They call it “English Boarding School” on their brochures, and the parents seem to really like this; to them, it  means a sort of English boot camp and a rare chance to whip their kids’ language skills into shape all while giving them a better shot at a good university. I’ve started a new session on Monday teaching kids who are 12-15, my kids specifically fall in the 13 range. English boot camp begins at 9AM, right after the kids have had their kahvalti (breakfast) and sometimes morning yoga. The timings for the classes are pretty flexible , but as a guide, there are four subjects broken into 45 minute blocks.

The first is conversation and listening, which usually consists of a role play of some sort. Today, we are modeling a celebrity interview for the class, then have them choose their own and follow suit. Soon, the kids are erupting in laughter as they  invent unlikely celeb matches and absurd aspirations as they take on their temporary identities. Some of the kids remain tacit, only supplying yes or no answers to questions like ” DO you wish you had chosen another career?”, but they’ll open up as time progresses.

From 10-10:45, there is essay-writing  and grammar. We ask them to tell us why they want to learn English while supplying them with a starter bank of ideas like career, family, travel, etc.. But they get creative and point out  that English may become necessary when picking up American girls.

We walk around and check out their answers, inspecting for any errors and write these down on the board, changing them slightly to avoid putting anyone on the spot, and have the class correct each one. Some corrections come easy, others, involving tenses, take longer. When the sentences are gleaming examples of English grammar, we move on. Essay writing is over.

Following a fifteen minute snack break comes ” New words and reading “. We give them a passage on music and how it affects the brain. Their job is to read through, answer the questions and then do a vocabulary match up. NO one wants to read. They take a stab at the vocabulary section and quickly realize that they’re lost. After going around the class and miming several words, like “role” and “villain”, I’m convinced that we need to do this together as a class. We sit in a circle and go through the passage together, stopping on the unfamiliar words. The kids seem bored but they do it. They  humor us for another half hour until it’s time for “Drama”.

Drama is a tricky one. Some kids love it, and others would rather clean toilets than talk in front of the class, We quickly find the two students who want to do everything and the more self-conscious ones. Today we are introducing a play for our end-of-session performance and gauging what the kids are interested in performing. They all seem to be gravitating toward action movies like Pirates, and James Bond. More on that later!