Yesterday march 20 we went to Sjælmark's for our workshop #3 with teenage refugees. Some are Kurds and some are Somalian but all are "temporarily" living in Sjælsmark. Their home is in a fact an old military base just 1 hour away from Copenhagen city center.
Following feedback from previous workshops, we came prepared with an agenda more focused on grammar. Yesterday we worked on present tenses such as the simple present and present progressive. Ironically, we have also learned something about these tenses in preparing our material.
This was our highest attendance yet and our new friends were keen on learning. We had prepared a general tense review which actually proved to be harder for them than we had expected. However, we were also able to give them 1-on-1 help doing more in-depth exercises we had prepared. They all have different levels of english so it is important that we can make everyone feel comfortable.
In fleeting moments, one could tell that they were a bit shaken by recent deportations or the regular rounds of practice gun shots being fired in still-active neighbouring military camp. Such events have become part of their daily life in Sjælsmark.
Walking through the building I noticed how everyone we passed gave us a warm smile and a friendly greeting—more than I can say for my neighbours!
We also had a little incident getting into the center when one of the volunteer's name was not on the list and security were not being the most helpful. She ended up being granted a one-time visitor pass and was allowed in after some of our "students" came to pick her up at the gate.
All in all, our workshops can hopefully also become a positive and regular staple of these teenagers live's in Sjælsmark.