Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

Curriculum Development Project Proposal:

2-Week English Camp in the Philippines for
Southeast Asian Young Adult Refugees

Bekah Johnson, Grace Liaw, and Isaac Stough

Wheaton College

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

1. Program Context and Philosophy

Program Context
We are creating a curriculum for the ESL component of a 2-week outreach camp in the
Philippines for young adult refugees from various south Asian countries, including Cambodia,
Laos, and Vietnam. The students will be at various levels of English proficiency, though most
have some proficiency in spoken English. They are preparing to either emigrate to the United
States or Canada, or stay and work in the Philippines in contexts where English will be
necessary. However, our main goal will be to prepare them to use the textbook series The
New Interchange Series, Level 1, which will be the text they will use in the year-long program
following our camp. We will also incorporate some of the other camp activities (sports,
conversation, spiritual language, recreation, singing) into the language and content that we
teach. We will meet five days a week for four hours every day, with two short breaks each day.
There will be three trained ESL teachers, and ten American and Canadian short-term
volunteers.
Philosophy
Communicative Approach
Our program is designed to teach English for the sake of effective communication in
real-life contexts. As such, our course is structured less around memorizing grammar and
formulas, repetitive drilling; rather, we want our lessons to reflect situations that students will
encounter, and we want to give them the skills they will need to communicate in those
contexts.

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

Because our students will be interacting with American and Canadian English
speakers at the camp and some of them hope to continue on to the United States and
Canada, and because The New Interchange Series teaches American English, our program
will focus on teaching American English and some culture, also. However, we want to
emphasize, as the authors of the series do, that English is the major language of international
communication and is not limited to any one country, region, or culture, and we want to help
and encourage our students to communicate about their own cultures in the English
language too (Richards, Hull, and Proctor, 1997, page iii.).
In addition, we want to teach students that language has a purpose and can give
hope. In the camp setting, students will have opportunities to listen to stories from the Bible
and from other missionaries, and perhaps even to tell their own stories. We want to equip
students with the language necessary to understand and express these stories.
Meaningful Learning and Authenticity
Related to the communicative approach, we believe that meaningful learning as
opposed to abstract memorization is crucial for students to make connections in second
language acquisition. As such, we want to relate the content that we teach to real-life,
authentic contexts which students are already familiar with, to experiences and knowledge
they already have. This will not only help them to better understand and retain the language;
it could also be a strong motivator and encouragement for the second language acquisition
process. This leads us to our next point.
Lowering Affective Filters

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

We want to take into account that learning a second language can be a humbling and
even humiliating process. When students feel too embarrassed or too afraid to try because
they are afraid to make mistakes, the learning process is greatly slowed down. Knowing this,
we want create a classroom atmosphere where students feel free to play with the language,
and try out the new things they are learning. One way, for example, is to have students use
the English language to introduce something they know, such as their culture, city, or family;
they are the experts, and we are learners. This can build their confidence and lower affective
filters.
Our camp is the two-week preparation for a more serious year-long course; it is less
academic than the year-long course will be. Our goal is for students to have exposure to a lot
of language, and to feel comfortable and confident using it, even if they do not know all the
correct answers. We want the camp to be fun, with a lot of variety! We also want to make sure
that our lessons and objectives are attainable and at the right level for the students, and
therefore rewarding and motivating for them.
2. Needs Analysis (refer to pages 9-13)
3. Goals and Rationales
By the end of this course, students will:
Be able to recognize and produce English sounds: At the foundational level, we want our
students to be able to distinguish English from other languages, knowing enough about the
language to pronounce English words and begin to differentiate sounds in what they hear.
Know and be able to use basic vocabulary for survival English, classroom English, and
English for jobs and for various vocations: Secondly, we wanted students to have a good

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

grasp on basic vocabulary in order to prepare them for their future encounters with English,
whether that was in a classroom or in future jobs.
Know and be able to use basic phrases in order to introduce oneself, formulate questions,
express politeness and preferences, and give descriptions: Thirdly, in day to day
encounters, we wanted students to know and successfully use English basics.
Have progressed in the four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing: Through
learning the above three, we hope ttudents progress in the basic skills of English learning.
Have increased in confidence in expressing thoughts, opinions and feelings in English, as
well as feeling more confident with cultural elements: Comfort with the language is our
utmost importance with our group.
4. Structure
This two week summer intensive program is a beginning level course in English as a
foreign language for young adults in a refugee camp. Due to the context of the course, it
highlights vocabulary development and pronunciation for communication purposes. It also
covers the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking for language development.
We will separate students into to main groups: beginning low and beginning intermediate/
high. In this project, our focus is on the beginning low course. There are eight units that are
based in the students own experiences, promoting student-driven and engaging
communicative lessons and activities. Classes will meet five days a week for 4 hours per day
in the mornings, totaling 40 hours of instruction time.
5. Scope and Sequence (refer to pages 14-17)

