One of the students we were interacting with
Chun Yin and Eugene teaching the students English
Samson trying to understand how the lesson is runned
Keng Chee having a conversation with one of the students
Samson teaching a student how to write simple sentences
Eugene having fun interacting with the students
Zhuo Yang was not in the pictures as he was the photographer for that day. We would be rotating photographers for every session to ensure that everyone gets their time in the limelight =)
Below are our reflections:
Eugene Gan
I think the guys were very good, and have really really great potential.
We need to learn how to unlock the spark in them, for some of them are unresponsive, but it is because they are bored with what they are learning, or they have a world of their own.
What we need to do as an SL group is to help unlock these children, cater programmes that they really like and will really learn. Every one of them is actually imaginative and a wonderful individual. We need to be people who care for them and they will slowly open up to our programmes.
Samson
English class 6/5
This class is generally very quiet and the students are quite irresponsive. The 2 students which I interacted with took quite a while to understand what I was saying. In fact, there was a communication problem as they were unable to speak proper English. They require a lot of probing to complete the task. Even in this class alone, there are many students with different personalities which require different ways of teaching. From what I gathered from 1 of the students, they prefer to learn through visuals like watching videos and do not like to write compositions such as the one they were suppose to read in class.
IT class 6/2
This class is of a much higher intellectual ability. I was at least able to communicate easily with them and they knew the basics of using the computer. The only problem was that they were unable to understand how to play the educational games. I was told by the boy I interacted with that they had not learnt what needs to be applied in the computer games. There is a need for games which suits not only the abilities of the students but also their interest. From what I observe, I would say that they prefer games which are more visual rather than words or numbers.
Overall, the most important thing is for us to ensure that the difficulties of the games are just nice for them. Games which have audio and visuals will also help greatly.
Zhuo Yang
In the English class with 6/5, I observed that the students have a very simple understanding of vocabulary that are probably learnt in class as their works on the notice boards are of similar standards. When I interacted with *** **** and ********, I found that while they had simple conversational skills, I had to talk slowly and use simple English. The general opinion from the 5 kids who I asked is that English classes are fun.
In the IT class with 6/2, I was quite amazed to see how easily ****** operated the Internet Explorer. It seemed to me that they are very IT literate and know how to operate it well already. However, it seemed that most of the students found the math games which they were playing to be boring, most probably because they are too repetitive and there isn’t any fun element anyway. Alfred was also reluctant to read through game instructions which were too long, but chose to exit that particular game instead.
When we do our programmes, we must phrase our instructions or information very concisely using simple English. We can also adopt the method of teaching during English classes to run our programmes since most of them find it fun. In terms of computer programmes, we must be able to come up with more fun games to let them learn their life skills effectively. Instructions must also be kept short and sweet.
Chun Yin
Reflections after interacting with the Chaoyang kids
– We interacted with kids which are supposedly to be of lower intellect
– Thus I had some “expectations” of the kids – underestimated them
– Turned out to be smarter than I thought
The truth is:
– The kids there are not stupid, merely unresponsive
– The difference in their intellect and responsiveness and can be observed during their lessons is also quite great
When planning the programmes, we should take note of:
– Planning programmes that will get the kids to respond
– Planning programmes that will get the kids to think on their own
– For example ask questions periodically to check if the kids are following and understanding the lesson
– Planning a few “introductory” programmes to break the ice between us and them – so that they are really comfortable with us
– Praise the kids as affirmation of their abilities can really boost learning and encourage more thinking
– How to push the smart kids to their fullest potential
– These kids can be the potential ones in running the café
Keng Chee
I realized that it was not easy to get response from the students. Speaking to the students seemed to be very difficult too, and sometimes I used words which are a bit more difficult without knowing it myself. It was not an easy task for the students to cooperate and concentrate on their task as they have quite a short attention span to start with. Nonetheless, they are still quite friendly, and do not dare to be rude to us. This could be attributed to the fact that they are not familiar with us. Of course, this is only based on our interaction with the students in class 6/5.
However, upon interacting with the students of class 6/2, I realized that it is important for us to establish ourselves as the seniors so as to guide them properly as they have their own mindsets and want to be given a lot of autonomy. If we couldn’t do that, this will become the same case as that of last year’s RE group doing the gym artistic performance when they couldn’t get the attention and respect of the students. Not to forget, we must be very patient and continuously repeat our instructions to ensure that everything is put across clearly. We must also be able to let them know us well, and let them know how we work so as to ensure that things can be done efficiently.
Based on everyone's reflections, we know that we still have a long way to go before we can truly understand the children in the school. As we continue to work on various parts of the project, we know that this is only the first step towards making our project a success.
Thats all for now. Will update soon.
Samson
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