Mama Papa Home

During the october holidays i went to kalutara with some other 12th and 11th graders to the Mama Papa home. we spent the morning there and played with the children. We took biscuits and ther snacks as well as drawing books and pencils to colour in the pictures in the books.

Although it was a short visit we were happy to help make the days of the children a little brighter. As a group we worked together to play with the children and we are going to formulate a way of donating matresses, sheets etc to the home. The lady there told us that donating money is not the most constructive way to help as the money is not as useful as the commodities we could give them.

saturday english classes

2 saturdays ago at the convent, my sister was complaining that her group of children is lazy and doesnt learn anything. I am convinced that an intelligent student can learn from even the worst teacher with abit of motivation and initiative, but these children lack these two qualities and are rather lazy. In situations such as these, it is important that the teacher motivates the students and makes them want to learn. I do not think the reason my students are the best at english is because of me, i think it is because they WANT to improve and persevere untill they do so. When i told my sister this, she told me to take her group and to test them the next week on what i had taught them the previous week and she guaranteed that they would have forgotten.

So..i took her class. I told her what i had been teaching my students-how to conjugate regular verbs in the present tense, and told her to carry on with that. I went to her group and sure enough, they didnt know half of the letters of the alphabet. So as not to overwhelm them, i taught them a, b, c, A, B and C. This may seem simple but as they write in sinhalese and tamil, the characters are completely different and one cannot decipher the sound of an english character by linking the shape to a sinhalese/tamil one and that characters sound. Also, sinhalese and tamil are phonetic.

Last week i taught the children where to use capital letters as in sinhalese and tamil there is no such thing.

My goal is to teach them the whole alphabet and get them to start speaking enlgish more. By the end of the year i hope my group can write in sentences using verbs and my new group can immediately recognise a letter and which form it is in (capital or simple) when shown one. I also want them to be able to write a little.



Me helping them to read:

Piano exam

I have been revising for my piano exam-grade 3-at the end of the month and i think i will be ok. My piano teacher says i should score in the 90’s. I better, as the content is simple and i should be at a much higher level at my age. I will continue to study the musical terms but it think i have a solid grasp of the other concepts in the syllabus. This is the first theory exam i have taken in music. My goals are: to remain calm and think carefully during the exam. To write neatly and use a ruler at all times. To check my answers as i have plenty of time. To be completely prepared on the day. I really hope i do well!

Alzheimers walk

As i am the leader of Alzheimers, i was in charge making sure that all the people in the group turned up at the walk on the 25th of september. As it was a little last minute because the CAS activities in school started late, it was hectic and only 3 people out of the 12 in the group could make it. The purpose of the walk was to raise awareness about the disease my walking along one of Colombo’s busiest roads with music, balloons and banners. We also distributed leaflets to passersby and put them into the cars that were passing. As well as being fun, the walk was good exercise as it took two hours and most of us were jumping around and carrying signs that got heavy after a while! i think i have been commited to this elective the whole year and done as much as i can for it so i am happy that i was able to make it to this walk!
I did not stay for the raffle as i had to get home, but i was happy with the money that the group in school raised and the tickets they sold. Overall, the group in school made 15000 rupees in less than a week. I was very happy with that, although some people just bought the tickets themselves and didn’t attempt to spread awareness through the raffle tickets. I made around 4000 on my own as i asked for some books in july, so i was also satisfied with my personal contribution.
In the future, i would like more of the members of the group i school to participate and make more of an effort to commit to this cause as at the moment i feel as though some of them may be there to waste time after school and to say that they are in a CAS group, yet do nothing for that group. I need to help motivate them which is a skill i need to develop.

Me selling raffle tickets during the summer at majestic city shopping mall:

Daily Exercise

For about 2 weeks now i have been exercising on my own. I usually start at around 7.00 and finish at 8.00 pm. As i used to dance i remember the routines that we used to do in dance class, especially the warm ups. It is more like aerobics than it is like jazz (which the class was). One of my aims is to become more fit and also to not give up when im in physical pain. When i get tired and i get cramps, as much as i want to continue i usually stop. I need to stop doing this and work on my stamina.