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

6. Recommended Resources
1. Burke, Susan. ESL: Creating a Quality ESL Program. Grand Rapids: Faith Alive Christian
Resources, 1998. Print.
Bekah adapted ideas from this for one of the needs analysis instruments.
2. Fettig, Cyndy, and Kathy Najafi. Pathways Foundations: Listening, Speaking, and Critical
Thinking. Boston: National Geographic Learning, 2014. Print.
Since our course is only two weeks, and resources are limited, we will not be buying
textbooks for the students, and we will not follow one particular book, but we will pull
resources from various books. This particular book is excellent for the beginner levels. It
is filled with colorful visuals, and is up to date. The focus is on speaking and listening,
and helping to develop critical thinking skills, which is great for our course, which will
be conversation and listening heavy, though we will incorporate writing in small,
attainable amounts. There are lots of short activities in here that could be incorporated
into a lesson, and since its focus is on traveling and cultures around the world, it
teaches vocabulary that will help students to express the stories of their cultures too.
3. Folse, Keith S. The Art of Teaching Speaking. NP: University of Michigan Press, 2006.
Print.
This is a teachers resource book, and provides many ideas for activities, specifically for
teaching speaking. These activities are flexible and can be tweaked for different topics
and themes. Many can also be slightly modified to create new challenges as students
master skills.
4. Law, Barbara and Mary Eckes. The More-Than-Just-Surviving Handbook. Winnipeg:
Portage and Main Press, 2000. Print.
Bekah used this to write up her oral interview questions for the needs analysis.
5. Mikulecky, Beatrice S. A Short Course in Teaching Reading. New York: Pearson
Education, 2011. Print.
While our course is not focused on reading and writing skills, we still want to
incorporate some basics, since these skills will be important for being able to do
worksheets and to begin to process what they are learning by writing. Mikuleckys book
lays great theoretical groundwork, but we would use more of the ideas for activities that
she gives, like helping students improve their bottom-up skills by practicing letter and
word recognition, or their top-down skills by helping them recognize main topics in a
text.
6. Richards, Jack C., and Anne Burns. Tips for Teaching Listening: A Practical Approach.
New York: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.
This is also a teacher resource book, and provides some great tips for teaching
listening, as the title suggests! They pinpoint particular listening skills that students

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

need for different contexts, like listening in a casual conversation, or listening to a

lecture, or listening for instructions and announcements. Students will encounter some
of these text types at the camp, and we can use some of their ideas to create activities
to help them to listen strategically and begin to pick out sounds and words. There is an
audio CD and worksheets to accompany this book, which is very helpful! Even if we
dont use the exact same material, it gives us ideas to create our own.
7. Richards, Jack C., Jonathan Hull, and Susan Proctor. The New Interchange Series, Level
1. New York: Cambridge UP, 1997. Print.
This text would serve as a reference point for us, since it sets the target language that
we want our students to have by the time they are done with our course. While we may
not use the exact same material, we will use it to generate ideas for content to use in
our course so that when then encounter this text, they will feel ready for it. We will also
use some similar activities so that the activities in this textbook will not be totally new to
the students when they get there.
8. Swan, Michael, and Catherine Walter. The Good Grammar Book. Oxford: Oxford UP,
2001. Print.
This book is specifically focused on grammar, with 21 sections on different verb tenses,
parts of speech, etc., and even one section on spoken grammar. We would use this
book for ideas about how to teach certain grammatical concepts. Though some of us
teachers already have experience in this area, others might need some help. It also
provides simple activities which we could use, too.
9. Ur, Penny, and Andrew Wright. Five-Minute Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge UP,
1992. Print.
This is a fun teachers resource book. As its title suggests, it is filled with quick activities
that could be used for ice breakers, warm-ups, reviewing material, or just for fun! Very
flexible and adaptable for different contexts and levels and materials.
10. Songs.
Since they will be going to camp activities after the English classes, we wanted to
incorporate songs from camp into our classes. Singing is a great way to learn language!
These songs might include some old hymns like Amazing Grace, to some fun tunes like
Pharaoh, Pharaoh! and This Little Light of Mine, to more contemporary worship songs,
like those by Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, or something like that. It depends on what
kinds of songs the camp coordinators choose to do.
7. Work Distribution
1. Philosophy statement: Bekah and Grace brainstormed in class; Grace wrote it up.
2. Needs Analysis: Bekah developed this.

