Sunflower Project Update 3

On Thursday the 15th of September, the children were again unable to come because their school haven’t received the permissions from the parents etc.

On Thursday the 22nd of September, the children came for the first time. For the first 15 minutes, we all gathered in Ms. Abeyawardene, took down everybody’s name, introduced ourselves and introduced the purpose of this project and what we hope to do in each session (11 children came).

We then went to the pool and started the first teaching session. As the majority have never been in the water, they were scared at first, but after sometime, we managed to get everybody in the pool.

The things we did were:

• Walking from one side to the other
• Putting the face and head in the water for 5 seconds or longer
• Making bubbles in the water
• Kicking etc.

As this was the first session, many children found very difficult to swim, however, the simples things, such as walking, weren’t a problem. For the last 10 minutes, we split the group into 2 teams and played water-polo, as we always did in the past.

Since I’ve done this project last year, it wasn’t a difficult task for me, but as a vice-leader, I made sure that everybody knows what they should be doing. Since we only have 5 students while there are 11 children, we planned and collaborated well by looking after 2 children at a time. I showed my perseverance and commitment by repeatedly helping the children to swim and give advice, despite the language barriers.

Since knowing the fundamentals to swimming is important for safety, and is something that everybody in the world should learn (since it can be life-risking if one doesn’t know how to swim). I hope that by the end of this semester, these 11 new children will be able to learn and swim properly without our support.

Next week, we’ll spend about 20-30 minutes in the Yellow Lab to teach them the basics of computers, which is a new implementation this semester, and then go to swimming. Avin and I will make sure that the lab booking is done (the dates when we want the computer lab  have been sent to Ms. Shameela) and the account is made specifically for this project.

Presentation on Japan in SOS Village

On Thursday the 15th of September, I was asked by Mr. de Silva to give a presentation about Japan in one of the community service projects, called SOS Village. SOS Village is project in which a group of local children visit our school to interact with our students, and also to swim.

The content in the presentation was the very basic things in Japan, and they included:

• Flag
• Geographic location
• Food
• Sports
• Vehicles

and finally ended with a few questions to the children about some of the facts about Japan from the presentation.

It was the first time I’ve made a presentation to non-English speakers and it was a new challenge and experience. Since the children were mostly aged below 10, I judged that it would be unethical to present things that are difficult for the children to understand, such as the economy, demography etc, therefore I’ve chosen simple things that they can understand. I’ve also planned to ask simple questions, such as the colors in the Japanese flag, which can be answered quite easily without thinking too much. Despite it was only 5 minutes presentation, I’ve shown my commitment and effort in the presentation by adding some sound effects and other effects, so that children don’t get bored. I’ve also engaged with the issue of global importance: the education. Although this was a very simple presentation, I’m certain that the children has learned something from this about Japan, which could be useful in their future lives. 

It was a great experience for me, and if such occasion arises again, I’m more than willing to make a presentation again!

Football Update 2

Already a month has passed since the football practice has started, and in my eyes everybody is making improvements in terms of quality of play as well as other important aspects, such as communication.

As for me, I’ve been showing perseverance and commitment by attending each session, despite the amount of workload there is in Grade 12. Participating in sports activity is a great way to have a balance in the day-to-day life. My skills in football has developed much better compared to the beginning, and I’m a lot more confident about playing football. The collaboration in sports is an important aspect, and that has also been improving, and during the games, the communications have gotten better, leading to better plays. This is a strength that is being developed as a team.

The area for growth which I can work on is the defense and the accuracy of the shots. In order to develop these skills, I hope to take risks and try to make the most out of these practices by participating in the plays as much as possible.

Sports Day!!!

On the 7th of September, we had a sports day. The grades were divided into 4 groups, grade 6 & 7, grade 8 & 9, grade 10 & 11 & 12 team 1, and grade 10 & 11 & 12 team 2. The four sports that we competed for were football, kickball, basketball and volleyball.

I was in team 1 of grade 10 & 11 & 12 yellow house, however, because there weren’t enough people in grade 10 & 11 & 12, team 1 and team 2 were combined (although now there were too many people in each house colour).

I took part in football, kickball and basketball and although I was very tired at the end of the day, overall it was a fantastic day!

For football and basketball, each team had 6 players, 3 boys and 3 girls, and as I’ve been playing sports with only the boys, it was a challenge for me to play with the girls as well. However, I showed commitment and I tried to work collaboratively with them all and this meant a lot of communication and understanding each other’s roles. I showed my perseverance when others weren’t collaborating, or weren’t doing much, as not everybody was familiar with these sports and it would be unethical to shout at them. In addition, as there were so many people, I deduced that it would be unethical for me to play for each game, and thus gave others a chance to participate in games.

Although yellow house came 3rd, I personally believe that the ranking didn’t matter much, as everybody seemed to have a lot of fun and enjoyment. As this was my last sports day at OSC, I hope that the memories will be with me in the future.

Sunflower Project Update 2

Today, the children were unable to come due to some issues and therefore after taking the attendance, we went to the library to work on our CAS blogs or on other work.

When the children come next week, we’ll be following the schedule that we’ve planned, which is mentioned in the previous post.

Football Update 1

The football practices are coming nicely and so far, I’ve been showing my perseverance and commitment by attending every practice. After a few weeks of practices, I’m now more confident about playing football, as my skills have developed and I can do things that I weren’t able to do before. And also my stamina seems to be growing, as I’m not very tired even when the practice finishes.

On the 3rd of September, we had a friendly match against CIS at OSC. It was our first match and although we weren’t able to play at our best due to the rain, we beat them by 4-1. In this match, I took the position as left mid (where I normally play) and contributed both in the offense and the defense. Towards the end, I’ve also undertaken a challenge by playing as a center back. It was the first time I played as a center back, and as I thought, I wasn’t able to do a great job. During this match, I’ve found an area for growth and I hope to develop skills as a defender too, so that I can play as a mid-fielder as well as a defender.

Sunflower Project Update 1

On the 1st of September, we had our first meeting with the students participating in this service project (5 students including myself) and with Ms. Abeyawardene. We discussed about the aim of this project and what we hope to achieve (goals) by the end of this semester.

As next week will be the first time the children are coming, we have decided to spend the first 20-30 minutes introducing ourselves, getting them to remember our names and getting their names down, and afterwards, go to the swimming pool and start teaching them the swimming skills. As most of them will be new to getting into the water, we might do simple exercises, such walking in the water, sinking for a few seconds and so on.

As of this year, we’re also going to teach the children the fundamental IT skills. Therefore we’ve decided that for the following days, we will spend the first 20 minutes in the IT lab to teach them the typing skills and so on:

15th of September

29th of September

27th of October

17th of November

1st of December

The IT classes will take place in the yellow lab from 2:40 p.m to 3:00 p.m.