The Begining
My group members and I conducted various types of activities for the children at Care Corner FSC (Admiralty). The activities ranged from teaching them about anger managemnet techniques to the importance of self-esteem. The sessions mainly took place at Ngee Ann Polytechnic and the student centre itself.
What did I do?
Our first icebreaker activity: Even though we looked confused, we still had alot of fun getting to know the children.
The Middle
I found that the skills that I learned, especially from Group Facilitation was very useful when conducting the activities. For example, when things started to become chaotic with the children, we decided that while some of us lead the activities, the others should help to make sure everyone was listening and paying attention.
Were the skills I learned helpful?
Our first time at the centre: We planned to teach them anger management & conflict resolution skills. Once we got the hang of how to interact with the children, we started to have fun with them. Look how happy I am!
Almost there...
It was important to keep the children's interests at heart. Even though we had done such projects before, it is tiring to keep up with them. However, we must remember what the whole aim of this project. Even though it is exhausting, we need to make sure that at the end of the 3 sessions, the children leave learning something valuable.
I learned that...
Our final session: Today's activities were on self-esteem and anxiety. We were debriefing them on why it was awareness on anxiety was important. Look how happy we are to be together with the children!
The End
It is important to give back to the community. Even though this service-learning project might be smaller in scale, i believe that it still made an impact on the children. During the activities and debrief, the children did partcipate actively and learned valubale information. Aside from the children, this service-learning project and its outcomes does motivate us to continue giving back to the society.
This Learning Matters as...
Saying Goodbye: I really had a great time teaching and learning together with the children! It was such a great experience. 10/10 would do again!