Blue Valley’s camp offers kids a chance to immerse in Chinese language, culture
When thinking of summer day camps, many picture swimming or a game of tug-of-war. At Blue Valley Recreation, they’ve got a different twist on the seasonal staple. One of their camps features STEM learning — but in Chinese.
Targeted at students in the Blue Valley School District’s Chinese immersion program, the class is intended for lower elementary students, roughly ages 6 to 9. The session that took place July 26-30 focused on learning about zoo animals.
Participants don’t have to be in the immersion program, but it helps to have that background. Some kids might take after-school lessons at one of the local Chinese schools during the year instead of being at an immersion school.
“You think about the double value of what you can get when you start a kiddo with an early language. It prepares you for a global-type situation down the road,” said Joann Miller, recreation supervisor for Blue Valley Recreation.
It’s not the first time they’ve offered a Chinese program with instructor Sabrina McMullin.
“I found there’s a demand for Chinese summer camps for these kids who want to keep up their Chinese during the break,” McMullin said. “Over the years I kind of have been improvising on what I think kids like and what I think is more helpful for them in language learning.”
Miller said the camp has been very popular. Previously, they’ve offered programs in French, Spanish and Japanese, but this is the only language program this summer.
“Early on, it’s amazing how quickly they are able to pick it up. When you get older, it’s more of an obstacle. They’re like little sponges and pick it right up,” Miller said.
The kids spend three hours a day for a week in the program, either in the morning or the afternoon. With COVID restrictions, they’ve kept the group small, with 10 kids in each group. There will be a second week of the camp in August.
McMullin, a native Chinese speaker who grew up in Singapore, is doing a variety of activities with the kids to both reinforce things they’ve learned in school, such as counting to 100 in Chinese, and adding new skills and vocabulary.
For example, the kids will learn names of various animals, then identify and count them in pictures. McMullin also likes to incorporate videos of animals in Chinese.
The kids are also learning to write more characters in Chinese calligraphy. McMullin incorporates games such as bingo to help them connect the words with pictures. Her campers have cards with pictures of the animals and have to identify what Chinese animal name McMullin reads out as they play bingo.
“Sometimes I invent my (own) songs based on ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ tune or ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’. The reason why I invented my own songs is because I find some of the (existing) Chinese songs… have so much vocabulary that the kids can’t learn it. It’s too tough for them,” McMullin said.
To make the songs more successful in helping students learn, she designs hers to have a certain rhythm and more repetition.
“(We) do it a in a fun way so they don’t get overwhelmed with it,” she said.
There’s also an element of arts and crafts as well as snack time to give them a rest from learning vocabulary.
McMullin has done Chinese camps with all different themes, each teaching a different type of vocabulary. In the past, the topics have included both insects and restaurants.
Miller appreciates what McMullin’s camp brings to the slate at Blue Valley Recreation.
“There’s a lot of value to learning something new that revolves around someone else’s culture,” Miller said. “It just helps you understand and become more passionate about other cultures in general.”
