How would you feel stepping off a plane into a foreign nation and only knowing about 35 percent of their language?
Pretty intimidating, right?
Well, this is exactly what four Japanese students, aged seven to nine, and three Korean students, aged nine to eleven, did.
The Japanese students? English tutor, Naoko Bracha, brought them to Michigan to learn about American culture and put the language they have been studying into practice. Paul Riker and his wife, a retired couple in Clarkston, met Bracha when they traveled to Japan several years ago. They agreed to host the Japanese children, Akari Gunji, Sockihiro Hisanga, Kasumi Nagano and Sae Takahaski, for a couple weeks.
The three Korean children, Dan Kim, Cindy Jeon and her sister Sophi, arrived in Michigan about a week ago to visit their aunt.
Besides coming to Oakland County, these children had one more thing in common. They all enrolled in Camp-Wanna-Have-Fun, a camp directed by the Community Education Resource Center (CERC) program in Lake Orion.
‘It’s kind of cool that they can be with children because their host family has no children,? Camp Supervisor Sally Peterson said. ‘The first day, a couple of them were shy. Now, they fit right in. They’re doing great; they’re loving it.?
The students have learned about American culture throughout the weeks of interacting with children in Lake Orion. They have brought their culture with them as well, giving other camp goers a taste of traditions they otherwise wouldn’t know much about.
On July 24, Camp-Wanna-Have-Fun held a talent show. The Japanese children performed a Japanese dance and song, waving their nation’s flag to the beat.
‘They were practicing a lot at home. It was very important to them. You could tell that they had it all choreographed; they were all in sync,? Camp Director Kristi Curtis said. ‘They adapted as much as we adapted. We learned to communicate with them by being very simple with how we explained things, and pointing and giving gestures. They caught on by following along with what a lot of the kids were doing. Yesterday, they came in and wore their Japanese robes, they had their fans and they had their hair all done up. It was interesting to see what they can come in and bring.?
Besides learning more of the English language by being encompassed with it 24/7, the students taught the camp counselors and children to count in Japanese. Ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyu, ju is how you would count one through ten in Japanese.
‘Of course, they were correcting us because we can’t quite speak Japanese,? Curtis laughed.
Peterson said she thinks the host family decided to enroll the students in Camp-Wanna-Have-Fun because of the diversity of the camp. CERC uses the whole Lake Orion High School complex for the camp, which gives them a variety of activities to choose from. The children run track, play volleyball and basketball at the Stadium playground. They swim every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and learn about computers on Thursdays. They have gone on field trips, such as cosmic bowling, and different guests have visited the camp, like magicians and members of the LEGO Company.
Camp Wanna-Have-Fun started on June 15 and ends August 28. The camp is open Monday through Friday 9am ? 4pm, and first grade through sixth grade aged students are welcome to attend.
Peterson said parents can choose the schedule. Many children only attend camp three days a week. A total of 153 students have participated in the camp so far, and it’s rare for a child to attend the camp for the whole summer. An average of 65 kids are present at camp each day.
There are three weeks left at camp, and there is still time to enroll your children. If your child is interested in attending camp for a week or two or three, call 248-693-5436, extension 1.
The CERC building is located on 455 E. Scripps Road.