Flexibility warm up:











High Kicks: streching, and preparation for windmill step.












'Flat back' exercise-strength:

CAS

Alzheimers:

This year i am the sole leader of the Alzheimers elective-my co-leader is not in the group as he is busy and i got a chance to improve in this as he often did the planning as he often did the talking in the meetings as he had experience being a leader when i had not. the main skill i needed to develop was to become more confident about myself and learn how to talk to an audience without being intimidated by them. Tho other skills i need to develop are being more organised and being responsible for the group as a whole. The first thing i did was to talk to the group about what we should do. Then i contacted the lady in charge and asked her what she expected of us. In an attempt to reconcile the two i shared the ideas in the group. Although it was last minute, she told me there we should sell raffle rickets for the annual raffle draw on the 25th. I didn’t realize how organised i would have to be and asked peopel to sell as many tickets as theyy could and return what tney sold. I soon discovered that i was all wrong and that each ticket had to be accounted for. I had returned booklets with tickets missing and some books had no names on them etc so i had to run around asking everyone to return what they had sold and what they had left. I learnt from this experience that i needed to develop my skills of co-ordination when doing things like this. However, i was pleased with the way i introduced the group to the task and spoke to the organisation itself about what they wanted done.

I attended the walk and saw some people there from the group. We all had fun and it was great exercise spreading awareness about the disease. I am pleased with my commitment to this elective. The next thing to do is to arrange a presentation and a visit to the home being built as i think the most important part is the 'hands on' contact stuff that shows people you care. It easy to give money but to go and spend time with them is more difficult.

ASA's

This term in school some after school activities have been introduced. On mondays i am attending choir practices and on friday Latin dancing.

I am continuing choir this year, however, i am the only person who was there last year so i have to adjust to the new range of pitches in the choir. I am the oldest person in the choir and i am not generally good at making friends with people significantly younger than i am as they tend to irritate me. I know that i need to have patience with them and that learning to get along with people of all ages is a skill i need to develop. once again, patience comes into it. It is extremely important that the people in choir get along as we all need to sing together and our voices will have to blend. However, i am happy that one of the older girls is not at all annoying and is mature so i do not feel all alone (maturity wise). We are learning the national anthem of sri lanka (o know it but the others need to learn it) and love changes everything, which is a song i really like. I am still and alto. we are planning on performing it at assembly when we feel we are ready as a choir.

Latin dancing is taught by my Spanish teacher, ms eva. She is from paraguay and loves dancing so it is alot of fun learning from her. Although i have done salsa briefly at school, i have never learnt latin dancing properly. We learn which exercises stretch which muscles and then practice routines to latin american music. I am happy that i have learnt a new style of dance and also that i am continuing dancing like i wanted to!

Reflection on Mannar Trip

The trip to Mannar opened my eyes to the suffering people are still enduring in war torn areas of the country. My mother took me with her to a health camp in the north to help. Around 50 people went all together.









Briefing. The man in charge told us what we would be doing for the next 3 days:













Mother (left) with Patients:












The job i did was not help out with a school as i was told but it did require the same skills.I had to direct patients to the correct rooms in a hospital where the doctors were treating them. This may seem like an insignificant job but there were more than a thousand people who came and i was on my feet for almost the whole day. I think i achieved my goals.
I was co-operative and helpful, listening to all the instructions i was given.
I did speak more sinhala than i usually do as alot of the people who came from colombo conversed in sinhala and i spoke to them in sinhala too.

I was also asked to help paint a mural type painting on the wall of the hospital as a symbol to the people of the area (Viduvaltivvu) that the people of the south do care about them and did come to the north to help the people there. I learnt how to blend and balance colours and i was happy with my contribution to the painting.










