By demand:
Pls add me if you are from Delta Platoon 3 so that I can add your MSN contact here...
Mine: stevenpeh@hotmail.com
Rude: crd_7@hotmail.com
Willy Chang: larceniciel121@hotmail.com
Jiaxing: lee_jia_xing@hotmail.com
Willy Lim: limwilly@singnet.com.sg
Joel: netryder@hotmail.com
Boon: tbyphs11@yahoo.com.sg
Vince: vince_liew@hotmail.com
Jared: bytheblood@hotmail.com
Jerald: chillbone@hotmail.com
Dinesh: cjnesh@hotmail.com
Weifa: cyclops_84@hotmail.com
Sufian: goflyfly@hotmail.com
Joseph: josephyeo84@hotmail.com
Mingguan: miggylim@hotmail.com
Jason: waikikiblues@hotmail.com
Zong Neng: zntan84@hotmail.com
Kevin Kok: relag_xavier@hotmail.com
Kia Haw: kiahaww@hotmail.com
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Service-Learning
I have attended a service learning workshop today. This is another program that I have signed up with Touch Youth Services besides the Crush Program. The workshop is very enriching and inspiring, hence I find an urge to write in the blog. Probably I would split it into 2 parts. First part is the activity and the second is my thought.
In the beginning, we were playing an introductory activity: "Have you ever...?" It is an interactive activity, formed seating in a circle. Everybody would have a chance to ask "Have you ever (some experience)?" and if anyone ever have this experience, he will move to his right and sit on it, even if there is a person siting on the chair. The activity ends when anyone returned to his seat. We get to know one another better in this activity.
After that, we get to know what is Service-Learning and realised how powerful it is compared to other community service projects. Through service and learning at the same time, we are able to internalise the experience and move forward with a better understanding of what we can learn from the service and what can be done to improve the service. A productive cycle afterall!
Shortly after that, we played another game: "Human Traffic Jam". It was an activity in which we were seated in 2 rows with an empty chair. We were supposed to move to the other side using the empty chair with these rules (1. Can only move forward 2. Can shift 1 seat forward if it is empty 3. Can jump over to the alternate seat if there is a person from the opposite row seatng in front of you). We came up with some methods and slowly able to generalise the method to play the game. We got a challenge further that we are not allowed to speak. We consolidated our thoughts again but we are still unable to complete it after a few tries. Through this, we drew up a few learning points from this Experimental Learning.
We were taught a few theories after that such as 6 Generations of facilitation, 3 key components of a S-L project and 7 Competencies of a facilitator. Well, although this part of the lesson is quite dry and technical, it is very useful for us.
Following this, we had an inspiring game: "Pace of Life (Or similar to it)". To me, this is the most enriching game. We were told to walk around in circle, and in the midst of it, "outcasts" would be selected and be told to leave the room. The rest of us have to continue walking in this circle. It is very tiring and the activity stopped after about half of the people were outcasts and we were told to share our feelings.
Throughout the day, the trainers were willing to share their experience with us and we found them very inspiring. At the end of the day, we consolidated our learning for the day and called it a day.
"Have you ever...?"
An activity to share our experience. Well, usually I don't like Ice-braking game but this activity is quite subtle. We need to come up with an unique experience so that only the person would move and return to the seat earlier. Well, according to the trainer, it is a game to test our energy level and boundary (whether we dare to sit on ppl lap).. Hmm, it could be, but it was quite subtle for me.
What is Service-Learning
Through this, we get to know what is so unique about S-L. It is not so much of community service and it has a larger benefit to the volunteers and the society at large. I view it as a productive cycle instead of a weighing scale (because of the equal emphasis). For instance, we do a community service and consolidate the learning from it. And through the learning, we will perform better community service to the public and at the same time, we learn some useful skills in the process. This is the power of S-L that I perceive and it is based on Experimental Learning, which is more interactive for people to establish the learning.
"Human Traffic Jam"
It is an inspiring activity in which we discover for ourselves a method to solve a problem. In the process, we refine it further so that we can do it better. It is very much like the WIT course I have attended but I found that it was more meaningful, in the sense that we discovered for ourselves whether "have we learnt it now?" whereas WIT is more of how to improve the process. Well, we understand what is Experimental Learning from this activity and one major takeaway is that we must make sure everyone in the group must know what is going on!
