Rosa María González don Quijote´s Summer Camps Chief
Rosa has been in charge of don Quijote´s summer camps since 2005. She is responsible for coordinating teams, accommodation and facilities in order to ensure that everything is perfect, year after year, and that everyone who comes to stay at the camps has an unforgettable experience.
What would you say is the main reason for staying at a summer camp?
I believe that it helps you to grow as a person and that it also helps you to develop your social skills, as you live with people the same age as you, who also share your interests, hopes and dreams.
And more specifically, what is the main reason for going to a summer camp to learn Spanish?
When it comes to don Quijote´s summer camps, you do all of the things I have just mentioned, but in a different, and even more enriching environment. With don Quijote, you also learn to adapt yourself to a different culture and different traditions, all the while within a beneficial linguistic environment from which you can reap many rewards.
Why do don Quijote´s summer camps stand out?
Why do they stand out? Who else offers you something like this? I believe that we are different, not only because of the characteristics of the program in itself, but also because of our team of coordinators and monitors, not forgetting the teaching staff of course.
When you were younger, were you able to take part in a language summer camp?
The truth is that I wasn´t. I took part in youth camps but they were never like these ones, in which I would have been able to be part of a group of young people from various countries and practice a language different to my own. If I were to be even more honest, I would have to say that I hated languages. I believe that my appreciation for being able to communicate in other languages would have developed earlier if I had had the opportunity to attend summer camps like this one and to create friendships with people my own age, who liked the same things I did and whose worries and dreams were similar to mine but whose native tongue was different to mine.
You have been in charge of don Quijote´s summer camps for 6 years now. Have they changed at all since you began? In what way have they changed?
We have made improvements, we have grown, but we still have the same basic essence. We still have that same desire to grow, to enrich ourselves in the experiences shared in the summer camps, and to bring a sense of improvement and enrichment to the lives of the people who come to our summer camps.
60% of those who come to stay in the summer camps are foreigners from a variety of countries. How do you manage to coordinate such a varied group, with so much linguistic variety?
The success here is all down to the campsite managers and monitors, who besides their ability to create the most varied and entertaining activities imaginable, also have experience and are education professionals. Futhermore, they also speak a number of languages. Our team has it all.
And you now, what do you most like about the camps?
Without any doubt, for me it has to be the excursions. I get incredibly jealous every time I see photos of all of the different sites that our team visits. They visit cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Salamanca and Cordoba, and are able to enjoy such beautiful natural surroundings as la fuente de Baños on the outskirts of Valenica, Tarifa, delta del Ebro, Valle de Ojén, Hoces del Duratón, and I can´t think of any more places at the moment.
And what would you say is the one activity that visitors can´t miss?
There aren´t any activities which our visitors should miss, as our monitors are always coming up with new ideas for activities for the visitors to enjoy, to make sure they have fun, and for them to strengthen the bonds of friendship they have created with their campmates.