REFLECTION (DURING) LANGUAGE CAMP A BY NURUSSA'ADAH

The day that we have been waiting for! Hehe. I slept very late the night before the camp in order to finish my charade materials for the students. I was so excited and thrilled about the camp. As we reached the school hall, I was really nervous. The one thing as that, I did not know that we have to introduce ourselves in front of all the students using might. Even though I’ve been on the stage since primary school, I still have that ‘stage fright’. So I stammered and got panic while introducing myself. 

When we have to divide ourselves according to group, I looked at my ‘children’; hoping and praying that they will cooperate with me. At first, I was so panic that I got the first slot to be a little bit boring. The students couldn’t understand my instruction well and they got confused on how the game is conducted. In order to get back on track, I had to modify the ice breaking session on my own to make sure that they get to know each other well. And then we moved on to group logo and cheers slot. I had fun drawing our group logo and it seems like these kids were very creative. They've came out with a beautiful logo. Our group name was ''Ninja Turtle".

As the day went by, I was able to catch things up. I enjoyed every single minute with my ‘children’. They were just very obedient and cute. I’ve got to learn so many things. I enjoyed playing charade, win lose or draw and doing the tandem writing. During tandem writing, it was really enjoyable yet tiring slot as I had to treat every each of them as it was very chaos. This is because they like to express everything in one time. It was after all a very challenging to me as for the students, they still have difficulties in developing simple story. They tend to asked me how to write this, how to write that instead of doing them by themselves. I had my time helping them for their skit competition. Even though it was short and simple, they did their best and able to have confidence to be stand in front. I am very proud of them :)

REFLECTION (BEFORE) LANGUAGE CAMP A BY NURUSSA'ADAH

This was my first time joining such camp that involves language wholly. I was super excited about it as it is also my first time handling primary school students. I was assigned with my other teammates to do Charade game. We have to come out with words that suitable with their level and make sure that it is easy for the students to guess and act out the words given. 

However, we only got the day before the game to rehearse everything that we had planned about the camp. We managed to come out with some ideas of doing cheers and also unique group names. Even though it was a last minute plan, it worked out very well.

Language Camp A: After all 'ave been said and done..

People learn new things each day and as we learn more we think back on what can we fix. Looking back at the Language camp A, there is only one thing that is lacking.

During the camp, there were lack of authoritative figure in conducting this camp. Facilitators were a bit at lost on who should we consult when unexpected thing happens. It is good to have one figure that conduct the flow of the camp. in addition, just the existence of the position could also boost morale for a leader can become the pillar of comfort to facilitators.

I think a knowledge of human resource management is quite vital in organizing this type of event. Despite this minor setback I had so much fun being a part of this fun event.

Language Camp B: Nazrin's Post-Reflection

Actually, I was a bit sad that I was absent for most of the language camp since I need to accompany one of my friend back to UTM to get a treatment, but still it's okay as long as everyone ended the camp safe and sound.

Forward a bit to the week after the camp, we had a post-mortem session to reflect what da been going on during the camp itself. I was a bit surprised that there were actually a number of problems occurred and some of them are quite serious. But suggestions were given regarding the issues and I was glad that none of the problems were between the facilitators nor the lecturers that accompanied us that day. I do feel that we can improve some of them for our next language camp and maybe, we could even have more fun during that time, hopefully.

That is all from me, thank you.

P/S; Maybe for our next language camp, we can have some water gun fight or perhaps Runningman based games? That would've been a lot of fun :D

Language Camp B: Nazrin's During-Reflection

The journey was fun since we get to ride the same bus, going on the same journey and most importantly, surrounded by awesome people and friends. I like these kind of trips. But I cannot deny that throughout the journey itself, I was feeling quite nervous as like what I have mentioned in my previous post, I was appointed as the MC for this language camp and it is my first time doing so.

Upon arrival, I was elated to see the school's beautiful surroundings and I must admit, I was starting to look forward on conducting the ceremony later on. But not all things were beautiful on that day as we've been slapped on our face (not literally) with dozens of problems; even before the language camp started. The microphones were not functioning as they should be and for some time, we had to manage the PA system ourselves and it was rather tedious task. We found out later on that something was supposed to be switched-on (but since we didn't knew about that, nothing was done for it) and luckily, someone manged to show us the ropes of handling the PA system. But still, the problem itself took some time to be solved.

