Phonics Fun YEC Project

23 November 2013 is the date of the first project I headed under West Coast YEC! The project was entitled 'Phonics Fun' and it is about learning phonics through fun activities.

I approached West Coast Student Service Centre to find out about their needs for projects to educate the students at the centre to improve their phonics and literacy skills. Together with the YEC Community Service team, we came up with proposal and presented it to the centre. After gaining approval, we started to prepare for the project.

I was feeling very nervous nearing the date of the project as I was afraid that something might go wrong or the students might not be engaged or interested in the activities. However, with the assistance of other volunteers, we managed to conduct a successful and meaning event for the students. They have enjoyed themselves and brought home with them the phonics phones and small gifts from us.

I have learnt a lot through the event, about planning projects, managing people, liaising with external organizations etc. The process has enriched my experience as a youth leader and I am definitely looking forward to head my second project!

Reflection on the CST course

Please answer the following question based on your experience in the QLK 520 CST Blended Module:

• To what extent do you think you will be able to apply what you have learned in this course to your future teaching career?
• Please answer in terms of the communicative skills you have learned as well as the "blended aspects" – the online and F2F elements of the course.
• Support your answer with examples if possible.

The course QLK520, entitled Communication Skills for Teachers, has provided insights into various aspects of communication, namely Pronunciation, Oral Communication, Written Communication, Classroom Communication and Vocal Health. Personally, I feel that I would be able to apply the content learnt in Oral Communication and Vocal Health to my future career as a Chinese Language teacher.

Firstly, the module on Written Communication reminded me that having effective oral communication with another person does not really require accurate pronunciation or perfect grammar, instead, our choice of words, tone and body language are more crucial in conveying ourselves in an appropriate manner. The practices on making presentations and announcements (http://lonline.nie.edu.sg/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_10_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_179703_1%26url%3D) are helpful as it emphasizes on the importance of identifying our audience and thus choosing the most appropriate approach.

Secondly, the module on Vocal Health reminded us the importance of maintaining our vocal health which is something that most teachers might fail to see the importance of it. A teacher without a loud and clear voice would most probably meet with trouble when delivering his/her lessons and managing the classroom. For effective classroom teaching to take place, it is important for us to be equipped with the knowledge of the proper use of our vocal cords and how to take care of it. Personally, I like the techniques taught in the module (http://lonline.nie.edu.sg/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_10_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_179703_1%26url%3D) which really helped me to correct the way to project my voice with good posture.
Lastly, the most important message that has been conveyed to me since the beginning of the course was that all teachers have the responsibility to promote and encourage the use of Standard Singapore English in schools. It is important for teachers to set good examples for students to model after and provide students with an ideal environment to improve their spoken and written English.

In conclusion, the whole module has been helpful to me to a certain extent, and I would be reminded to pracitse what I have learnt in the course in my future endeavours.

Project Cinta at Jamiyah Home

I have spent a beautiful Deepavali at Jamiyah Nursing Home last saturday with West Coast YEC and a bunch of lovely volunteers from NTU and NUS medicine.

We had breakfast at the nearby market and head over to the home. The volunteers wheeled the elderly for a walk while the three of us stayed to set up the place for our activities. Due to the shortage of manpower, the each elderly could only go downstairs for a walk once or twice, thus our volunteers were glad that more elderly could enjoy the walk that day.

A series of acitivities followed. We had a professional hairdresser who cancelled all her appointments that day to come down to the home to volunteer her service. The elderly were happy to receive haircuts, and take photos with interesting props and the photos were developed instantly by a photographer who we engaged for the event. Another team of volunteers went around to interact with the elderly and provide them coloring papers and crayons, some of the elderly really enjoyed coloring and didn't want to stop while many others just want to rest. There was another team of volunteers who went around the wards to put up windmill decorations for the elderly and stick their photos at their beds.

What touched me was that although some of the elderly were really ill, they remained cheerful and were really friendly towards us. They were strong and kept their spirits up! And this, is what I should remember whenever I feel defeated, that keeping my spirits up would give me the hope to move on.

Coming to the End

After more than three months of struggles/torment/fun, we have finally come to an end of our first term in NIE! Besides the nouns mentioned above, I would just like to sum up by saying that I did learn a lot in these three months.

Before entering NIE, I knew that teaching is tough, but I never knew that it is THIS tough. In fact, the degree of difficulty follows a positive relationship with how good a teacher one wants to be. It is the expectation that I have for myself as a teacher that is propelling me forward while adding on to the burden on my shoulders. However, I believe that I need the drive and motivation to keep moving on, which means that it is important that I constantly set high expectations of myself (this is something which I am still working on).

Anyway, one of my favorite classes in NIE is QED526 Teaching and Managing Learners at JC/Secondary school Level. It is also one of the classes I have learnt the most from. It teaches practical strategies we as teachers could adopt when managing our classroom and it is really fortunate that our tutor for the class is a great mentor! I would really miss attending his class and would definitely put what we have learnt into good use.