Pace of Life Wow! This is a very powerful philosophical activity! Most of us were "traumatised" by it and we really reflected on what we were doing and how we actually felt now. It is built on the basis of "Framing the experience" in which it forms an analogy to the pace of the society now. Most often then not, we would neglect all the "outcasts" and continue on our pace aimlessly, in a circle. Some of us might worry for the "outcasts" but usually, for our survival instinct (Safety as they called it), we would continue our pace. On the other hand, the "outcasts" wanted to join in the society pace and couldn't do so because they would be "out of the frequency". Some of them were chosen randomly and they did not want it either.
After this activity, the trainer has asked us some questions. "Is there anybody that you have left out in your life?" "What are we going to do next?" Well... surely there are people whom we would leave out in our life without ourselves knowing. However, we would like to help sometime but we were struggling ourselves. At the same time, we would be wondering why were we following the pace of the society so aimlessly... After the session, I still couldn't find an answer to it. But at least I understand it now and am aware it. yes... Understand because people told me before about the rat race but this activity helped me visualise it vividly.
After each activity, we were brought in the concept of S-L so that we would understand it better. After attending the course for a day, I am inspired of the whole framework of Service-Learning. I wouldn't say that I understand it totally but I find that I have already gained a lot of it in a day. Looking forward to the workshop tommorrow!
In the beginning, we were playing an introductory activity: "Have you ever...?" It is an interactive activity, formed seating in a circle. Everybody would have a chance to ask "Have you ever (some experience)?" and if anyone ever have this experience, he will move to his right and sit on it, even if there is a person siting on the chair. The activity ends when anyone returned to his seat. We get to know one another better in this activity.
After that, we get to know what is Service-Learning and realised how powerful it is compared to other community service projects. Through service and learning at the same time, we are able to internalise the experience and move forward with a better understanding of what we can learn from the service and what can be done to improve the service. A productive cycle afterall!
Shortly after that, we played another game: "Human Traffic Jam". It was an activity in which we were seated in 2 rows with an empty chair. We were supposed to move to the other side using the empty chair with these rules (1. Can only move forward 2. Can shift 1 seat forward if it is empty 3. Can jump over to the alternate seat if there is a person from the opposite row seatng in front of you). We came up with some methods and slowly able to generalise the method to play the game. We got a challenge further that we are not allowed to speak. We consolidated our thoughts again but we are still unable to complete it after a few tries. Through this, we drew up a few learning points from this Experimental Learning.
We were taught a few theories after that such as 6 Generations of facilitation, 3 key components of a S-L project and 7 Competencies of a facilitator. Well, although this part of the lesson is quite dry and technical, it is very useful for us.
Following this, we had an inspiring game: "Pace of Life (Or similar to it)". To me, this is the most enriching game. We were told to walk around in circle, and in the midst of it, "outcasts" would be selected and be told to leave the room. The rest of us have to continue walking in this circle. It is very tiring and the activity stopped after about half of the people were outcasts and we were told to share our feelings.
Throughout the day, the trainers were willing to share their experience with us and we found them very inspiring. At the end of the day, we consolidated our learning for the day and called it a day.
"Have you ever...?"
An activity to share our experience. Well, usually I don't like Ice-braking game but this activity is quite subtle. We need to come up with an unique experience so that only the person would move and return to the seat earlier. Well, according to the trainer, it is a game to test our energy level and boundary (whether we dare to sit on ppl lap).. Hmm, it could be, but it was quite subtle for me.
What is Service-Learning
Through this, we get to know what is so unique about S-L. It is not so much of community service and it has a larger benefit to the volunteers and the society at large. I view it as a productive cycle instead of a weighing scale (because of the equal emphasis). For instance, we do a community service and consolidate the learning from it. And through the learning, we will perform better community service to the public and at the same time, we learn some useful skills in the process. This is the power of S-L that I perceive and it is based on Experimental Learning, which is more interactive for people to establish the learning.