There were also several other problems that follow after that incident but I'll leave that to the other guys (and gals?) to tell about it. The camp started soon after resolving the problems and luckily, no major problem happened; well at least for a while because a rather unexpected incident occurred after the first short break. One of the tributes facilitators, let's called him Tea for now, suddenly had a digestion problem/issue/gastric maybe because the food was a bit too spicy and I have to agree on that matter. Tea was then rushed to the back of the hall to receive an immediate treatment and I gotta say, it was rather a panic moment since Tea was sweating profusely and Tea's skin started to become more and more pale. Long story short, we were lucky that En. Faizal offered to send Tea back to UTM to get proper treatment But I've got to accompany them along.

All in all, everything went rather fine after that incident though there were several minor talkings saying that some of the teachers were rather not satisfied of how "dull" the camp was. Well what can I say, for most of us it was of first time in language camp. On the other hand, the students were nice and I can say that most of us had an awesome day that day. Indeed it was.

Language Camp B: Nazrin's Pre-Reflection

First of all, this is, what I think, is my first language camp that I've ever joined which involves lower-secondary school students in UTM. Before this, I've only participated those of primary school students and UTM students themselves. This first one is rather fun since it is all play and fun with them because they are still little kids and as for the latter one, I'd say it was much fun sinceeveryone can participate and play games together as fellow adults. So, I think it is safe to say that this language camp can be rather challenging since the students are in transition of becoming a teenager; and nowadays teens are quite different compared to those of before.

Besides, I was appointed of being the Master of Ceremony (MC) for this camp and of course that scared the living soul out of me (well, not literally. For dramatization effect) and you ask why? Because I have never conducted a ceremony before in my entire life; presentation, yes I have done a lot of them but this is much different. So, I decided to take on the role and later on would realized that becoming an MC is rather fun rather than an arduous job.

But, after knowing that this camp is going to involve around 200+ students, butterflies started to appear in my stomach again; especially when there is going to be several teachers form different schools too. But all in all, it is still my responsibility so yeah, I need to do it. Partly since I feel like doing it too on my own will. Jyeahh.

during Language Camp B

salam n hi everyone

When we first arrived at the school, I am actually quite excited and little bit nervous to be a faci to a bunch of kids I didn't know. Its quite a while since i 've been talking to students after our practical teaching. During the camp I don't have other responsibility than being a faci to the students. So I can focus all my energy to help students having fun. Unfortunately, during the first activity which is ice-breaking session students were to shy to speak and they ended up looking on the floor instead of looking at each other cute and innocent faces. I tried to makes some jokes but still they were quite passive with each other. But I don't gave up. I kept pushing them to at least speak with each other. I reminded them that joining English Camp was all about having fun. Finally then they starting to speak to each other.

When they were quite comfortable with each other, i can see they can work as a group. but they only can work within the group. from my observation, they became shy again when they need to act up the drama in front of everyone. Even though during their practices they were excited and quite okay but during the real performance they became like 'stone'. Everything ent quite haywire. I guessed they panicked during the performance. But its okay. At least they were having fun doing it.

The other problem i faced was the interference of teacher of my group. Actually i called him to help students with their logo and cheers. But the teacher kind of belittle me. he keep rejecting my ideas for logo and cheers. But the silver lining was he help my group to have a good cheers and logo. So i don't feel really mad at him.
ok thanks all.. i am tired now..see you again friends.

Language Camp A by Nur Ernie Alia (Post)

After the language camp, I was happy that we managed to do it and most of my friends enjoyed the camp very much. We did a post mortem in the class and discussed about the difficulties that we faced during the camp. Some of us experience the same problems and we managed to suggest few suggestions to overcome to problems. We had few photos together with the students and facis. It was actually a sweet memory. I think I might consider in joining another language camp because it was actually nice to meet new people and help each other. 

