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Summer Camps

The summer holidays in Rio are long, hot and humid. They can be particularly hard on the youth of Rio’s favelas. Stuck inside their poorly ventilated houses, they don’t always have much to do.

Bored and starved of attention, these young people are in a vulnerable state. At best, the academic and behavioral gains made during the school year deteriorate; at worst, they can get mixed up in trouble on the streets, or even recruited into drug trafficking gangs.

EduMais is proud to offer Summer Camp Programs to support these at-risk children and teenagers during the school holidays. We fill their summer afternoons with academic learning, creative and physical activity, and healthy food options. It’s a happy combination of fun and education!

English Camp

Our English Summer Camp empowers students to learn English through a variety of activities, like arts and crafts, sport, music, and videos.

We build camp programs around a theme, such as travel. Students then create their own ‘passport’ and ‘travel’ around the world to learn about different cultures and environments, all in English. In 2019, our theme was ‘We’re all in this together’.

Although all aspects of the language are covered, we place a particular emphasis on oral communication. For example, students learn how to introduce themselves and exchange personal information related to their personal likes and dislikes. They explore new topics, such as family members, body parts and the senses.

The average age of the students participating in the English Summer Camp is 10 – 12 years old and they all come from the community. Around 20 students receive 4 hours of English, 3 days a week, for 3 weeks on this camp. We also provide them with a healthy snack and lunch.

Programming Camp

Building on the success of our English Summer Camp. We launched a new camp in 2019: Programming.

Our Programming Camp follows the template of our Game Design course, only it’s more intensive. The children spend 2 hours a day, 3 days a week, for 3 weeks, learning how to use the programming language Scratch. They also receive a healthy snack, as they do at English Camp.

With Scratch, the children learn how to code video games and create animation, as well as remix what others have already done.

During Programming Camp, our students are introduced to several coding and programming concepts and techniques. These include:

  • how to import or select sounds from Scratch
  • how to change backdrops in Scratch and create costumes for Sprites
  • learning what a variable and the x and y axes are
  • using mathematics to improve games and animation by understanding and using variables in code
  • learning about “debugging”

Students work in pairs to design their game, gaining invaluable collaboration experience in the process. They also develop their creative thinking, deductive reasoning, and problem-solving abilities, all of which are essential life skills.

Being literate in modern society involves coding knowledge. Starting the children young ensures they are well-prepared for the future ahead. And by introducing them to programming through gaming, they have a lot of fun in the process!

Do you want to help at-risk children learn during the summer holidays?

Volunteer with us on one of our camps in Rio de Janeiro!

Volunteer with us