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

3. General program/course goals: Bekah, Grace, Isaac brainstormed in class; Grace
wrote the goals, Isaac edited and wrote the rationales.
4. Structure of the program: Bekah wrote this up.
5. Scope and sequence: Bekah, Grace, Isaac brainstormed in class; Bekah wrote this up.
6. Recommended resources: Bekah, Grace, Isaac brainstormed in class; Grace wrote
these up.
7. Powerpoint: Isaac created this.

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

Needs Analysis Instrument 1: Questionnaire

Students Name: ____________________________________

Date: ________________

Please answer the questions to the best of your abilities.

1) What is your name?
________________________________________________________________
2) Where were you born?
________________________________________________________________
3) What language or languages do you speak?
________________________________________________________________
4) How many years have you gone to school?
________________________________________________________________
5) Have you ever studied English before? If yes, when?
________________________________________________________________
6) What professional goals do you have for the future?
________________________________________________________________
7) What are the two most important things to learn in English?
(Listening, speaking, reading, writing, basic math skills, other)
________________________________________________________________

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

8) Which of the above areas is the most difficult for you?
________________________________________________________________
9) Do you regularly practice English now? If yes, how?
________________________________________________________________

10

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11

Needs Analysis Instrument 2: Oral Interview

Students Name: __________________________________

Date: ___________________

Oral Interview Rubric

This side is to be completed by the teacher.
Students: Do NOT write on this side of the paper.

Teacher/interviewer rubric:
-

Communication. Did the learner make him/herself understood?

Accuracy. Was the learners grammar sufficiently correct to ensure

comprehension/communication?

Content. Did the learners answer address the topic?

A score of 3 5 points indicates a low

beginning level.
A score of 6 9 points indicates an
intermediate beginning level or higher.

Score of 1, 2, or 3
Communication
Accuracy
Content

Total Points

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12

Oral Interview Questions to be asked by the teacher:

An oral exam with easy but progressively more difficult questions (5 questions)
1) What is your name?

If the student can not answer this question, he or she is a low beginner.

2) How old are you?

If the student can not answer this question, he or she is a low beginner. Stop
the interview now. If the student answers that he or she is fine, responding
to the incorrect question, he or she is a low beginner.

3) When is your birthday?

The students answer to this question can indicate proficiency and exposure
to classroom English.

4) Tell me about your family.

The complexity of the students answer will indicate his or her level for
functioning in English.

5) What would you do if?

This question is much more advanced and requires speculation and the use
of the conditional. The teacher should have a sense for how conversant the
student is in English by this point.

The oral interview questions are from Law, Barbara and Mary Eckes (2000), The More-Than-JustSurviving Handbook, Winnipeg: Portage and Main Press, pp 40, 41.

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13

Students Name: ________________________________

Date: ________________

Needs Analysis Instrument 3: Written English Test

Directions: Read the story. Some words are not there. After you read the story, write one
word that sounds good in the blank. For example, John is a _______. You could write boy,
man, father, brother, etc. You will have 5 minutes to complete the test. Please stop
when the teacher says, Stop.
Jack lives in a _____________ house. The house is ______________ Baker Street. He
lives in the _____________ with his mother and _____________ sister, Lily.
The house ____________ three bedrooms and a _____________ kitchen.
The house has ___________ windows in the kitchen. _____________ likes to sit in the
kitchen and ____________ after school. He likes to eat _______________ while he studies.
Jack ______________ to cook. There are _______________ vegetables and some meat
______________ the refrigerator. Jack cooks ______________ with some rice. His
______________ and his sister are very ______________ after work.
After dinner ______________ and his sister like ____________ watch TV. They watch a
_____________ show. Jacks mother ___________ a book. There are ___________ very happy
family. At night, ____________ says goodnight to ____________ family. He goes upstairs
_______________ into his bedroom. He _____________ off the light. Jack ___________ a good
life.

