Day 1
We had previously met some of the kids playing with them at recess and touring the school, but today would be our first day trying to organize, teach, and connect with the kids. This first day we had third graders, so it was expected that they would know some English which would help us bridge explanation gaps. From the moment the group leaders met the kids and began the introductions, it was obvious that the kids were excited and eager to play some sports with us and get moving. One group even came out with an American flag! The first session of stations featured basketball, volleyball, American football, and baseball. Basketball seemed to be the fan favorite of the kids, which speaks to how basketball has risen as the clear second sport in Spain behind soccer. Baseball and volleyball proved a bit more difficult to explain, but some of the kids seemed well-versed in these games and would help explain to their friends. The second session of stations included soccer, frisbee, dodgeball, and English practice. Soccer was the clear favorite this time around and it was obvious a lot of the kids play on teams for their town, so competitiveness became an interesting of this station. Also interesting was the English station and most were surprised at how well these kids could handle English in a more active setting. The third and final session was precluded by a recess, where most of us were asked to play in a variety of different athletic pursuits from handball to gymnastics. And at any point during a game you could be swarmed by some of the younger kids pleading for autographs. Once the session began the kids were able to participate in tag, kickball, English-Spanish, and floor hockey. Tag was an interesting mix of energetic kids and a larger portion of kids who were too tired to commit to such a run-heavy exercise. This caused activity and group leaders to adapt to these kids energy levels. Also interesting was the English-Spanish, which quickly became a lesson in English for the kids and a Spanish lesson for us at the same time. Much of the vocabulary and grammar was lost in translation, so the kids cooperated to try to figure it out.
Day 2
At camp on Wednesday we worked with the 6th graders, the oldest kids on campus. Even though we were exhausted from the day before running around with the other kids, we were able to muster up enough energy and excitement to make sure that our kids would still have a blast. After splitting into groups and doing a few icebreaker games, the kids were off and playing all different types of sports. For the first hour of camp, the kids rotated through stations of basketball, American football, baseball, and volleyball. The kids took a strong liking to American football and were very into learning how to spike the ball when they caught it, followed up by a silly celebration dance. The next hour, we played soccer, dodgeball, Frisbee, and did English exercises with the kids. To our surprise the kids already knew what dodgeball was, but they played a slightly different variation of it than we do in the States. In Spain, it’s called “matar” which means to kill, and is only played with one ball. It seemed like they had a lot of fun learning our version of it though, even if the rules of elimination weren’t always followed. We were still unsure about what to expect from the kids in terms of their knowledge of English, so we started off easy doing hopscotch games with English words and phrases. It was unbelievable how much English they knew and how large of a gap there is between the 3rd and 6th graders. After the madness that is recreo, we had our last set of stations: floor hockey, kickball, basketball, and another English station. We were again blown away by how much English these kids knew. At the end of the day we took a big group photo and said our goodbyes to all our kids.
It is so fun and so rewarding to have the opportunity to work with kids like this. Even though the language barrier can be tough sometimes, we are all able to connect on the level of sports and just have fun competing against and with the kids. Being able to play around all day is definitely worth being so exhausted and sore the next day; we are all really excited to go back next week!
