June 1, 2011

Shop Camp (Violeta, Faith, Nick, Danette-a volunteer from FACES, and Joe):

We arrived at 6 to see several students waiting for us at the picnic table beneath the live oak. Because there are no tomatoes to pick until Friday, the days can be long. Although some of the men (and a scattering of women) seem a little bored now, on Friday, they will begin working 8-10 hours a day in the grueling heat of the Carolina lowcounty.

Lesson Contents:

1. Camp Address:

Shop/Seaside Camp

1336 Seaside Road

St. Helena, SC 29902

We remind workers that if they have to go to the health clinic, they will need to be able to give their camp address to the van driver.

2. Where do you live?

In conjunction with the address lesson, we study a map of South Carolina to help students better orient themselves to where they are in the state, region, and the United States. This activity leads in nicely with direction words (East, West, etc) and asking for directions.

3. Where did you come from? With a map of Mexico (or Central America) we like to give students an opportunity to locate their cities and villages on a map and to tell us about their lives in Mexico.

4. Common Phrases and Expressions.

My name is . . .
What is your name. . . ?
How are you . . . ?
I am _____ (fine, great, etc.).
It is nice to meet you.
And the same to you.

5. We often end class with a song in which we sing the following to the tune of F. Jacques:

Good Morning, Good Morning, How are you? How are you?

I am fine, thank you. x 2

And you? x 2

7:30. We arrived at Little Haiti Camp

1741 Landsend Road

St. Helena, SC 29902

Our second visit went better than it did on Monday night. We ended up having 1 very large class in which we worked on how to order food in a fast food restaurant. We also had them do some role playing on how to order.

One challenge we face is how to pass out the materials we give to OSY without creating a situation in which everyone starts demanding that they need the items as well. I think that we will begin next lesson by explaining how the OSY program works and that there cannot be any pushing and shoving for the items that we can only give to students under the age of 22. I think it would be a mistake to say that only OSY can attend our classes, but they might be something we have to consider in camps with large numbers of workers who feel desperate while at the same time not understanding that our funding is only for individuals of school age (under 22) who had to leave another school district to find farm work.