Kids had four English lessons in groups corresponding the level of their linguistic skills. After the lessons escorted by their teachers they would run to the stadium where they could play football, basketball or squarre according to everyone's wish. All sports activities were assessed - the kids could see "smiling faces" glued on the walls of the lobby. All that motivated them to actively participate into the sports and be nice to each other.
After dinner the children used to spend time with teachers on different subjects. Many of them liked lessons in a computer class mostly, where they were able to develop English language knowledge according to specialized teaching programs. The kids enjoyed also art and theatre lessons.
At the end of each day the children had to do self-evaluation of their emotional and physical state as well as work done in a Day school. Hereby they were learning to analyse themselves and critically look at their behaviour.
With a help of theatre and English teachers the kids prepared wonderful musical programs and a performance at the farewell day. During the event the parents had a nice opportunity to see their kids' drawing and writing works on show.
This year we have invited our little campers to Tolieja rest-house surrounded with beautiful nature in the region of Moletai which is famous for its lakes and forests. Careful and experienced teachers from America and Lithuania gave all their attention to them.
The kids had four lessons daily during which they were developing their linguistic skills. Their leisure time was scrupously taken care of by creative supervisors. The children could choose their favourite activity: diligent hands' circle, sports or drama. Various events, such as Feast of St. John, "Nicest hat's contest", "Mask ball", "Visiting a shop" were organized in the evenings, the kids for which would prepare during the day time. With big pleasure everyone took part in a military operation competition, sports festival, looked for treasure and in the evenings used to play football which became the most popular game in the camp. Also the kids had a splendid opportunity to get aware of beautiful Tolieja surroundings and visit the observatory of Moletai.
The children used to share their day impressions in the camp newspaper.
Two weeks passed insensibly…at the closing day the kids rejoiced their parents with a performance staged by themselves and also show program made together with their supervisors.
Paradise Bay Holiday Resort (Ages 10 - 16) June, July and August.
SIH Camps held in 2006
THE FAIRYLAND
English Language Day Camp in Vilnius
This year Soros International House has invited children on June 19 - 30 and July 31-August 11 to the English Language school in SIH premises. The children learnt English 4 hours a day, had a good time in art and theatre lessons and in the playground - in the stadium- where they could choose their favourite game such as football, basketball or square. Everybody liked classes in the computer room, where they could use special programmes to improve their English language skills. In a two - week camp the children learnt the basic vocabulary and acquired speaking skills beginning with the ABC and numbers and gradually moving to more difficult topics such as family, friends and etc.
"MIDSUMMER DAYDREAMS’ " camp in Anykščiai (Lithuania)
You can see the gallery here
The Anykðèiai English Language summer camp was held from July 02 to July 14 2006 at Anykðèiu Ãilelis rehabilitation centre and sanatorium and ot was called Midsummer Daydreams’ camp. 56 campers , aged from 12 to 17 were invited there. There were 4 local and foreign teachers of SIH who conducted English classes and 4 monitors to offer and supervise camp activities 1, 2 and 3. A specialty of this year’s camp was a course of Spanish and learning to dance Salsa available to all students. The novelty was quite popular among the campers and added spice to the camp.The campers usually had a choice of three to four activities to choose from. These included such things as the Spanish language, Salsa, swimming, theatre, basketball, handcrafts, newspaper and other arts and crafts and sports. Due to favourable weather conditions and safe beach this summer the campers had a good chance to swim in the river, so the swimming activity was enormously popular and was organized every day. The evening activities were whole-camp activities, and were held either out in front of the club, office, on the basketball court or inside the building downstairs or upstairs, assembly hall, if the activity seemed to require it.
Especially popular were the activities such as: Body painting, Magic parlour, Salsa Competition, Spanish music night, Mindaugas’ Coronation Day, team show and others. The campers were taken on excursion to Vorutas Castle and other places of interest. In the end, both the children and their parents were happy with the progress in English and Spanish and personal development.
LITTLE PRINCE RAINBOW PLANET" camp in Abromiškės (Lithuania)
You can see the gallery here
Abromiskes Summer camp 2006 was held from June 18th to July 2nd for 7 to 13 year-olds. During this funfilled time the children were able to improve their English everyday as well as take part in many interesting activites and form great friendships with each other. We gave the camp the name of "Little Prince Rainbow Planet" inspired by Antoine de Saint Exupery’s famous tale. So it is fair to say that this camp had an artistic side; we were painting, drawing, writing stories, making posters and designing flags. We also had a lot of sporting activities including football and basketball competitions, where the boys got to play with their English teacher William from England. I would say the girls particularly enjoyed the drama performances, the fashion shows and the singing contests. Of course our situation by Elektrenai lake was ideal for swimming and the beautiful surroundings helped to create a fantastic atmosphere in the camp. Overall, the children were able to enjoy a well rounded camp experience with structured English lessons from experienced teachers and fun and interesting activities with the lively and energetic monitors and camp leader.
