February 13

Culturama Brasil LO-1,3,4,5

As last year I had a wonderful experience in being part of the cCukturama show, this year I decided to rejoin and try something really different from usual. I have always liked challenges and this was one of the biggest I have ever faced. Hence, I decided to join The Brasilian group and enjoy the good bit and melody of the Samba dance!!!

I only have good memories from this experience and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to participate actively. I tried to get the most from it and I recognize it helped me a lot. As a leaving student, not only did it gave me the chance to form one of my last good memories of the school but it also challenged me and my skills.

Culturama inspired me a lot and I am really proud of the amazing job we did as a team by helping and motivating each other one another, never letting us down even when the situations seemed impossible to solve.

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December 12

Carousel Reflection

In these past weeks, we have been attending some workshops aimed to give us the tools and life-skills necessary to overcome possible unpleasant situations that might occur during our future life in Uni. The sessions were really interesting as they gave us the opportunity to further develop and understand the reason for some quite common issues, like cybersecurity.  The thing that I appreciated the most is that none of the teachers leading the sessions had a judgemental approach or told us not to do certain things. This choice of being kind of “liberal” in their sessions, allowed us students to feel more comfortable to share our experience and developed the discussion with our personal opinion about the different topics.

Overall, I feel grateful for the opportunity the school gave us. I fell the sessions were pretty helpful and taught me life-skills that I would definitely use in my future.

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November 5

PSE reflection

Has the positivity challenge had an impact? Have you considered different ways to view happiness? Has any of this changed your outlook? Are you still a cynic? Tell us. Remember, journalling about a positive experience can be beneficial, and failing that, having a good moan also feels good! Reading one of the articles below might help you prompt your thinking.

 

After having experienced our first term of school, I can definitely say that our PSE classes with Mr. Lacey helped me to have a more positive approach towards challenges. This allowed me to enjoy the journey more than just enjoy the result. I am really happy about the opportunities we had this year.

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May 19

IFP Timor Lest #6 LO-1,2,3,4

Sunday, 19th May 2019

The IFP conference in Timor Lest is coming soon! Lots are the things to do and time is flying so fast! To keep up with our work we divided ourselves into few groups. I am involved in the group in charge of the applicant selection and we recently got all the application back! Each one of us read 21 applications approx. and marked them following four criteria: Self-awareness, Originality, Commitment, and Enthusiasm.

My experience in IFP so far has been really interesting and eye-opening. In the process of planning for the conference, I had the opportunity to put into practice all the concepts I learned during seasons 1 and 2. The applicant selection required a lot of previous preparation and effort. However, once the all process was completed and we had the list of the participants to the conference I felt all my efforts were worth it.

In the end, I can say that before starting the planning process, one of my weaknesses was the fact that I had to be more conscious of deadlines. However, during the process, the others and I tried to set some internal deadlines and we all met them! Therefore, I can definitely say this experience so far made me grew a lot and I am sure it will keep being food for my thoughts.

I am really excited about the conference in June!

Here is a pic of us!

Gilda

Category: CAS, IFP Timor Leste | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 17

PPIS local service #2, LO-2,4,5,6,7

Friday, 17th of May 2019

Today I had the first session of my new service with the kids.  Even though it was my first time and I was still confused about how the session was going to work, it went really good. At the beginning of the session, there was a little bit of confusion because of some misunderstanding between some of us. However,  I tried my best to engage with the children and entertain them while the others were resolving the problems that came up. I was really happy to see that the kids were really interested and engaged and it was easy for me to start a conversation with them. I sang one dance I knew from my Scouting group back home and I was pleased to see that the kids were following me without any problem. In addition, one of the things I realized about myself is that  I can easily adapt to new situations and people.

After the session, the others and I took some minutes to reflect after the session and, during the discussion, we all agreed that our actions are really impacting the kids and making a difference for them. All the kids are coming from a difficult background and coming to UWC is, for them, a way to have a break with their difficult realities. In addition, their purity, excitement and happiness helped us realize what is really important in life, especially in this period where we are all busy with IAs and EE assignments.

The differences I found between Lighthouse and  PPIS childcare is that, in the case of Lighthouse, the activities we were able to do were a lot less. This because the children had some sight/hear impairments and they were really sensible to shocks of any types. On the other hand, for PPIS we have a wider range of activities we can do making the planning of the sessions exciting.

I am really happy to continue my service experience with kids and, so far, I really enjoyed my short experience in PPIS.

Gilda

Category: CAS, PPIS | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 10

From Lighthouse to PPIS #1 LO-3

Friday, 10th May 2019

I recently changed my subject, therefore, because of a clash in the timetable I had to change my service. For most of the year, I was in Lighthouse motor skills, a service that was focusing on improving the motor skills of some kids with sight/hear disabilities through activities and games organized by us. This experience has been incredible for me, I really really enjoyed it and that is why I wanted to continue my service journey with something related to kids. I got to know PPIS thanks to some of my friends that were involved in it and described it has a really good opportunity of growth. In addition, some of the people involved in the service are my friends and this made the change easier for me.

The expectations for the new service were quite high, especially because I was coming from a really good experience with the kids in Lighthouse. This afternoon I had the first session. Unfortunately, the kids were not there because the teacher that was supposed to bring them got injured. However, during the session, I had the chance to ask my friends and the teachers in charge more about the service and the kids. Even though I was new to the service, everyone was really nice to me and patiently explained what are the expectations for each session. I can definitely say I am really excited to have my first session with them next week. I am looking forward to meeting the kids and playing with them, especially because my friends told me that they love dancing and singing with them. I hope I will able to achieve the expectations and build strong relationships like the ones I had with the kids of Lighthouse.

