Delivering unforgettable camp experiences for children is the main goal for Axelle Valcke, which she successfully did for the last couple of years as a staff member with Roeland.
Axelle Valcke (20) is a volunteer for the French and English camps for three years now. After she graduated as a French & Economics secondary school teacher, she decided to study Educational Sciences. “I try to keep pushing my boundaries”, she says with conviction. Which is exactly what she does with Roeland.
Convinced from the beginning
“My first encounter with Roeland happened when I studied in Ghent, during a visit to the Alliance Française media library, housed in the same building as the Roeland head office. I became a fan of the organization right away, because of the beautiful pictures and the uplifting stories behind Roeland’s vision. The concept of creative learning is also something I strongly believe in. As a language teacher I was convinced it would be a perfect match”, Axelle says.
Language summer is my favourite summer
“Last summer, I was a Dutch teacher at the NT2 Language Summer Camp”, Axelle says. “It is a three-week camp that happens in Ghent, for newly arrived children (between age 7 and 12) with a foreign language background.”
“Every year we build up the camp weeks around a central theme, with fun workshops attached to it. We had the friends’ book of Nour last summer, and discussed topics like animals, hobbies, emotions, and more, with the children.”
“We, the staff members, kick off the day with a little play we create as a group, to introduce the selected theme. Afterwards, the children are being assigned to different language workshops, al fitted to their individual skill level”, Axelle continues.
“What I find to be a unique quality of a Roeland camp: we provide a profound guidance, while at the same time we try to steer away from the school character of learning. The children are at a language camp and will obviously learn a lot, but it is also extremely important to have fun while doing so. My favourite game? Four-in-a-row with verbs. Quite educating and big fun!”
“Healthy snacks, prepared with love, are being provided by the cooking team during breaks. After that, children are encouraged for a little action. We play games and we keep motivating the children to implement language and vocabulary while doing so. I am a huge fan of the game ‘One against all’: the contestants have to cooperate to finish as many assignments as possible within a certain time limit. Communication is quintessential when a team must reach its peak performance to do so. The language skills of the children expand rapidly, often without thinking about it.”
An unforgettable camp experience
“My main objective is to provide an unforgettable camp experience for the children. I want to show them that learning a foreign language can be a lot of fun”, Axelle says with determination. “I include all children, inform about their personal interests, I create an active and creative setting for them to work with language, I give positive feedback and I make sure to guide their every step on the road. We have so many teachers with a heart for language and for our students, myself included”, she says with a smile.
“Positive comments from our participants are what gets us going for the children, day after day. When the camp week is over and children come to you and say they will miss you and that this was one of the best weeks ever, what is not to like about that!”