SIH Summer camp in Czechia, Klucanka
This camp was organized for 25 children aged from 8 to 13. They were accompanied by two SIH employees Vaida and Simona who looked after them during the trip, helped them to settle in the camp and went on the organized excursions.
The place, were we lived, was very nice and surrounded by nature. There weren’t any small towns nearby, that’s why, the children could not leave the camp territory. The campers could buy small things, such as ice - cream etc., in a local café. All the students lived in a big three - storey house, 6 - 8 kids in a room. The rooms were not big with common conveniences in the corridors. There was also a canteen on the first floor where the children were fed 5 times a day.
The students were tested on the first day and divided into groups according to the levels. The lessons were scheduled in advance and all the time after the lessons was allotted to various activities. The children also had a little free time that they could spend communicating with their friends in English. Besides, the students had an opportunity to take and read books from the library and collect the stamps for the books they had read. The students could change the stamps into camp money on which they could buy what they wanted in an organized shop.
The two discos and fire in the evenings were extremely popular with the campers. During the camp two excursions had been organized. One of them was to the mountains and the campers had an opportunity to choose a longer or sorter rout. In fact, we had been traveling the whole day and were tired, but happy and full of wonderful impressions. One more trip was organized to a water park and museum that was also very successful.
All the kids prepared the final performances for the closing ceremony. Most of the campers found a lot of new friends from Czech and Croatia.
SIH Summer camp in Karis (Finland)
You can see the gallery here
The summer camp in Finland was organized on July 22 - August 3 in a small and quiet town of Karis. Children aged 12 to 18 not only were learning English and Swedish languages, but also participated in a lot of extra curriculum activities. The boys enjoyed playing variuous games such as basketball or football, the girls gave a priority to salsa or flamenco dances taught by Pepe and Anna. Drama classes were also very popular with the students. During these classes the students learnt basics of acting and acrobatics. In the evening the students participated actively in thematic activities. Mexican night of serenadas was the most popular. The campers also had a chance to go on three excursions. One excursion was organized to Helsinki and Serena water park where the students could enjoy indoor and outdoor water attractions. The excursions to two smaller towns Ekenas and Hanko were also interesting. The campers could have a swim in the sea, sunbathe on the beach and have a walk in small winding streets of the old town of Ekenas. The students were satisfied with the camp because they made a lot of friends and had a good time there.
SIH offers camps in 2007
Camps in Lithuania
Summer Camp in Abromiškės (Lithuania)
The smallest campers aged from 7 to 13 are invited to Abromiskes, a special recreation place in Lithuania. Children will live in comfortable 4 bed rooms. They will have English 4 times a day in nice looking classrooms. The kids will be involved in a lot of interactive games, to develop their speaking skills and enrich their vocabulary. After classes activities include a lot of creative games, swimming in the lake, talent show, rock your brains competition, one excursion out of the camp site.
Summer Camp in Anykščiai, Lithuania
SIH organises a summer camp for children aged 13-18 in a nice place, located at the confluence of the rivers of Sventoji and Anyksta in a town of Anykščiai.Campers will be accommodated in a rest house 2-4 children in a room.They will have English lessons every day. After class activities will include a lot of social activities, where campers can select the area of interest from several choices offered to them by monitors such as sports, arts, drama and others.During two weeks session campers will have one excursion out of the camp site to sightsee in Anykščiai or go on a narrow railway trip.
Vilnius summer day camp
A summer day camp for children (6-13 years old) in Vilnius, on the premises of SIH. Every weekday, from 9 o‘clock in the morning until 5 o‘clock in the afternoon, the children will be busy with 4 English lessons, and many other activities between and after the lessons, where they will enjoy themselves and practice the language. Drama, painting, crafts and sports are only a few to mention.They will also be able to play British, American and Lithuanian sport games outdoors, at the sports stadium nearby.
Camps abroad
Summer Camp in Karis (Finland)
This is an international camp for children aged 12-18. which takes place on July 22- August 3. Children will have English lessons every day and apart from other activities, they will have an opportunity to get to know Finish culture and to start learning the Swedish language. They will live in a small and safe town Karis, which is about an hour away from Helsinki. Camp site is located in a picturesque area on a river, which allow swimming and water sports in supervision of professional monitors. Other camp activities include drama, painting, crafts, aerobics, sports, 2 excursions out of the camp site. One of them may be a trip to Helsinki and another one a boat trip to the beautiful archipelago near the coast of Finland. Other camp activities will include sports, games, Fancy Dress Fashion Shows, discos.