0 3 = Level 1

16 19 = level 4

Possible Correct: 26

4 9 = Level 2

20 23 = level 5

Number Correct ______

10 15 = Level 3

24 26 = level 6

Adapted from Burke, Susan (1998). ESL: Creating a Quality ESL Program. Grand Rapids: Faith Alive Christian
Resources, pp 56, 58.

Running head: 2-WEEK ENGLISH CAMP

14

TOPIC

OBJECTIVES

VOCABULARY

GRAMMAR

LISTENING/
SPEAKING

WRITING/
READING

UNIT 1

Introducing
Me!

Introduce
yourself,
introduce
someone,
state where
you are from,
state your
nationality, tell
someone your
age, make the
different
sounds of the
English
alphabet

Greetings,
country
names,
nationality
adjectives,
Numbers
0 30, the
alphabet

Interrogatives,
subject
pronouns,
to be,
contractions

Recognize
letters and
their sounds,
intonation of
statements
and
questions,
basic
introductions,
the Alphabet
Song

Write brief
description of
yourself, read
introductions
of others,
meet and
greet skits

UNIT 2

Life at Camp

Identify
buildings and
locations
around camp,
count to 100,
identify
different
sports, talk
about
abilities, talk
about
routines

Places in the
camp,
numbers
31 100,
sports,
camp
activities,
hobbies,
helpful
phrases

Interrogatives
(cont.),
there is/there
are,
can/cant,
do/dont
/doesnt,
simple
present

Linked
sounds,
stressed and
unstressed
words

Draw and
label
important
places and
activities map
with key,
Write and act
out daily
routine

NOTES

Pictionary and
charades to
be used as
reinforcement
of the
vocabulary

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15

TOPIC

OBJECTIVES

VOCABULARY

GRAMMAR

LISTENING/
SPEAKING

UNIT 3

My Family

Talk about
family
members,
describe
people, make
comparisons

Family
members,
adjectives,
question
words

Possessive
suffixes,
pronouns,
/d/ vs //
to have,
comparatives,
superlatives

Read and
write
descriptions
of people,
make a family
album with
pictures or
drawings and
descriptions

UNIT 4

Things I Like

Talk about
likes and
dislikes, give
opinions,
describe
someones
appearance
and clothing,
talk about
food, order a
meal at a
restaurant

Clothing,
colors,
adjectives,
foods, polite
words

Simple yes/no
questions,
object
pronouns

Read a menu,
write a poem
about likes
and dislikes,
describe
appropriate
clothing for
specific
occasions

Identify foods
and clothing
words,
listen for
preferences,
asking for
clarification

WRITING/
READING

NOTES

Pattern poems
and free verse
poetry

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16

TOPIC

OBJECTIVES

VOCABULARY

GRAMMAR

LISTENING/
SPEAKING

WRITING/
READING

NOTES

UNIT 5

What a Day!

Give the date,

describe the
weather, talk
about daily
schedules, ask
for and give
the time,
indicate
sequence

Days, months,
seasons,
weather, time,
ordinal
numbers,
numbers
100 10,000

Time
prepositions,
present
progressive

Listen to
weather
forecasts and
schedules,
question
intonation

Read journal
The Month
entries, write
Poem and
out daily and various songs
weekly
schedules,
keep a journal

UNIT 6

In Town

Ask where
someone or
something is,
describe
where things
are, give
directions,
state an
address, ask
for help in
emergencies,
go shopping

Buildings,
location
words,
prepositions,
emergency
personnel

Informationseeking
questions,
prepositions
of place,
how much/
how many?

Listen to lists,
Listen to
directions,
sentence
stress

Write out
directions to
get to your
favorite place,
read travel
brochures,
read
anecdotes of
peoples trips
to big cities

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17

TOPIC

OBJECTIVES

VOCABULARY

GRAMMAR

LISTENING/
SPEAKING

WRITING/
READING

NOTES

UNIT 7

A Good Story

Talk about
past events,
tell a short
story, identify
components
of a story

Time words,
literature
terms

Did/didnt,
Regular past
tense,
adverbs of
frequency

Wordending /d/, /
t/, and /d/;
Listen for
components
of stories in
short stories

Read a
selection of
short stories,
read
newspaper
articles, write
about a
memorable
experience

Fairytales,
folktales,
biographies,
Bible stories,
movies, TV
shows, and
songs

UNIT 8

Changes are
Coming

Talk about
plans,
describe
changes, give
reasons

Professions,
courses of
study,
vacation
words

Going to +
infinitive, will/
wont,
because

Reduction of
sounds, listen
to plans

Write a life
vision plan