Me painting mural:













The finished mural:









The Painters:













As i was standing at the front of the hospital directing people to the correct rooms i spoke to some of the soldiers that were there to help. They were very young, maybe a few years older than me so it was hard for me to grasp how they could be so far away from home living in an army camp and doing all jobs they have to do.
I realised that in the south of the country, especially in colombo alot of people critisize the army and the role they play in the north, without having seen first hand what they do.

We also went to a school. It was a sad experience as the roof was broken and this would obviously disrupt lessons if it started to rain. On the way to the school we passed many shells-the remains of bombed houses. They had been destroyed and people had to move.






School Children:









The whole group:













We noticed that there were vast expanses of land on which there was nothing for miles around. People had to walk miles to get to the nearest commercial centres. Children had to walk miles to school. My mother suggested that i contact the man in charge of organising these trips and ask if we could raise money to buy some bicyles or ask people to donate old bicycles to these children so that they can get to school faster. Unfortunately, he did not reply to the email, so i will attempt to initiate the project on my own.

Versus Cancer concert

6 of us, from grades 10 to 12 took part in a bollywood dance. it was an item in the concert which raised money for the childrens ward at the maharagama cancer hospital. It also allowed me to gain insight into some pretty basic (but still!) bollywood steps. I appreciate dancing of any kind so it was interesting for me as i have never danced bollywood before. I also had a problem with choreographing because 1) i have not learned/danced this kind of dance before and 2) i have always been taught by some one and danced in groups, an environment in which knowledge about choreography is not needed. However, i managed to create some steps and formations, and although out of the 3 girls i choreographed the least, i am proud of the little i accomplished!

Us Practising!:



The performance also opened my eyes to the amount of dedication and perseverence required to host and plan a concert. Although i am not a part of the cancer hospital cas group, i spent the entire day at school on the day of the concert, and i saw how much effort goes into it. I have been to many concerts where ive been frustrated with the timing or the performances, and i am quick to critisize, but after seeing what goes on behind the scenes, i will think twice before i dismiss the efforts of the planners etc However, there were a few inevitable glitches in the running of things, and as an 'outsider' i saw solutions to these problems that the people organising didnt as i was not under stress etc. i observed their methods of conducting themselves and overall, i learnt alot about how one goes about creating a show. i also learnt, in minor cases, what not to do. this knowledge will help me i the future if i wish to organise a similar event.

And Practising more!




Another aspect of the performance was the organising and buying of costumes. I feel i became more responsible and independant as i had to made numerous trips to the tailor and i observed the manner in which my friends looked for the right costumes and materials etc. as i have no experience in these kind of things i gained alot of knowledge form observing in this case as well. This is the second time in my life i have worn a sari-, shameful as i am sri lankan but i learnt how to put one on and now i can do it-(not well) if i needed to. Thanks pri and pri's mum :):):)

The last, and most important aspect of the dance was, for me, the teamwork involved in the choreography and organizing at practices. The fact that each performer spent time practicing the dance so as not to let down the other performers was something that happened and that eachh of us appreciated. Devansh let us use his house as the place we practiced in which made it easier for all of us to meet. Thank you! :) and priyanka, shashwat and thishakya did not of the choreography, although each of us contributed a little towards the final performance. Overall it was a rewarding experience, i got alot of excersise, made friends with people from other grades that i did not speak to before,and had ALOT of fun.


Thank you saj for everything you did for the performance. The choreography, burning CD's everytime the songs were changed and being there for every practice helping us out whenever we had problems, ctitiquing our dancing and suggesting improvements... and just being there! :)


At the concert:




Click here to see video

Going to a health camp with my mother

Next weekend (friday, saturday and sunday) i am accompanying my mother (a doctor) on a health camp near Mannar (in the north of sri lanka). I will be in a group helping with setting up a school for the young children there.

