“A language lab boring? Not at all!"

My name is Stefanie De Ridder. Every year I volunteer for Roeland as a teacher, both at the +12 camps and the junior camps. This year I managed a junior camp in Oostakker. I volunteer for Roeland because foremost, I think the language immersion technique is a fantastic concept. Getting up and going to sleep in French ensures that you are actively acquiring the language. You can apply what you already learned in school, and you will pick up a lot more while having a blast!

Creative workshops

Personally, I find one of the highlights of each camp to be the presentation of the creative workshops. Throughout the camp, the children work as a team on a project. At my camp, one of the teams made a taekwondo choreography, another team edited a stop motion movie with photos, there was a group that sewed pirate costumes and another group prepared the staging of a play. The children were very curious about the results of the other teams, and at the same time they were very pleased to perform their own creation. The presentations were also extraordinary this time, which made me proud of the children and my team.

Another highlight was the trip to Rozebroeken. We went for a swim, but we also had a picnic and we played games on the playground. We had great fun, that afternoon!

Typical Roeland activities

The days consisted of typical Roeland activities. Sports moments, creative workshops, language labs and a huge game. During the language workshops, the children learned French words in a playful and creative way. The teachers transformed (un)known games into language-oriented activities: a memory game, domino, Pictionary, time's up... If you believe language labs to be boring, think again!

But the children don't just learn French at the language workshops! All activities are done in French, so the learning happens while playing. That's what makes Roeland so cool: it combines playing and learning, so it doesn’t feel like being at school at all. Having fun in French will automatically make you like the French language more, and that's exactly the point!

Stefanie De Ridder

Head of Project

Junior French - Oostakker