Gilda

Category: CAS, PPIS | LEAVE A COMMENT
April 16

Lighthouse local service #4 – OL 2,4,5,6,7

Tuesday, 16th April 2019

FINAL REFLECTION

Since my adventure with the kids in Lighthouse motor skills is over, I would like to reflect and draw conclusions on the experience. I can definitely say that this 8 months in the service changed me a lot, not only because I started being more informed about global issues of which I was not aware of, but also because of the happiness and the excitement the kids where bringing to every session made every Tuesday more joyful.

I had the opportunity to learn and practice my sign language and, in some cases, even the kids were teaching me some words. The bond created is really strong and I am really sad not to be able to continue my service experience until the end.

Every game we played and every moment we spent together impacted the children a lot. Because of their disabilities, most of them are not willing to open up with new people, especially because they are not used to have new people around them. Being able to communicate and create meaningful bonds with new people is a big challenge for them and the fact that, in the end, they overcame their initial difficulties made me super happy and proud of the work my group and I have done.

Also, I really appreciated the teamwork that I and the others were able to pursue throughout the all year. Even though just two were the people in charge of each session, the others were always there to support and help when needed. In addition, our communication was always efficient and we never came unprepared to the sessions.

To sum up, I can definitely say that the experience in Lighthouse has been eye-opening. I will definitely miss the kids and I will always remember their smile in my heart.

Gilda

Category: CAS, Lighthouse motorskills | LEAVE A COMMENT
March 12

Lighthouse #3 OL- 2,3,4

Tuesday, 12th March 2019

In my service, we are now planning to hold a musical with the kids. Since we knew they really like animals and songs, we decided to play the Lion King. The kids have already experience with “Just Dance” type videos and they have little difficulty to follow it. Therefore, we found a tutorial for the song on the internet and we repeated it for them. In addition, in each of the sessions we are doing, we are making them learning the steps and the sequence of the song as well as creating the customs and the masks for the show. Most of the kids love it and they really enjoy following the music and miming the animals in the song. Recently, we had an art session where the kids were able to paint their own animal mask. One of the moms in the service operatives is helping us to create the customs, therefore, during the session, we took the measurements of the kids and gave it to her. It was really interesting to see how engaged the kids were and how much they loved painting and dirtying their hands in the paint (especially the ones with sight impairments). All of us in the service know that the decision of the musical is a bit of a challenge but we all agreed that it is good both for us and for the kids to experience something new and thrilling. We are ready to put as much effort as needed and we are confident about the possible outcomes. In addition, the kids invited us for a mini show at their school that will take place at the end of the year. It would be a good opportunity for us to experience one of their typical “school day” as well as getting to know their parents and the other students of the school.

Gilda

Category: CAS, Lighthouse motorskills | LEAVE A COMMENT
February 15

G5 peace activity (IFP reflection) #4 LO-2,3,4,5

Friday, 15th Friday 2019

During this season in IFP, I had the opportunity to organize and lead a mini peace activity (about 30 mins) aimed to G5ers in the school. I was in a group of 5 people and our mission was to plan, organize and lead an informative session for the others engaged in the project. A session of IFP during season 2 was aimed to propose a series of activities to the rest of the group that had to vote and chose the best one. My group won as we proposed some activities that were not clichè but at the same time achieved the purpose. After that, my group became in charge of all process and organized the all session that took place last Wednesday.

 

It has been a really hard process, especially because of the limited amount of time we had to prepare everything. In addition, we were not sure about what kind of activities would the G5ers like, therefore, we decide to do a run-through during one IFP session. This was helpful to get a sense of timings and possible activities that the kids could have not liked. In fact, after the session, we decided to change one of the main activities that would have been perilous for the kids because there was the danger that they would have fallen down.

During the event, everything went really good and the kids seemed really engaged with the activities. I was really proud of the work I did and both the teachers of the kids and the teachers in IFP were satisfied. This experience helped me to develop more self-awareness as well as self-esteem. In addition, I realized that I can effectively lead orders and achieve with them the best results.

Gilda

Category: CAS, IFP | LEAVE A COMMENT
February 12

LIGHTHOUSE motor skills, local service #2 LO-2,3,4,5

Tuesday, 12th February 2019

Because of a series of holidays, both in our school and in Lighthouse, we have not been seeing the kids for a long time. However, we were kept busy with a fun task the service department gave us: make a catalog of all the stored resources the local services usually borrow for their sessions. Our job was to produce a catalog with some videos of us trying the games in order for other students to have a sense of what the resource is like and how to use it correctly. The all process has been fun as well as really challenging. Not only were we asked to be efficient and precise but also really fast and effective in our job. The amount of stuff we had to try was a lot and, in some cases, it was difficult to understand how the games where working, especially in some cases where the instructions were not there. However, thanks to really efficient teamwork we manage to do everything before the deadline. Some of us were in charge of taking the video and trying the stuff while others were in charge of attaching them in the document. I was one of the lucky ones that were able to try some of the games. I can definitely say the choice we made to work all together was really helpful. One of the good things about my service experience is that my group is not big and this makes everyone be able to participate actively in each activity. In addition, the bond that has been formed between us student is really strong. This makes possible for us to have a cohesive collaboration that brings good results each time. The service office was really impressed and pleased with the outcome of the work.

Here are some videos of our adventure in the service storage room! Hope you like them!

Fitness Dice

IMG_6170

Gilda

Category: CAS, Lighthouse motorskills | LEAVE A COMMENT