Friolzheim English Camp

I just returned from my 5th English camp. This time, camp was held at a conference center in Friolzheim, Germany which is near Stuttgart. There were 100 students divided into classes of 25. I had been asked by the staff at Bodenseehof to take over for a teacher who would have to leave halfway through the week. After a long day of changing buses, trains, and metro, I arrived on Monday afternoon at Friolzheim with my team to find that the other teachers averaged about 30 years old. They all looked extremely experienced. Why on earth would they want an 18 year old to teach a class??? I soon found that only one of the four teachers was actually a native English speaker. At least I had an advantage in that area. I met with Lizi, the teacher whose class I would eventually take over. She told me to come and sit in on class with our five helpers (my fellow students from Bodenseehof) and take some notes. Then on Wednesday (the day she was to leave) I would be given some lesson plans for the rest of the week. Lizi's class was a disaster from the start. She did not utilize us Bode students so discipline was a nightmare...especially from a group of five boys who liked to disrupt the classroom. Also, her lesson plans were not exciting enough to keep the attention of the class...or even myself. On Wednesday she handed over her materials. The lesson plans were also written by non native English speakers and the grammer portions were not correct. I had four hours to come up with a lesson plan, and put it together: a difficult task since I had no printer or resources and everything used in class must be something I could either show on a laptop or make by hand. Wednesday night, I sat down on my bed and desperately started to pray. Suddenly, I was flooded with ideas. I decided to start class with a clean secular music video that the students would like and that would bring up discussion questions. One of the videos was about the impossibility of perfection and about feeling hopeless. Even the toughest boys had some deep ideas to share about the video.

Sarah, Mandee (from Bodenseehof), Leena, and Hannah

Raph, Me, Pascal, and Luka

When Chris Thomas was lecturing at Bodenseehof last week, he told us, "You can't, God never said you could. He can; He always said He would. So let Him do it through you." At first, I thought this quote was a little silly because it was quoted every two minutes by a man with a British accent. But when I got to camp, these words were exactly what I needed. I made some copies and passed out paper and pens, but God taught the class and it was a major success. Students came up to me afterwards saying how much they enjoyed the changes that had been made. Also, the students that came with me from Bodenseehof: Jake, Austin, Jeremy, Brie, and Bekah were a huge help in keeping discipline and helping the students with assignments. Wednesday afternoon I met with them and explained how important they were to the success of the classroom. I was a little nervous to talk to them, since I am younger than all of them and technically I was in charge, but they were really respectful of all I had to say and I couldn't have done it without them. Also, I made some awesome new friends with students (some are pictured above). I wish I could tell you how hilarious and awesome they all are: like Lenny who sang the words "Florida lady" every time he saw me even though I told him over and over that I was from Oregon; or Pascal who called my friend Mandee, "Mandee Mandee's handys candys" because of some crazy German commercial, or Hannah or Nina, or Sarah or any of the other countless amazing students. Thankfully I will have a chance to see them again, as Bodenseehof often holds open youth nights for German students to attend. Many of them are planning on coming! Finally, each time I go to camp, I always learn something new. I noticed that my team liked to bash the tough "thug" guys at camp behind their backs during our team meetings. Even though a lot of things my team members said about these boys were true (and I should know since I had to teach them haha) I was upset at the comments that were made. Sure these boys swear, are rude, and have a disrespect for women which should not be tolerated. Even so, God did not say we had to like these students...He said we have to LOVE them. It is no act of service to reach out to students that are easy to love. Jesus didn't hang out with the nice popular people. He hung out with the lowest of the low. I think it is so easy to dismiss boys like these and label them as "bad news." Yet there is so much more to these boys than meets the eye. Lars came and appologized to me for some of his actions in class. Johannes is so intelligent and really opened up about his feelings of inferiority. David told me he liked my class. Lukas didn't rebel against my discipline but accepted it with grace. These boys are hurting so much and often their actions show it. I would love it if you could say a prayer for them. Even with their flaws, I believe they have just as much worth as anyone in this world! So thanks for praying and for supporting me while I am over here. I really appreciate it, T