PHILIPSBURG:--- On Friday, July 11th, parents, teachers, and representatives of the Division of Educational Innovations (DEI) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (MECYS) witnessed what 43 young participants of the first Summercamp Dutch at Milton Peters College had learnt.
With a lot of flair and some nerves, the former Group 8 students, who will be starting at either the TKL or HAVO/VWO programs at MPC in August, showcased the various language skills they had practiced in a fun way over the past nine days of summer camp. In Dutch, they explained eloquently the wide variety of activities they had done:
Making a Bookbox depicting a text they had read together, painting and pasting a “who am I Poster”, a debate about media wisdom, a Vlog advertising our beautiful island to tourists, a nature island tour and kayak adventure, making poetry, and preparing a fruit smoothie. The students expressed that the camp had been fun and that they felt freer to express themselves in the Dutch language. One student said his main takeaway was that “making mistakes is okay”, which is great, since language learning works best by trial and error.
The show finished with all students shaking their self-made instruments and singing “Wij zijn klaar voor de start”, identifying that they feel ready to start high school in August. MPC will assess during the upcoming school year whether the camp has indeed positively impacted students' preparedness and proficiency in the Dutch language. Representatives of DEI, Ms. Oralie Boirard and Ms. Kimberly Meyers declared they were impressed by the achievements so far.
SVOBE acknowledges the efforts of teachers and coordinators—Laticia Brown, Shanella Petrona, Sonielle Petres, Jessica Boldewijn, Karl Amatdjais, Taryn Hassell, and Tefari Prevoo—who dedicated part of their vacation to organizing this creative camp. Furthermore, SVOBE wholeheartedly thanks MECYS for their financial support of this unique first Summercamp Dutch and hopes for their continued support next summer.