"Human Traffic Jam"
It is an inspiring activity in which we discover for ourselves a method to solve a problem. In the process, we refine it further so that we can do it better. It is very much like the WIT course I have attended but I found that it was more meaningful, in the sense that we discovered for ourselves whether "have we learnt it now?" whereas WIT is more of how to improve the process. Well, we understand what is Experimental Learning from this activity and one major takeaway is that we must make sure everyone in the group must know what is going on!
Pace of Life Wow! This is a very powerful philosophical activity! Most of us were "traumatised" by it and we really reflected on what we were doing and how we actually felt now. It is built on the basis of "Framing the experience" in which it forms an analogy to the pace of the society now. Most often then not, we would neglect all the "outcasts" and continue on our pace aimlessly, in a circle. Some of us might worry for the "outcasts" but usually, for our survival instinct (Safety as they called it), we would continue our pace. On the other hand, the "outcasts" wanted to join in the society pace and couldn't do so because they would be "out of the frequency". Some of them were chosen randomly and they did not want it either.
After this activity, the trainer has asked us some questions. "Is there anybody that you have left out in your life?" "What are we going to do next?" Well... surely there are people whom we would leave out in our life without ourselves knowing. However, we would like to help sometime but we were struggling ourselves. At the same time, we would be wondering why were we following the pace of the society so aimlessly... After the session, I still couldn't find an answer to it. But at least I understand it now and am aware it. yes... Understand because people told me before about the rat race but this activity helped me visualise it vividly.
After each activity, we were brought in the concept of S-L so that we would understand it better. After attending the course for a day, I am inspired of the whole framework of Service-Learning. I wouldn't say that I understand it totally but I find that I have already gained a lot of it in a day. Looking forward to the workshop tommorrow!
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Circle Xperience I
This is a 3 days 2 night camp for SMU freshman. Well, it is very similar to OBS and leadership field camp in army...
Tuesday:
I went to SMU (Bukit Timah) for gathering and we took a coach to Chinese Garden. Well, it was raining heavily on our way there. We were alighted under a shelter and we carried on our activities there. Of course, the infamous ice-breaking game... We played some games like Polar Bear and hence we came up our group name after that as "Guru". This carried on till we had our lunch. By the way, the lunch sux!
After that, we went for our water activities. Dragon boating, building a rope bridge, and kayaking.. At first, I did not know how to dragon boat and after some time, finally get a hand out of it. It was quite fun during kayaking when our group led the rest very far. But unfortunately, it rained and the activities stopped. We had our dinner after that and this time round, the dinner is slightly better, but still worse than SFI food.
We had a night walk after that which is not very impressive either. It is basic navigation and many facilitators want to come and scare us. However, they are not scary at all. Fortunately, we finished the course fast and got to bath first. After that we played some lame games like who is the murderer before we lights off.. However, not many people fell asleep...
Wednesday
In the morning, it rained again and we did not go for jogging as per planned. We had our breakfast (Not that impressive either) and went for some amazing race game. These games built up our team spirits and coordination. After lunch, we went for a navigation tour again and this time round, we navigate our of chinese garden to CDANS. The trip was quite fun and our group was closer after the trip. We had a night cooking session after that but we just wanted to keep our stomach full and did not bother about the competition.. Anyway, we watched the show performed by our facilitators, bathed after that and had a long talk at our tents before we slept. We slept out of the tents because it was pretty warm inside. Anyway, we got to know one another better during the conversation
Thursday
We woke up to eat our breakfast and got to play games again. This time round, we played games similar to OBS, especially those rope games. They were quite fun but it was just that we did not have enough time to play only. We packed up our stuff at about 4pm and played our finale game, human charade where we played water bomb game. This marked the end of the camp but Guru is planning to have a supper together again...!
Tuesday:
I went to SMU (Bukit Timah) for gathering and we took a coach to Chinese Garden. Well, it was raining heavily on our way there. We were alighted under a shelter and we carried on our activities there. Of course, the infamous ice-breaking game... We played some games like Polar Bear and hence we came up our group name after that as "Guru". This carried on till we had our lunch. By the way, the lunch sux!
After that, we went for our water activities. Dragon boating, building a rope bridge, and kayaking.. At first, I did not know how to dragon boat and after some time, finally get a hand out of it. It was quite fun during kayaking when our group led the rest very far. But unfortunately, it rained and the activities stopped. We had our dinner after that and this time round, the dinner is slightly better, but still worse than SFI food.