Summer Camp in Check Republic
This camp is run together with Praha IH from June 30th to July 15th and invites children aged 8-14 to come to a camp located in the mountains for two weeks fun and language learning experience. Children will stay in nice and comfortable rooms.They will have English lessons every day . Other camp activities will include visiting local places of interest,sightseeing in Prague, a trip to a water park or Zoo, hiking in the mountains , sports activities, Fancy Dress Fashion Shows, discos.
ACADEMIA HISPANICA. International House Cordoba, Spain
Teenagers’ Summer Course
Start dates - Any Monday from 19th June until 17th July (arrival date is Sunday).
Minimum stay is two weeks.
The course consists of 20 lessons of 55 minutes per week, from 09.00 to 13.00 with a break of 20 minutes. The accommodation is with host families, in a shared room with full board.
Price
2 weeks: 825 euros
Extra week: 385 euros
ENGLISH SUMMER CAMPS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH
Soros International House has a 8 years tradition of providing enriching summer camp experiences for children and teenagers (8-18 years old) in Lithuania and other countries: Slovakia, Czech republic, Finland.
Memories of weeks at a camp with lots of new friends may last a lifetime. So do the friendships developed during cooperative activities. The campers also experience the satisfaction of acquiring new skills with the help of professional monitors and creative teachers who do their best to help campers turn summers into memorable and enriching experiences. Therefore we strive for quality teaching and enriching social program, we choose professional teachers and camp monitors. Our monitors are professional singers, actors, musicians, sportsmen, couches or craftsmen who can provide the best quality activities to our campers.We have collaborated with Vilnius Puppet Theatre for a numbers of years and many of the actors from there took part in our camps.
During the camp, an English course of 36 academical hours is completed, and the participants are given certificates of completion.
A DAY AT CAMP
Morning: 4 English language lessons ( depending on the age of children, the session can be split: 2 lessons take place in the morning and 2 in the afternoon)
Afternoon:
At the beginning of each Social Activities session in the afternoon, campers select the area of interest from several choices offered to them by monitors. Capitalizing on our staff‘s unique talents, these programs might include such choices as: archery, arts and crafts, drama, sketch-taking, film-making, swimming, basketball, football, aerobics or other activities. Campers spend each afternoon concentrating on their choice. Sometimes campers are offered to take a foreign language course (Swedish, Spanish or other, depending on location of the camp) as an alternative to sports and crafts. This enables them to acquire the basic knowledge of a language till the end of the camp.
Evening
Programs involve intramurals or camp-wide games and end in an all-camp event such as a campfire, disco night, show-night, pajama-party or game-night. Evening programs become a wonderful forum for the campers to take part in activities as a community.
Out-Tripping
During our two-week sessions, campers get a chance to go away from the main site. It may be the opportunity to climb in the mountains, go swimming in the sea, lake or river, go around the city, do shopping or sightseeing in a big city and the like.
Parents‘ Day at a camp
Somewhat in the middle of our two-week sessions in Druskininkai (Lithuania), parents get a chance to see what their children have learned in the camp. Parents come to the camp site, visit small exhibitions of their children‘s ‘masterpieces‘ of art during the camp. Children prepare a performance or a concert for their parents.
In Summer 2004 SIH organizes the following camps:
VILNIUS SUMMER DAY CAMP
A summer day camp for children (7-10 years old) in Vilnius, on the premises of SIH.
Every weekday, from 9 o‘clock in the morning until 5 o‘clock in the afternoon, the children will be busy with 4 English lessons, and many other activities between and after the lessons, where they will enjoy themselves and practice the language. Drama, painting, crafts and sports are only a few to mention.They will also be able to play British, American and Lithuanian sport games outdoors, at the sports stadium nearby.
SIH Camps held in 2005
THE UNITED KINGDOM
English Language Day Camp
SIH has arranged two English Language Day Camps named THE UNITED KINGDOM in the school’s premises this summer. The first was run from 20 June to 1 July, while the second was held from1 to 12 of August. Children from 7 to 14 were placed into groups according to their English language levels and were involved into 4 English language classes daily with a wide range of communicative activities offered. After classes the kids were playing outdoor games in the stadium: football, basketball or other attractive ball games. After lunch the children were learning English working on computers following ready made programmes for their level. Apart from that their timetable involves art and theatre classes, where the children enjoyed drawing their family emblems, a route to Ireland, etc. The Two Little Cocks staged during the day summer camp was received with great applause at the farewell show. The children were supervised by professional artists, monitors and teachers.
