My name is Jan-Alexander Dockers. I am 26 and I am an English teacher in Geraardsbergen. I was born in Aalst. Since 2015 I teamed up with the Sutton Town 3 (intercultural) camp. Once as a participant, a couple of times as an Activity Leader but the last few years as Head of Activities.
Why am I a Roeland volunteer?
When I went to the camps as a student, I felt the fantastic vibe surrounding the staff team right away. I joined the camps simply because I like to speak English, and I instantly connected with the activity leaders and the teachers. The team noticed my engagement and eventually asked if I wanted to become an activity leader myself. I was instantaneously sold for the deal. The next year I attended a training session offered by Roeland, and the rest, as we say, is history.
The best time of the year
‘Magical’ seems to be the most fitting description for what went on at camp. The location, the participants, the team: everything feels like there is a touch of magic to it. With this year’s ending as a high note: a word of gratitude was expressed for the entire staff and their hard work. And after exchanging presents, the participants started to chant our names. They applauded and cheered ecstatically. I found this heartfelt appreciation for the entire team overwhelming.
Our activities listed
We organized the days around a certain theme, with fitting activities. This year for example, we built a haunted house, we created a Eurovision Song Festival, organized an international marketplace and an Olympic Games Day and we went treasure hunting in the village. We also visited colourful Brighton and the always impressive city of London.
Favourite activity: the haunted house
My favourite activity is the haunted house. The students spent an entire afternoon building a playful but nonetheless creepy haunted house. They created a story to present to the other participants, who barely dared to enter but exited after a while, roaring with laughter. The magnificent old school here serves perfectly as a backdrop for this kind of cool activities.
How do we ensure an unforgettable camp experience?
As Head of Activities, I try to motivate my activity leaders to rigidly connect with their workshop teams, so every participant can feel at ease in their group. We make sure every team produces some kind of souvenir. For example, the YouTube workgroup created a channel they can still visit for years to come. And the cooking class group made a personalized apron for themselves. So, all our participants leave the camp with a tangible object to remember their camp experience by.
How do we turn the learning of a new language into a fun experience?
Our Sutton camp is perfect for learning English the fun way. Participants join up because they want to learn how to speak English, or because they want to improve their knowledge and speaking abilities. At first, we may detect various levels of enthusiasm, but when the camp has ended, they all get on the bus, holding arms, with a shared sense of happiness. We ensure that speaking English becomes something natural for our participants. Sports, games, music and animated conversation are perfect instruments to make English fun. And it is an international group of children, so if you are from Iceland and the person next to you at the dinner table is from Hong Kong, speaking English becomes a necessity to understand each other.
A fun anecdote
In 2023, one of our activity leaders organized a YouTube workshop. They wanted to make a ‘ghost hunting’ video to post on the channel. In the village you can see the ruins of an ancient castle. A brave evening dusk walk to the ruins ensued, but they did not know I hid myself inside the castle. A black cloak, a mask and a strategically positioned speaker proved sufficient to scare the living daylights out of them. And we had a brilliant video to show exactly how unforgettable that evening must have been for everyone involved.
To put it in a succinct way, the summer camp is my favourite time of the year. It offers an opportunity to escape from everyday life. You can be just yourself, or you can reinvent yourself in another language. These camps tend to bring together all kinds of people who would not have crossed paths otherwise. It creates bonds that can result in lifelong friendships. In short: Roeland language camps are simply magical.
Jan-Alexander
Head of Animation English camps