We had a night walk after that which is not very impressive either. It is basic navigation and many facilitators want to come and scare us. However, they are not scary at all. Fortunately, we finished the course fast and got to bath first. After that we played some lame games like who is the murderer before we lights off.. However, not many people fell asleep...
Wednesday
In the morning, it rained again and we did not go for jogging as per planned. We had our breakfast (Not that impressive either) and went for some amazing race game. These games built up our team spirits and coordination. After lunch, we went for a navigation tour again and this time round, we navigate our of chinese garden to CDANS. The trip was quite fun and our group was closer after the trip. We had a night cooking session after that but we just wanted to keep our stomach full and did not bother about the competition.. Anyway, we watched the show performed by our facilitators, bathed after that and had a long talk at our tents before we slept. We slept out of the tents because it was pretty warm inside. Anyway, we got to know one another better during the conversation
Thursday
We woke up to eat our breakfast and got to play games again. This time round, we played games similar to OBS, especially those rope games. They were quite fun but it was just that we did not have enough time to play only. We packed up our stuff at about 4pm and played our finale game, human charade where we played water bomb game. This marked the end of the camp but Guru is planning to have a supper together again...!
Saturday, July 09, 2005
eMentoring Program
Just recently, I signed up a Community Involvement Program (CIP) called the Crush Program. It is a program to guide the youth what are the possible dangers online.
It is a very meaningful project and for the last 2 days, we are discussing on how the youth would be affected online by bad influence including pornography, online gaming and also strangers. I did learn a lot from the program and now we are put in a forum to interact with the youth who signed up for the program. I believe this is a very good interaction with them...
It is a very meaningful project and for the last 2 days, we are discussing on how the youth would be affected online by bad influence including pornography, online gaming and also strangers. I did learn a lot from the program and now we are put in a forum to interact with the youth who signed up for the program. I believe this is a very good interaction with them...
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Initial D
Watched the movie yesterday. The watch is very nice and is a must watch for everyone. Now, because of being captivated by the movie, I am downloading the anime to watch. If you haven't watched the show, I recommend that you watch it now.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Assets/Liabilities
Yesterday had a discussion with a friend.. We were discussing how does a relationship consider an asset or a liability. He was saying that if the other partner was behaving maturely, then he/she would be an asset, else liability.
However, I believe it is not true. Although we can say a personality can determine someone is an asset or liability (EQ), we cannot say that it is correlated in relationship(sounds like statistics). A boy may like another girl because she is innocent and he still treats her as his asset.
Perhap we shouldn't mix up relationship with economics term because one concerns emotional thinking and one concerns logical thinking. However, if you are attached now, do you consider your partner as an asset to you or a liability to you? If he/she is a liability to you, would you still like him/her? If you are still single now, having a relationship would be an asset to you, or would it be a liability to you?
However, I believe it is not true. Although we can say a personality can determine someone is an asset or liability (EQ), we cannot say that it is correlated in relationship(sounds like statistics). A boy may like another girl because she is innocent and he still treats her as his asset.
Perhap we shouldn't mix up relationship with economics term because one concerns emotional thinking and one concerns logical thinking. However, if you are attached now, do you consider your partner as an asset to you or a liability to you? If he/she is a liability to you, would you still like him/her? If you are still single now, having a relationship would be an asset to you, or would it be a liability to you?
Choices and Decisions
Choices and decisions... Why do we have to face choices and decisions all the time? In one day, we can face a lot of choices and make a lot of decisions based on these choices.
What am I going to be in the future?
What should I do today?
What course should I study?
Sometime, the choice is limited and is beyond our control. But in most of the cases, we do like many choices, but is that really good for us? What would happen if we made the wrong decision? I believe that there are not absolute right or wrong decision. If we made the wrong decision, it is the path that we have chosen and we should not regret. Who knows, it may not be that bad after all.
What am I going to be in the future?
What should I do today?
What course should I study?
Sometime, the choice is limited and is beyond our control. But in most of the cases, we do like many choices, but is that really good for us? What would happen if we made the wrong decision? I believe that there are not absolute right or wrong decision. If we made the wrong decision, it is the path that we have chosen and we should not regret. Who knows, it may not be that bad after all.
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