My goals are:

to be co-operative and helpful whenever i can
improve my communication skills especially my sinhala which is abysmal :(
talk to the children and help to establish that it is VERY important that they study as that is their only hope for a better life for themselves and their families
attempt to fill the social and economic gap between 'colombo people' and people in remote areas.
i also think it is very important to show that the difference between the ethnicities: tamil and sinhala, is a socially imposed one and that there is no such thing as a superior ethnic group. i think that by so many people going to those IDP camps every month (there are 80 people on our bus alone) the next generation (hopefully mine too) will be able to identify themselves as sri lankan and not sinhala, tamil, burgher etc. as the people that go are of mixed origin-there are sinhala, tamil, burgher, muslim etc people helping in health camps, as translators, hepling to establish schools.. that is my long term goal, and i think most sri lankans share that goal with me.

CHA!

During the summer, myself and 3 of my friends went to the 'consortium of humanitarian agencies' or CHA to do some volunteer work in the summer. As well as developing our communication skills and giving us an opportunuty to work independantly as well as in cooperatively, we had a chance to help establish help lines for people in need.
This involved compiling databases of contact details of people the CHA could recieve sponsorship from in the future. We also had to call each of these contact and confirm all their details. The working hours were 3 times a week from 9 till 2. Although the job was tedious and boring at times, knowing that indirectly, we were helping people in need made it feel worth it. We also got the opportunity to accompany our supervisors to a village about 2 hours away from colombo as they were carrying out a need assesment of the place. This village is one of many that was created for the families of the soldiers who fought in the recent war in sri lanka. Some of the women there had lost their husbands, other's husbands had disabilities and were be physically unable to work. It was a sobering experience and made us all realize that we must all do something to help these people financially as they had their electricity cut off as they havent paid the bill for 2 months. This meant that the computer classes their children were recieving were terminated as the computers could not be used.
One of my goals this term os to keep in contact with the CHA and ask them what the general public could do to help the situation.

Exercise!

During the summer, when i felt like i needed some exersize, i went for bike rides. This may seem a relaxing activity in which not alot of energy is consumed but i cycled near my house where the roads are steep so it was very tiring going up and down these roads.
I also went for some walks with my mother but i found that walking is not for me so i decided i would rather do something more active.
So, i decided to find some new things to do for excercise. To check if it was effective, i started excersizing in my house for an hour every day. I put on some music and found some space where i could move around. As i used to go for dance classes when i was younger, i know all the warm up routines by heart so i did a few of those stretches and excersises. I felt much better but once i started school i found i didnt have time. My goal is to become organised enough to be able to spare half and hour a day excersizing, whether it be a bike ride or dancing or any other form of excersize.

5 K run

The 5 K run was overall, a success. The money raised (approx 100000 rupees) was donated to Habitat for humanuty as well as the Alzheimers foundation (around 30 000 each) with a little left over for Habitat. The run was disorganised, there were lapses in communication, and although alot of people found the experience enjoyable and a good way to raise funds in conjunction with promoting excersise, there were the odd few who complained about the lack of organisation. the lesson taken from this is that before hosting a public event such as this, every detail should be looked over and confirmed so every person involved is clear on what is happening. there were some things that were out of our control though, such as the chief guest arriving late. There is nothing anyone can do about this so in the future back up plans should be made. I was put on the route to direct the runners towards school (the finish line).

Regarding alzheimers, i have been selling raffle tickets during the summer. I went about 3 or 4 times each for around 2/3/ hours. I was very busy so i didnt spend as much time as i would have liked to on that. The raffle draw is later this month, so i should start selling the tickets i have soon. think i'll make an announcement in assembly or put it in the daily bulletin.

Piano and concert

The piano concert, on the 19th of june was quite a success. I made a few mistakes in the dance i was in, however i managed to play my piece with no mistakes. I was extremely pleased about this and happy that all my hard work paid off! I was commited to the task and i performed the piece well!
Also, I completed grade 2 theory, which i found simple but tedious and at the moment i am doing grade 3, the exam for which is in october.
I have managed to complete grade one, 2 and 3 in 8/9 months and i am happy that developed my musical skills in this short period of time.

