How Animation Continue boosts the language acquisition of your child
It is not just the language workshops, field trips and games moments we focus on, we also use the breaks between activities to immerse our students in the foreign language. At Roeland, we call it Animation Continue. “We come up with little brain teasers and games to fill the gaps between activities, so the children and youngsters can enjoy the language camp experience to the fullest”, Jérémie Ruffin (Head of Project) explains.
Keep it spirited and fascinating
“A school day has a predefined structure. Time spans between classes are being used by the students to wait for the next class to begin. At our language camps, we want the pause between the main activities to be useful. With our Animation Continue (short animation moments), we keep our participants interested and focused when they go from one language workshop to the next sports game or vice versa.”
From riddles …
“A fine example of Animation Continue: every teacher carries a card with a riddle written on it, for instance a word game in French: je commence la nuit en je termine le matin. Que suis-je? Or dès qu’on parle de moi, je n’existe plus. Que suis-je?
“The participants can play this game alone, or with friends. At the end of the week, we check which group has the most correct answers. That competitive element motivates the students to start conversations with our volunteers. And it is an opportunity for our teachers to work individually on the language acquisition of every child at camp.”
… and mysteries …
“Another game our students like is the ‘true/false mystery’. Who feels up to it can share three personal anecdotes, two of which are true and one is made up. The others have to tell which is false one.”
… to jokes
“Even at dinner time we have Animation Continue. We often ask our participants if they want to help out in the kitchen. Once at camp we held a moment de blague, where the students were asked to tell a joke in the foreign language before the entire group.”
“At the French camps we like to make fun of the English, for instance: how do you recognise a British plane? Well, it flies on the left. Pretty lame, but it does not require an extensive vocabulary and if the joke is enhanced with gestures, everyone is on board when it comes to understanding it. The joke also explains the verb ‘to fly’. In French, ‘to fly’ can also mean ‘to steal’ (voler).
“In short, these little animation moments function as some kind of glue, a paste to smooth over the transition between activities. It keeps our participants interested and focused, and it guarantees an amazingly joyful and educational camp experience.”
Comment from Roeland
Animation Continue is a Roeland philosophy to guarantee that our students keep busy with the foreign language throughout the entire day. Animation Continue is one of the many activities we organize at our language camps. These games and in-between animations are created by our teachers according to the needs of the various camps, age groups or language skill levels.