THE LAND OF ROBIN HOOD CAMP
IN BIRSTONAS
Soon after midsummer SIH arranged an exciting language school in Birstonas called THE LAND OF ROBIN HOOD. More that 80 kids aged from 10 to 15 were accommodated in the woods of Birstonas on the bank of the Nemunas, in a rest house of Nemuno Vingis . The kids had an exclusive chance to study English, Spanish during non-traditional classes conducted by foreign and local teachers of SIH. The Spanish language classes and flamenco lead by a Spaniard, were greatly popular among children of all ages. the weather was gorgeous and the sun was generous to all. There were a lot of outdoor games played, military operations held, treasures hunted in the forests. Sauna and the swimming pool was another big attraction. the campers enjoyed most of all evening activities for the whole camp, such as discos, fashion shows, witches fiesta, casino, etc. Trips to Punia and regular trips to Birstonas by ferry were great attractions.
In the end, both the children and their parents were happy with the progress in English and Spanish, personal development in art, communication with peers, and a perfect rest in the woods of Birstonas.
MAGIC CHILD KINGDOM CAMP
IN ABROMISKES
The smallest campers aged from 7 to 10 were invited to Abromiskes, a special recreation place in Lithuania. The living conditions were perfect , so was the weather. The children were learning English 4 times a day in nice looking classrooms. Their classes were not boring because they did not offer a book to read or a notebook to write on. The kids were involved in a lot of interactive games, to develop their speaking skills and enrich their vocabulary. After classes activities involved a lot of creative games, swimming in the lake, talent show, rock your brains competition, etc. The trip to Rumsiskes was an exciting event to all children. The closing ceremony surprised everyone with an exciting Shadow Theatre performance.
SIH SUMMER CAMP IN KARIS, FINLAND
Soros International House held another very successful English language camp for teenagers aged 12 to 18 in Karis, Finland. There were 35 students divided into two groups according to their levels. The purpose of the camp was to provide the students with 4 hours of daily English lessons, two daily activities and an hour of supervised computer time to make the camp attractive to everyone. All the campers enjoyed room presentations, Fashion and Talent shows, etc. During the English classes the students made great progress and developed their language skills by interacting in English. Apart from that, the Swedish language and Drama classes were offered by Vastra Nylands folkhogskola, the school in Karis, where the camp was held. The campers were also taken to three excursions, to Ekenas, a small town by the Baltic Sea, Helsinki/Serena Aquapark, and Fiskars, an exciting art town. In addition, the students were given four hours free time to explore Tallin, Estonia, before the ferry crossing to Finland and the same amount in Helsinki before the ferry on the return journey.
SIH camps held in 2004
DRUSKININKAI (LITHUANIA)
Children who are 8-14 years old took part in this camp June 27- July 9, 2004 where they enjoed their summer holidays and learned English at the same time. Apart from English language learning, children were be offered a lot of free time activities, which were led by professional sportsmen, artists, and actors. We had collaborated with actors from Vilnius Puppet Doll Theatre for several years in this camp. Children made costumes, films, drama, drawing, painting, crafts, discos, Quiz nights, debates, etc.
KARIS (FINLAND)
This is an international camp for children aged 13-18, which took place in July 26- August 5, 2004. The children had 2 English lessons every day, and apart from other activities, they will have an opportunity to start learning the Finnish or Swedish language, to get to know those cultures, and to participate in discussions about the EU. They will live in a small and safe town Karis, which is about an hour away from Helsinki. Camp site is located in a picturesque area on a river, which allow swimming and water sports in supervision of professional monitors.Other camp activities included drama, painting, crafts, aerobics, sports, 2 excursions out od the camp site. One of them may be a trip to Helsinki and another one a boat trip to the beautiful archipelago near the coast of Finland.
We have held this camp in cooperation with the Karis adult education center for several years and it has been extremely popular with teenagers.
CZECH REPUBLIC
This camp run July 3-16, 2004 and invited children up to 14 years to come to Hradec Kralove for two weeks fun and language learning experience. Each morning there were 4 lessons (45 minutes long). The lessons/ theme were based on an EFL adapted reader. The language and topic areas of the lessons were based on what‘s going on in the book. Video of the story in English will also were used through the camp. Afternoon and evening program varyed according to the weather and children‘s interests (quizes about the country, sports activities, songs, Fancy Dress Fashion Shows, discos, etc.). There were be 2 one-day trips, one was usually a hike in the mountains and the other may be a trip to a water park or zoo.