I 'UNDERTOOK A NEW CHALLENGE!'

Although this is not technically CAS, i found that during a biology trip to sinharaja, the class had to climb this gigantic mountain. As i usually start off a challenging task by complaining about it, on reflection i was happy that this task i started off thinking 'i WILL do this'. and i did! i did not not give up half way although i had to stop as at one point i couldnt breathe, but i managed to make it to the top. This challenge showed me that i am extremely unfit, despite my efforts to stay healthy. i used to do alot of excerise at my old school, but i have become very lazy. I was also surprised at my dedication as i only stopped to rest once.

English classes

English classes - i wanted to take a slightly different approach to teaching the kids as the books they use seem to be ineffective. So i took a book from home and began following the order used in that book. As they learn fast and are enthusiastic it is a pleasure to teach them and they make it easy for me by doing their homework on time etc. I am also working on being more patient with them and feel i have succeeded. I now calmly explain what they have got wrong instead of getting frustrated, however i lose my temper when they do not bother to do their homework.The fact that some of them don't appreciate the fact that i spend my Saturday mornings trying to teach them a language they will definitely benefit from knowing in this country irritates me as i am not doing it for myself or my cas blog but for their betterment, and when they seem indifferent to that fact it annoys me.
Recently i taught then verbs and the first, second and third person singular forms-present tense-of some common verbs. they grasped the concept soon and i have asked them to fill in a table for homework. Another goal i had was to make the classes interesting. While i now understand how frustrating it can be to teach an unresponsive student and the importance of doing homework as a form of revision, i also know how frustrating it can be for a student to sit through a boring lesson. It makes the student hate the subject. Even if the subject is a students favourite, a boring teacher really knows how to kill the passion a student has for a subject by teaching it in a boring manner. i was determined not to do this to the kids i teach. I also wanted to encourage a little competition between them as i believe a little competition can really raise the standard of a students work. Co-operation between student is essential for a class to succeed but the student also needs to feel some pressure to do the work given to him/her. This is true for me as in the classes in school in which the students are competitive i feel my standards have increased and the classes in which the students are lazier, i am slacking. Another thing i am happy about is the fact that i have got some of the lazier girls to start taking an interest in the work. Nowadays in Sri Lanka, if a person wants a decent job with a good salary they need to know more than one language and being able to speak good english can really help with getting jobs. because of this i am happy that the few students who used to give up instantly if they didnt know the answer to a question now seem to be deliberating over the answer and actually giving me a response. I am teaching the students tomorrow morning and i am looking forward to seeing what they have done at home.

School Extra-Curriculars

Choir: We practiced a song in choir, actually 2 songs: 'i believe' and 'wouldn't it be nice' to perform at the Food and Fun fair. I was still nervous about performing in the prescence of an audience and was scared i would not be able to sing. We practised during lunch times and after school and on the day too. I was very nervous before performing but it was comforting to know that people wouldn't be as focused on the performance as they would have been if it was a concert. They would be milling around buying things or attending to their children etc. Also, after out performance, there was another performace by the dance group'natanda' and as their performance was quite impressive, i knew that even if the choir didnt perform that well, the attention of the crowd would soon shift onto the dancers. Miss Kithmini, our supervisor also wanted the choir to perform during assembly so that the rest of the student body could knew that a choir existed and knew that they could join it. That performance was a little more daunting as this time we would have the full attention of the audience. We sang 'I believe' and i think it went ok. I was a little annoyed at one of the younger students though, as she, being a soprano was in the front row and got so nervous that decided not to sing but to stand and smile through the performance instead. This affected the soprano/alto balance and the alto's were heard more than they should have been. This irritated me greatly as i suffer from stage fright too and i managed to sing so as not to embarass myself and the choir. Why would you join a choir if you dont want to perform in front of an audience?

