more thorough way Given the length of the camp, it may have also been more advantageous to ask for feedback after each session to give an accurate first impression and then follow this up with an end of camp overall evaluation by the campers At this point in time, another camp is planned for November 2013 alongside a further round of data collection It will provide opportunity for the improvement of professional practice and the continuation of the action research as well as further publication to disseminate the knowledge to stakeholders in the field English language camps are a field of research in its infancy and it is hoped that others will follow suit and start investigating this under researched area to close the vacuum of knowledge Conclusion Language camps and particularly English language camps for youngsters are a worldwide phenomenon In Malaysia, the latter are prolific and have been running for decades However, apart from a few still and moving images on Facebook and International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 49 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria YouTube, the occasional press release or news paper report and some over thirty year old descriptions of camps there is no evidence of their existence in the literature The only exception is a set of statistics generated by the American Camp Association during 2010 The apparent popularity of language camps the world over and their enormous potential in terms of teaching and learning is in stark contrast to the silence in the academic community on that topic It is hoped that the action research of this English language holiday camp during May 2013 triggered an interest in readers to peruse their own research in this area The paper has aimed to overcome the silence on language camps in the academic community and may serve as a starting point to build a corpus of empirical data The author believes that literature on language camps is sorely needed and would benefit students, parents, educators, researchers and policy makers About the Author: Dr Ria Hanewald is a teacher mentor for CfBT Education Trust, currently on assignment in Malaysia She has wide experience of teaching English as a foreign language, professional English and curriculum designing She provides professional learning and curriculum support for English language teachers, conducts regular English conversation classes for administrative school staff and runs English language holiday camps for secondary school students References American Camp Association (2010) Home Retrieved 11 July 2013 from http://www.acacamps.org/ British Activity Providers Association (BAPA) (2013) Home Retrieved 12 July 2013 from http://www.thebapa.org.uk/index.aspx Department of Statistics Malaysia (2013) Official Portal The source of Malaysia’s Official Statistics Last up-dated 11 July 2013 Retrieved 11 July 2013 from http://www.statistics.gov.my/portal/index.php?option=com_content&id=1215 Embassy of the United States in Malaysia (2010) Programs & Events Retrieved 11 July 2013 from http://malaysia.usembassy.gov/program_eta_engcamp_roath-070710.html Griswold, J S (1989) Foreign Language Camps Colorado State University, USA KDU (2013) English Camp Schedule Retrieved 12 July 2013 from International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 50 IJ-ELTS: International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria http://www.kdupg.edu.my/component/content/article/60-newsflash/9152013-degreeintake.html MOTIF (2008) The very first summer camp Education Culturelle Humanitaire Last up- dated June 21, 2008 Retrieved 12 July 2013 from http://www.motifhumanitaire.org/news/the-very-first-summer-camp/ The National Camp Association (NCA) (2013) Camp Facts Last up-dated 2013 Retrieved 10 July 2013 from http://www.summercamp.org/media/article7.html Embassy of the United States in Malaysia (2010) Programs & Events Retrieved 10 July 2013 from http://malaysia.usembassy.gov/program_eta_engcamp_roath-070710.html Pan, M (2013) Facebook Retrieved 10 July 2013 from http://www.markpan.com/englishcamp/ Pulliam, L.G (2005) European Camps: Diverse Programs, Common Goals International Camping Conference October 12-16, 2005, Mexico City, Mexico Retrieved 11 July 2013 from http://www.acacamps.org/campmag/0503europe Pulliam, L.G (2013) European Camps: Diverse Programs, Common Goals American Camp Association Retrieved 10 July 2013 from http://www.acacamps.org/campmag/0503europe (R Hanewald, personal conversation, May, 29, 2013) Shrum, J.L (1983) Foreign Language Camps: A Success Story Retrieved 10 July 2013 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp Shrum, J.L (1985) Curricular Teams: A New Wrinkle in Foreign Language Camps Foreign Language Annals, Vol 18, Issue 3, pages 219-223, May 1985 Retrieved 10 July 2013 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.19449720.185.tb01795.x/abstract Tomlinson, B (1998) Materials development in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Trujillo, Lorenzo, A (1982) Foreign Language Camps Jefferson County Public Schools R1 Lakewood, Colorado, USA UNESCO (2011) Malaysia World Data on Education 7th edition 2010/11 up-dated version May 2011 Retrieved 11 July 2013 from http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/WDE/2010/pdfversions/Malaysia.pdf Vines, L (1983) A Guide to Language Camps in the U.S Language in Education: Theory and Practice, No 53 International Refereed & Indexed Journal of English Language & Translation Studies ISSN: 2308-5460 July-September, 2013 www.eltsjournal.org 51 ... when Malaysia achieved Independence Bahasa Malaysia (also referred to as Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Malay) became the national language, with a course of language cultivation perused by the Malaysian... & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria The development of English language holiday camps in Malaysia can be traced back... International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Vol: 1, Issue: English Language Teaching and Learning during Holiday Camps Hanewald, Ria American National Camp Association (NCA) reported