Planning basics: five key questions

When planning a camp, there are countless things a camp director or organizer (you!) has to think about and plan for.  This list includes everything from buying supplies to knowing what to do in case of an injury.  The following five questions will help you organize your planning and ensure that you haven’t omitted something important.

·        WHY?  This is very important: is there interest from your local community?  Is your site willing to support you and your coordinator?  What does the community hope to achieve at camp—why do they want to do this?  What do you hope to achieve?

·        WHO?  What is your target audience: younger children, 9-11 formers, local orphans, college/university students?  Will you invite other PCVs to help out?  Other Ukrainians?  What role will your coordinator have?  Who will do what?  Following are some helpful hints from the Camp Big Bang Manual (PCVs Pat Coyle and Melanie Harrison, TEFL 25):

·        First, you need to decide how many volunteers the camp needs in order to run smoothly…You need at least one PCV teaching each class, but things would certainly be better and more interesting with two…As PCVs often begin to plan their summers in the winter months, you should…send out a mass email with details of the camp, positions, and responsibilities.  Volunteers responding to the mass email are then assigned to positions, preferably ones that they requested.  They then should be given a fuller description of their responsibilities and asked to prepare for their position…Besides their primary responsibilities, [you can ask] other volunteers to contribute in many other ways to the camp experience—the more you include them in the planning of your camp, the better result you will get from them during the camp…Accept whatever help is offered, and don’t be afraid to ask for more.

·        WHAT?  What do you want to focus on at camp (conversational English, sports/recreation, healthy lifestyles, environment)?  Will you have lessons, or will camp be more discussion-based?  From the Camp Big Bang Manual:

·        A very important step is deciding what age and level of students you want.  If you have such serious topics as AIDS awareness and gender issues, you will want your campers to possess the level of maturity needed to discuss these subjects.  In this case, certainly it would make more sense to work with older students with a higher level of English; that way they can fully utilize the information they learn at camp.  If your camp is more directed toward simply improving students’  communication skills in English, perhaps the opposite is more suitable. Whichever way you choose, it is recommended that you get the best idea possible of the level of your campers’ English.  Therefore, you may want to include a short questionnaire with your application forms answering questions that you deem relevant to your camp (see the sample application form).  It should be something that makes the students write something in English (i.e. What is the largest problem in your town?  If there were  one thing in the world you could change, what would it be?  Why do you want to study English? etc.).  Of course, with others perhaps helping fill out this questionnaire, it is not fool-proof, but is certainly better than nothing. 

·        WHEN/WHERE?  These are logistical questions: will you have camp at your school or youth center?  Or is there a park nearby you could go to?  Do you have to get a permit from anyone to use the facilities you want?  When will your students be in town, and when will your coordinator be around?  Don’t forget to make a timeline for yourself, outlining al the important steps between ‘now’ and ‘then;’ this way, you will be able to stay on track without forgetting something important!  From the Camp Big Bang Manual:

·        There are a lot of activities that go on during the summer, for both children and adults and you must take that into consideration when scheduling your camp.  Ninth and eleventh formers have their exams during June and eleventh formers have their graduation exercises.  Many 11^th formers also take their university entrance exams in July.  Ukrainian teachers, if you chose to include them in your camp, may also be working in June, and you and other PCVs may have responsibilities at school.  You should also check with Peace Corps to make sure that there are no big conferences or trainings planned for the time you choose to have your camp.  [For a day camp], most likely you will then be using whatever resources you have at your school (i.e. classrooms, gyms, fields, cafeterias, etc).  If this is the case, it is important that you are able to make clear to your school exactly what will be needed on each exact date.  Again, the more time you give them, the better chance you will have of getting what you need.  But remember to continue to follow up on everything, making sure that plans are not changed without your knowledge.  Patience will most likely be a very useful asset.

·        [If you use a venue you are not familiar with], you must go to the campsite/park/school and see the location in order to decide where classes will be held.  This helps determine what materials are needed: is there a blackboard?  Is there an electrical socket?  Can an extension cord be used?  Etc.  We solved the problem of outside classes by hiring a local worker to make easels out of wood.  We also used extension cords to bring electricity outside.  Make sure the volunteers know what the facilities will be like.

·        HOW?  How will you advertise your camp?  Flyers, announcements, etc?  How will you decide who gets to participate—will you make it open to anyone from the community who wants to come, or will you have an application process?  Will you ask students to pay a small camp fee to cover materials and supplies?