Research

The Design, Practice, and Reflection of Teen Service-learning —

A Case Study of an English Summer Camp

I. Introduction

1. Research Background and purpose

As a student from the countryside, I realize how limited our learning resources are. I care deeply about the learning proficiency of the nearby elementary school students. I visit the first-graders in my free time and teach them English by talking with them as well as coaching them in English theater to provoke their interests in English-learning. The classes are designed based on my own learning experiences; meanwhile, innovative teaching methods are also implemented and adapted to meet their needs. Learning by doing (Dewey,1916). Through coaching them, I am also surprised to see what I have obtained. I learned the ways of teaching, discovered how to lead and plan classes, and so on. What’s more, I enjoyed every bit of it. I realized that even though I am only a teenager, I can still help others. Accordingly, I had been thinking about hosting a camp and gathering people with the same devotion and idea to help me. So this summer, I organized a two-day English summer camp on July 9th and 10th, 2019, and invited my friends to be volunteers. I hoped that by doing this, not only the students could learn from it, but also the volunteers from the act of service.

Experiential learning refers to a theory of education expounded by American philosopher John Dewey(1938). Dewey emphasizes the importance of "experience". It is suggested that the "learning by doing" strategy is mainly to let learners interact with the living environment to achieve the purpose of learning(朱耀明,2011). Barbara Jacoby (1996) defines service-learning as "a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities for reflection designed to achieve desired learning outcomes". This research aims to understand the impact on the volunteers while doing service learning for future references and to improve future camp designs. Therefore, the purposes of this paper include:

1. The description of teen service-learning activity design and development process.

2. The teen’s reflection after completing the service-learning.

2. Area of Research

The English summer camp stated in this research took place in an elementary school from July 9th to 10th, 2019. There were 28 students and 9 volunteers participating in this English summer camp. The purpose of this activity was to teach children English and let volunteers learn as well.

The volunteer’s ages range from elementary to high school students and come from various places in Taiwan. The reflections and feedback of this research are from the counselors, whose ages range from 13 to 19 years old. Thus, this is the reason why the research was defined as teen service-learning.

II. Research method and Design

The methods conducted in this study include observation, document analysis, and interviews.

1. The teen service-learning activity design and development process.

1.1 Design

First, several of my teenage friends with the same mindset were recruited. Afterwards, we had meetings regarding as to when to hold the English camp, what to teach, what activities to do, how to recruit members, and all the details about the camp. In the process, we consulted our teachers and friends, looked through books for interesting ideas, and encouraged students to sign up. We had all the needed supplies ready to use. Books, games, art samples were all prepared beforehand. The day before the camp, we held a pre-activity meeting in person and made some last-minute decisions. We assigned someone to help us take pictures during the camp to keep as memories. Before the official start time of our camp, we set up the activities and art supplies.

Eventually, there were 28 students signing up for the camp, and the activity was held on July 9th to 10th 2019, from 9 am to 12 am. The activities included Game Time, Story Time, Craft Time, Reading Time, and Film Time. The schedule of the camp can be seen in Table 2.

We taught students to read English books, and explained to them the meaning of each word through by describing them in English. We believed that English learners acquire English better through embracing it and learning from the language itself instead of direct translation. After providing instructions, we filmed the students reading the stories, made videos from these films, and showed these back to them . By doing so, we intended to make them believe that they do have the ability to read an English book, and as long as they study harder, they can progress even further than that. After the first day of camp, we had another meeting and tried to modify some activities after getting to know the students. The activity procedure and goal is in Table 3.

1.3 Reflection

After the camp, the volunteers recorded a video of their reflections, wrote their feedback and answered the following questions.

1. What did you learn after having participated in this camp?

2. If you want to come again, what changes do you think you would make?

3. What previous experiences influenced the way you lead this camp?

4. What’s the difference between being a participant and being a leader?

2.The teen’s reflection after completing the service-learning

Reflections and feedback from six teens were reviewed and analyzed below.

2.1 Learning how to get along with children and lead a team

After having participated in the camp, the volunteers learned how to get along with children as well as lead a team. Because they rarely have the chance to actually get to know young children, they think it is an important and valuable skill. It is their first time to be a leader, so they are interested in leading and being the ones to control things. After they getting to know the children, they realized that each child is different and as such they should be treated differently. Teaching according to the individual differences of each child, we would achieve the best way of education.

I learned a lot in this camp. From how to get to know children, teach children in English, to work with them to make two films, etc. At every phase, you have to think about how to lead them in the best way to achieve the goals we set. (Maggie)

In this camp, I learned how to listen to the senior teachers, and lead the children to happily learn English step by step, and learn English from games and activities. I learned how to make the children to be quiet when they are out of control, and group the students’ opinions to help the activity go fluently. (Gene)

2.2 Learning how to plan a camp effectively

Volunteers held meetings online and in person, exchanged ideas and wrote down our schedules and plans. Through the whole process, they learned to make a complete schedule and know they should have back-up plans when one doesn’t work.

