Translation | YI-JING WU Proofreading | Jonathan Burke
The recent five days Vision Impaired English Camp saw the cooperation of volunteers from Taiwan and abroad, introducing stories of Taiwan, Vietnam, France, and America, cultures, and traffic. Carefully prepared teaching materials were combined with camp activities, to give vision impaired teenagers a different kind of English summer camp!
Article | RONG-ZE CHEN Photo | Eden Social Welfare Foundation
During the camp, students had to try to speak English, such as by introducing their performance by describing its details in simple English. They also practiced English songs, figuring out the meanings of lyrics. For one thing, this helped students learn the correct pronunciation of English words through singing; for another, the process of reciting lyrics and singing out loud helped deepen their impression of “English”.
Teaching street dance gets students to wave their bodies and stretch their limbs rhythmically to music, relieving the soul.
The volunteer included a doctor from Vietnam, two French Eden interns, and five Taiwanese volunteers. The core of the teaching materials this time was about concatenating cultures of each country, as well as introducing the traffic, commutes, and means of transportation of these countries. We held a Q&A time for everyone to ask any questions about the countries, and we encouraged students to ask in English. Even if they were not able to speak very fluently, it was a great opportunity for oral practice.
For the field trip on the third day of the camp, we visited the National Museum of Marine Science & Technology and Highway museum. Though hearing, smelling, touching, and playing, the students discovered technology knowledge and explored the unlimited imagination of the ocean. The Highway museum guide was an elder volunteer in his nineties, retired from the Directorate General of Highways. He was bright and refreshing, describing a long history of highway-related construction and culture.
Although a huge improvement of English skills might not be achievable in a short time, boosting the motivation for learning English was Eden’s main goal for the Vision Impaired English Camp. It stimulated groups with different mother tongues, by providing them with opportunities to communicate in English for five days, conforming to this directive of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 4.7
“ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable life style, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.)”
Volunteer instructors initially came with the intention of simply accompanying visually impaired students and teaching English. However, after learning from and getting along with each other, the instructors also gained much from their interaction with the students, for which they were very grateful.
Eden Social Welfare Foundation hopes that visually impaired students who do not have many opportunities to get in touch with foreign friends, can have an environment to communicate daily in English by attending this camp. Additionally, they don’t have to be afraid of speaking English incorrectly, and there are always volunteer instructors to ask questions about English. It is important to learn happily. The annual Vision Impaired English Camp not only provides students with edutainment, but also helps them build a bridge of English between each other, to enrich their friendships.