I need to learn to be more patient. I realised that she is younger and that all people dont react to the same situations in the same manner as me. Another performance the choir wanted be involved in was the grade 12 graduation. This did not work out, however, as the evening already had a busy schedule and we were told that if we wanted to, we could perform while the parents and family members took their seats in the auditorium. We decided that we would decline this offer so as to give ourselves more time to practice for a more serious performance at a later stage in the year. We discussed performing at out own graduation this coming may.

Dancing-One of the teachers involved in tha natanda dance group asked one of the dancers of he could come to school weekly with another dancer as an assistant to teach some interested students some oriental dancing. I was one of the students that was interested as i had seen their performance at the Food and Fun Fair and i was very impressed with the style. I asked the choreographer if he ran an open class and he said he did. I was considering joining that but when this opportunity arose i was happy as it would save me time getting to the location of the class as it would be held in school. Also i was in desperate need of excersise. I went for some classes and about 5 minutes into the first class i realized how difficult it is to pull off the style and make it look effortless. So much strength and stamina is needed to execute the steps that alot of practice is required. However, as i am passionate about dance i think i can find the time to practice the steps enough to get them right when needed. A performance was to take place during the last assembly of the year, however that didnt take place as we had exams and didnt have the time to learn a routine.
My goals for dancing for this term are:
I learn all the steps and practise them at home at least once a day so that by the next class i can do them properly.
i learn to pick up the steps faster and develop my co-ordination skills
i develop my core strength and stamina
i learn some typical steps from oriental dance and remember them for future use in choreographing dances of that style
the dance group learns a routine and is able to perform in front of an audience

Targets Achieved on WWW

I was very pleased about my recent experience in Hambantota a few months ago. I think I achieved my goals regarding interacting with the children.

This is how I think I achieved these aims:

My first aim was to interact with the children in such a manner that they would feel comfortable around me (and the others in my group) as we were strangers to them. As mentioned before this was a weakness of mine i was aware of. It was important to me that they were able to enjoy our company for the three days we spent with them. As I do not spend much time around children in pre-school (or any young children for that matter!), and i am not very good at handling them or relating to them, i thought this would be a challenge for me. When i got there though, the children were so sweet and i did not feel uncomfortable or awkward around them at all. I found it easier than i thought to talk to them and i was happy to improve my Sinhala by doing so! I really enjoyed playing the games with them and surprisingly some of them didn’t seem as scared as i expected them to be which was nice to see. i usually find it difficult to work collaboratively with other people as soon as i meet them as i need to get used to them but I feel i achieved this goal to an extent as some children were scared and crying, however they had only been in school for a few months and were still not used to new people so I didn’t take this too personally! On the last day during the concert my camera attracted the attention of some of the children and two of the boys came and sat next to me and started looking at my camera and wanted their pictures taken1 I was very happy that they felt comfortable enough with us to approach us (even if it was for the camera!)




My next goal was to be co-operative and helpful to my team while working on our task. I thought the selection of people in my group was just right for a trip like this one as there were lots of people i was comfortable around and could converse with easily, but there were also a few i did not know very well and i thought this was a great opportunity to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones. I was happy that this happened gradually over the three days as i began to feel more at ease around people i previously felt awkward around. I think teambuilding experiences such as these are important to participate in, and i would like to do this again sometime.




Being someone who had only just learnt the skill of being organised i hoped that my team would be prepared to take up the challenge of getting so much work done in such a limited period of time, and be able to do it well. This needed organisation. Lots of it! An aspect of the task Mr Nimal had completely under control. If not for Mr Nimal’s planning and organisation, i do not think our task would have been completed half as successfully. Not only did we finish early, but we did everything so well and by the time we left, the school so different from it’s original state that i would not have been able to recognize it! I was happy about the way i was dedicated to one task until it was completed and i tried my best not to leave anything undone, so i was proud of myself for being able to keep up with the fast pace at which we were forced to work (we only had three days!)

