2004-7-14
This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Education
Report.
Millions of American children attend summer camp. Most summer
camps teach swimming and sports. But some are designed to teach
special skills.
One of these is Concordia Language Villages camp in the state of
Minnesota. Campers there learn to speak a foreign language without
the use of books or teachers. The counselors speak the language all
the time and show the campers what to do. The campers learn the
language by watching and hearing the words. One student at the
German camp said she experienced what it would be like to be in
Germany.
Colleges and universities organize other learning camps. Southern
Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois offers a week long
experience called "Summer Wings Camp." The camp is held at the
Southern Illinois Airport. Campers learn about the history of flight
and experience what an airplane pilot does.
At Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, students can
take part in a two-week camp that teaches astronomy. They observe
sunspots, for example, and study the motion of planets and stars.
The Pennsylvania State University offers many summer programs.
One camp this summer taught about what it is like to be a weather
expert or meteorologist. Students at Weather Camp learned how
tornadoes form. And they learned how to present weather information
on television.
Another Penn State summer program was Nursing Camp. Students in
this program took part in different emergency situations and learned
how to treat injuries. The students carried out first aid skills on
life-like dolls in a laboratory. They also learned cardio pulmonary
resuscitation, how to start a heart that has stopped beating. And
they learned how to help people in a medical emergency.
Another skills camp is organized by businesses. Camp CEO is a
one-week program in the state of Arizona for fifty teen-age girls.
At the camp, they link with successful businesswomen who are chief
executive officers in different industries. The girls build a
business. They also take part in a special outdoor exercise to
develop communication and trust. Officials at Camp CEO say the
experience is unlike any other kind of camp operating today.
This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy
Steinbach. This is Bob Doughty.