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Monday, September 1, 2008

It'll be my second month in Innotrek in seven days time.

Okay, I shall blog on what I've learnt in Innotrek for the sake of my internship presentation .

Things I've learnt (the non-physical aspects):

1. Not to be shy (especially when I'm in Inno).

Why?

For the recent East Coast Primary camp, Ismail put me to be emcee and I kinda let Naz do all the emceeing (sorry Naz.). My reason to Ismail is that I wanted to go up but Naz kept going up instead. But to them, my main reason of not going up was that I was shy.

2. How to work with stress and how not to assume things.

Event 1
The same camp as the one above, Naz kinda pushed the planning to me and was unknowingly the emcee i/c.

So, the stress came after dinner, before campfire and the seating plan wasn't up because the floor of the parade square was still wet from the rain and Ismail was rushing me to get the kids out to the parade square. I panicked there and there. But thanks to Dragonfly who calmed me down everything went fine.

Event 2
The last day of camp after area cleaning was telematch. Since Ismail told me that there's another school coming in, and it was raining, I assumed that the telematch was cancelled.

After area cleaning, I was told to bring my kids to the hall. There, Ismail asked me why hadn't I setup for telematch. I panicked yet again. But thankfully, Adhy, Jason, Dragonfly and Naz came to help me.

3. Be confident in what you do but not to give OCC (Over Confident Crap).

Example 1: Despatching.
You have to remember to tell them their reporting time (super important), what to do with the brown paper given to them, washing & rinsing point, where are they supposed to take their drinks, their attire for their next activity (also super important) and the list goes on. In order for you to do despatching, you must have the confidence to talk in front of a hundred students (or more).

Naz was the first one to pull it off well. But all in all, everyone did well. (:

Example 2: Emcee
As an emcee, you have to be silly/entertain hundred or more kids whenever possible. Although you have to be confident of what you say, bloopers are also part of the silliness the kids want to see (like Khai veg! His silliness gave him the last name of veg. XD).

4. In order for you to be confident like the previous point, you have to do your homework beforehand.

One or two days before a camp. The trainers doing the camp will go through a briefing. Which includes what kind of kids you're taking, how many students, which group you're taking, theme of camp, first day activities etc etc.

Camp theme
One example is SCGS's P5 camp.

The theme of the camp was Olympic (since it was the Olympics season) and Phillia (which means friendship in Greek) and we were told by the teachers that we were supposed to use the group name given throughout the camp (which were in Greek, mind you.).

Saliha told us to do our homework by researching the meaning of our group name (It was hell I tell you. Especially when I was so sleepy and tired after geeky green and nearly fell asleep in front of my computer.).

Campfire Cheers
After briefing, you'll approximately know what kind of kids you'll be handling. From there, you can plan what cheer do you want to use even before the start of the camp.

5. Giving briefing and debriefing
These two aspects are very important for the kids' learning journey throughout camp. It is the time where they'd realise they've learn things unknowingly just by going through the camp activities.

6. Getting kids list down objectives before camp starts.
This is also very important.

Because we want to let the kids write their goals or what do they want to learn from the camp and not to forget them after the camp.

(Now on to the physical aspects of what I've learnt in Inno.)

7. Belaying.
The very first physical aspect that all interns learnt in Innotrek.

It was to ensure the participants' safety and preventing them from falling to the ground while doing Challenge Rope Course, Abseiling and Rockwall Climbing.

8. Abseiling
Went through my Abseiling Proficiency Course on the 22nd of July. It was really great. Learnt how to tie figure of 8 on a bight, figure of 8 thread through, lock on, leg wrap etc etc.

Off topic: Heard from Naz that ms.C said we're supposed to conduct an abseiling session for the FTJAN08 students (Bro, be happy waiting for it. (X) as part of our presentation.

9. Rock Climbing
For rock climbing, as a trainer, I must do belaying if there's not enough belayers to go around. But for kids, it's to realise their flexibility, overcoming their fears, and also teamwork.

10. High elements (Challenge Rope Course)
High elements is for kids to learn that everyone have common fears and how to overcome it. It is also for them to learn how to trust others.

11. Low elements (General Stations)
Low wall and Nitro Crossing.

This activity will make the kids learn about teamwork and weaknesses in their group.

12. Team Building Games
Leap of Faith and Harry Potter

Like what the sub-title says. Let kids build up teamwork while playing the games.

13. Problem Solving Games
Warp Speed and Loop a Loop.

Let kids solve a problem given to them as a group within a time frame to create teamwork.

14. Nature Guided Walk
This is the only camp activity that is the most boring. You get to go through it with a nature guide and the only thing you do is to follow behind so that the kids won't be left behind.

15. Night Hike
It is the activity that makes the kids learn alot. It'll let the kids appreciate what is given to them and how to empathize people with disabilities.

I think that's all for now.

I've been raking my brain all afternoon just to remember all these.

xoxoxo

grouptrainer<3
2:29 PM