Another goal was to be patient. Anyone who knows me knows that i am extremely impatient. I cannot wait long periods of time for things and i cannot do the same thing for a long period of time, as my mind zones out and i cannot concentrate at all!
This experience, if it was to be successful would require lots and lots and lots of patience! I needed to be patient while painting the school and the playground equipment as that took a long time and also i needed to be patient with the children, something i was nervous about. As i mentioned earlier, i tried my best not to half-finish a job and i do not remember doing so. I worked (along with everyone else) for hours on end, doing the same thing, and as i hate repetition, i found it a little difficult to stay focused on the task at hand. Yes, there were times when i lost my patience and felt like not doing anything but the thought of the children drove me to finish whatever i was doing and move on to the next task. I was extremely proud of all of us as we helped each other finish our tasks and we did so in such uncomfortable weather conditions!

Another goal was to not complain about things on the trip, whether it was the weather, the task etc. And i am happy to say that i think i achieved this goal! I did complain about it being hot etc but i did not make a big deal out of things i would normally have.

Overall, i was happy with my team and i was happy with myself and my contribution to this pre-school. it was such a rewarding experience and i really want to do more social work like that! :)

Week Without Walls-Reflection

On the first day we went to the pre-school, we played with the children as soon as we got there for about half an hour. This included working collaboratively in the activites we planned in our groups before we arrived. This is also an example of how we planned and initiated these acivities. The place was not in bad condition but it was abit of a mess so i was happy that we were going to be clearing it up and painting over all the walls.














Murals:









First we had to clear the walls. There were many things stuck on the walls for decoration like streamers stuck with stickytape, so removing all the marks from the walls before painting was tiring. Then we had to sand paper the walls to create a smooth surface suitable for painting. The paint we had had already been labelled eg. yellow paint for the outside wall, grey for the floor etc. Each of us picked a job to do and got the right equipment and started. I was painting the inside wall which was pink but we painted it cream which was a big improvement as it made the room appear more spacious. This is one of the examples of how i became aware of my own strengths and weaknesses as i realized how i get distracted very easily.However, my strength is that by the time i have finished (even though it may take a long time) it will be done well. Some people painted the playground equipment and others started on the outside walls. By the end of the first day i was sure that we could finish the whole school by the second day.

We were so cohesive as a group and we managed to work even with people that we did not get along with. This is another strength that i became aware (and happy) about.

On the second day we arrived at the school and gave the kids drawing books and pastels so they drew and coloured for half an hour. Each of us had to look after at least one child and we could see that they were less scared of us. I know that i am not very good with entertaining young childtren-one of the areas that needs developing and as a lot of people in my class are, it was more difficult for me to try to have fun with my children as others were doing a much better job and i was gettning discouraged. We got back to our work and the people who were working on the mural started and pretty much finished that day. The outside walls and pillars were finished and the floor was started on, I was painting the floor with two other people and we worked very well together to finish it. We then started on the outside floor but it started raining so we had to leave it till the next day. That night at the hotel some people from our group drew, coloured and cut out animals and stuck them on lolly pop sticks for the puppet show we would perform the next day.

I was very pleased with our level of commitment and our ability to initiate the planning of the concert.

On the third day half the group played with the kids and the other half continued with the painting. I was in the group that played with the children. We played duck duck goose with them and by this time more children felt comfortable enough to play however some were still very scared. I felt as though i had improved in the way i related to the children as they were having fun and this is something that i feel i developed as a skill over a very brief period of time. Everything was finished before the concert which started at two. The outside walls, the mural, the pillars and the doors and windows as well as the floor outside was finished. At 2, the concert started, and we all sat down with the children and their parents as well as the others who had come to watch. The children did many dances and sang songs and people from our group participated as well. Then we had a puppet show.

I was so happy that the concert was successful and everyone had fun.