As a hostess and planner, I learned that when planning an activity, I have to write a schedule of exactly what time an event should happen, and I should always have a backup plan for everything, in case it doesn’t work. (Lucy)

Volunteers learn how to be in control of what is happening. Ex. After discovering that making a notebook is longer than other art projects in Craft Time, the volunteers allowed the students to play games in the hallway or make another art project.(Observation record)

Volunteers have to cooperate with each other. Ex. In the beginning of the second day, one of the volunteers couldn’t make it in time all of a sudden. The rest of the volunteers took on the responsibility of the missing volunteer’s group, and quickly made the decision to separate the group temporarily.(Observation record)

Whenever they have a chance, they group together and discuss about adjustments they should make. Ex. After the first day, the volunteers discussed the problems they encountered. They thought that teaching students to read books while filming them was too hard. To solve that problem, they assigned some volunteers to teach and others to film the videos.(Observation record)

2.3 Improve their own skills to achieve the goals of the activity.

Volunteers want to learn to be more patient with the children as well as improve their own English in order to teach more efficiently. The possibility of why they might answer these is that this is an English summer camp, and hope that the teens would speak in English to the children. Also, they discovered that they need to improve their teaching skills in order to teach effectively. After they got along with the children, they realized that each child is different, so should be treated differently. Teaching according to the difference of each child, we would achieve the best way of education. Some think about how to lead them to achieve the goals we want.

The changes I'll make is probably going to be that I'll treat them with more patience and explain the English activities more thoroughly. (Tina)

Every child has his own traits and personality, from lively to silent, outgoing to introverted, and each and every one of them must be treated in different ways. Even if it was just a small two half-day camp, we were constantly thinking about how to let the children learn English in a pleasant environment. If there is a second chance to lead these children, I want them to know that having good English is not so hard to reach. It is a language that might be used at any chance, and I want to let them know that learning English is not as terrible as they think. (Maggie)

2.4 Different background experiences influence the ways of teaching

Due to the fact that everyone’s experiences are different, so their responses are slightly different. None of them had been counselors before. And this was also their first time actually leading a group of children on their own without help from adults or teachers. All of them had positive experiences when they were participants, and since their roles have changed this time, they hope to serve and let everyone feel the joy too.

I have lead elementary student in camps before; originally I didn’t get along with them, but after this experience, I learned that if you want to have good interaction with children, you should find more topics to talk about, and start a conversation with them. (Jill)

In the past experience, I have not had the experience to lead a team, but I have volunteered being the leaders of many clubs. I think these two are not so different. We have to think about how to lead each participant, and think about how to accomplish different tasks and listen to the participants’ opinion. (Maggie)

I think that having two twin sisters who are about the same age as the students helped me greatly. I knew how to make them feel happy, and I also know that to make them learn, you have to reward them in the end. (Lucy)

The past experiences is gonna be when I play with the juniors in Meyer's class. Also when I see how my mom cope with little kids. (Tina)

Because I went to a camp at the library in America, and they hosted a camp like this, so I wanted to share the joy in Taiwan. (Alice)

2.5 The participants and counselors both learn

According to the feedback, both students and counselors are learning.

Being a participant, one only needs to follow the instructions and cooperate with their teammates. However, through the process, the students also learned crafts, English reading and speaking skills.

Being a leader, one has to know what is happening, prepare speeches, and cope under the pressure of different circumstances.

Being a participant, you don’t have to know anything that would happen. However, being a leader, you have to have full knowledge of the plan and know what to do. (Lucy)

As a leader, you need to make up a plan and you need to know how to teach children, and not be embarrassed when you don’t know what to say. As a participant, you don’t have to know everything; you just need to follow the rules and what the leader says. (Alice)

I think that "leaders" have to conceive a lot of things, and they have to think about how to let participants cooperate with themselves, but at the same time they will learn different ways to cope with them under the reaction of participants. The "participants" need to understand to cooperate with the leaders, know how to accomplish the tasks given by the leader, but also learn how to cooperate and complete the task from the leader's leadership ways. All in all, the two sides are different, but they can learn many things! (Maggie)

I found out being a leader and being a participant is not different, we are all learning English, and all being taught by students, and all understanding how to use our talents. And after all, participants will learn to become a leader, and leaders become participants because we all have to learn. (Gene)

III. Conclusion

This research aims to understand the impact on the volunteers while doing service learning for future references and to improve future camp designs. Therefore, the conclusions and suggestions according to the research are listed below:

1.The teen service-learning activity design and development process.

While participating in this camp, four special things were observed:

1. Students and volunteers enjoy learning during the activity.

2. Volunteers learn how to be in control of what is happening.

3. Volunteers have to cooperate with each other.

4. Whenever they have a chance, they group together and discuss about adjustments they should make.

2.The implication of this teen service-learning

There were many positive effects from the teens about service-learning. After the activity, they achieved the goals listed below.

1. Learning how to get along with children and lead a team

2. Learning how to plan a camp effectively

3. Improve their own skills to achieve the goals of the activity

4. Different background experiences influence the ways of teaching

5. The participants and counselors both learn

3. Researcher’s Suggestions

Service-Learning is an act of learning through service. Paulo Freire (1996) said, "Whoever teaches learns in the act of teaching, and whoever learns teaches in the act of learning.” When being a student, he or she is not only learning, but also teaching the teacher how to educate. All participants were able to a lot from this camp, especially the volunteers, from the students who enlightened them. They taught us how to cope under different circumstances and teach in different ways when the previous methods don’t work.

The changes I hope to make would be to invite more teen volunteers to help out so more people can experience the act of service learning. Everyone has their own expertise. Regardless of their age, as long as you have the intention, you can not only help others through the service, but also become more mature.

IV. References

1. Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan.
2. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education.New York: Macmillan.
3. Freire, P. (1996).Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy, and Civic Courage. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
4. Jacoby, Barbara (1996). Service-Learning in Higher Education. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Publishers.
5. 朱耀明(2011)。「動手做」的學習意涵分析—杜威的經驗學習觀點。生活科技教育月刊，44(2)，32-43。