Me with some kids:










Group Photo:










Concert:










Group Picture:

Week Without Walls

My targets:
1. to interact with the children as much as possible
2.to be co-operative and helpful while working on our task and collaboratiing with others
3.to be as organised as possible
4.to develop the skill of being patient
5.to follow instructions wihtout complaining
6.to be able to work for prolonged periods of time in uncomfortable weather conditions
7. To consider the global implications of what we are doing for other (underpriviledged people)

My new targets:

Creativity:
My piano teachers are having a concert in mid June and all their students re performing. He told me today that i have to sing. i have never sung before, alone. this will be with a boy but i don't know him and i don't know how well he can sing. I have to practice singing and sing at the concert, and as i joined the choir i will be able to ask those teachers to help me improve my voice. This will include collaboration as well as alot of perseverence to get the performance right. Also my piano teacher wants me to do the grade 3 theory exam before october this year. I will skip grades 1 and 2 as they are very simple.This is a new challenge i am undertaking as i have never studied theory and i will be sitting an exam in it soon.

Action: Track is starting in two weeks and i haven't run competitively in about 8 months so i really need to start running and improving my speed. my events are normally 100 and 200 metres but you need t be able to do three events-jumping, throwing running etc and i have NO experince with jumping except i did long jump once about 3 years ago so this should be interesting! My aim is to improve my time for 100 metres and 200 metres. This will also include alot of commitment and time and effort. The jumping will include a new challenge i will have undertaken.

Service: My friend's mother asked me to teach english to some girls my age from an orphanage she works with. They have just fininshed their O Levels and are waiting for their results so she teaches them english everyday and asked me to meet them.

I am one of the leaders of the Alzheimer's elective in school and i really want to do more than the last two leaders did. they did a good job but my aim is to do even better and be more successful with the fundraisers. This will include planned and initiated activities and working collaboratively with others.

Recently more children have started coming to the convent on saturdays to learn english so i have alot more people in my group. I have become aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher through the reactions of my students and how they perform in their tests. i also know what the areas i need to improve in are regarding the effectiveness of my explanations. My aim is to teach them all the alphabet and get the more advanced kids to start writing proper sentences.

CHOIR

i haven't sung in a choir since i was about 13 so i thought it might be fun to sing in the secondary school choir because i really enjoyed it. i went with my friend after school today to see the teacher in charge and we did some scales for her so i hope i get in the choir because it should be fun.

I have never considered myself a good singer but i want to improve my voice. Also, if i hear the same scales over and over again my ears may become accustomed to these keys and my piano playing (playing by ear specifically) may improve.

Also, choir is a collaborative activity in which it is important that each person is perfectly in harmony with the others. Thus there is an individual commitment as well as a group commitment.

Swimming

i asked the swimming instructor at the swimming club if i can start swimming again and i will be swimming every wednesday for an hour. I was going to start this week but i've hurt my arm so i will probably start next week. :)

Habitat for Humanity

I have been participating in Habitat for Humanity since i started school and Another member and I are incharge of the blog, so theres a link to that blog. It saves me re-writing everything on mine!

The aim of the program is to raise funds and build homes for displaced people. The house is built and the people livng in it gradually pay a fixed amount of money for it. This money is used to build another house for another family so the money is 'recycled' and many houses can be built this way.

During meetings on thursday afternoons plans for fundrasiing are discussed and ideas are pooled together in an attempt to formulate a way in which some money can be made. We are planning and initiating activities together and working collaboratively.

A point of discussion at the moment is whether the group should pay a certain amount of money to get chartered so that the OSC HforH group can be registered as a proper 'branch' of the organisation.

Swimming

I am planning on asking my swimming instructor if i can swin on wednesdays and restart my classes with him. I am going to do that today. I hope he agrees as i desperately need some exercise!

Dance

Unfortunately, i have quit dance as i feel i am wasting my time. At the class we dont do much and alot of time is wasted spent chatting. This is not my idea of a dance class and i am used to much higher standards. Also i don't have time during the week so i am planning on looking for a weekend class. Im definitely not going to stop dancing, i will persevere and just have to look for another class.