Language Camp A by Nur Ernie Alia (During)

..........So with limited time of creating script and revising the activities, on 27th September 2014 at 7 am, we departed using a bus to SMK Kota Masai 2. After one hour journey, we reached our destination. We gathered at the school’s hall. We started a little bit late but we managed to catch up with the tentative. It supposed to be a co-host, but we did not managed to find another microphone. Therefore, me and Ai Nee have to pass the mic everytime each of us need to speak up. The warm up activities in the early morning was planned by me and Ai nee to give some refreshment to the students. However, we did not have any experience on conducting the warm up, so it was spontaneous. Therefore, there was some grammar mistake spoke by me, maybe because of the nervousness. I just realized I have a stage fright because I kind of panic during the warm up session *ashamed*. It’s hard to conduct primary school students. Since I am the host and the facilitator at the same time, I had to walk and run to the stage and back to my group members again and conduct the activities at the same time. It was tiring actually. I suggest that DO NOT do multitask. I repeat, DO NOT. Ever. You will messed up with the activities and you cannot monitor your group members well. Luckily I have friends that helped me to look after my group when I’m not around.
In conclusion, I enjoyed with the language camp because the students are quite active and actually cute when responding to my questions. Although they quite shy, but they get along after a while. 

Language Camp A by Nur Ernie Alia (Pre)

Assalamualaikum and hello everyone. I want to share my experience before the language camp. Before the camp, I have few experience on conducting camp but, this one is different because I have to handle with primary school students. For the first time experience, I thought that it was easy to handle children compare to teenager. Actually, it was harder than I expected because they are more energetic than myself. Therefore it was actually hard to handle 10 children all by yourself. 

Before the camp, I volunteered myself to be the MC. Therefore, I have to do a co-host script with Cheang Ai Nee. We did a meeting a day before the camp and discussed about the script. However, we only planning on doing a non-formal event. There are no specific procedure to follow since it was a non-formal. It was a last minute decision so we only had a draft of the script. I challenged myself to be the MC because I want to see my stage-fright level while handling the crowd. We rehearsed twice and we just try our best on the next day.

At the same time, I am one of the facilitator for the camp. Therefore, during the meeting, we discussed on how to do the activity in the group so that there will be no confusion on the next day. We discussed ideas on how to managed the crowd, how to conduct the activity, how to divide the students..etc. 

So, with limited time on creating script and revising the activities......

To be continued...

pre-camp Language Camp B

Salam n hello guys..

I had some experiences in joining Language Camp as a facilitator. But I am never involved with the organizing the language camp. So when I was asked to be a game master it was quite difficult for me. A lot of thinking and work need to do (really?idk) Luckily, I am able to do it with the help from my friend/ roommate, Anuar. From this I know that organizing a camp is not easy as we speak. A lot of bureaucracy involved, from faculty especially. Am I right guys? hew hew hew. have a nice day despite all assignments.

Language Camp B (post)

After the camp, I think I have gained a good experience from the Language Camp B. The camp taught me that if we failed to get comfortable with the kids, they also won’t be comfortable with us. Thus, it is important to have a great ice breaking session in order to ensure that the facilitators will have a good relationship with the students and the students are supposed to be friend with each other. Besides, I also learn that it is important for us to cope with any problems well. I have to compliment all of the facilitators involved in the camp for putting all of their effort in making the camp a success. We had a post-mortem session with Mr. Ghazali a few days later. During the post mortem session, we discussed on how we can organize a better camp in the future. Lastly, I would like to thank all of the facilitators and high committee members for helping getting through with this responsibility. I hope we can work together again in the future. 

Language Camp B (during)

During the camp, we were tested with two problems at the early stage of the camp. The first problem was the PA system of the hall was malfunctioning and thus we can’t use the microphone provided. The next problem was one of the school arrived late for about half an hour than the scheduled time. The camp was supposed to start as early as 8.00 a.m. but because of these two problems, we had to delay our time and started at 9.00 a.m. As a director, I was not assigned to any group, instead I moved around the hall helping some facilitators and students. However, after the coffee break at 10.30 a.m., I was forced to replace one of my friends as a facilitator because he suffered from a stomachache. It was quite a shocking moment for me as I suddenly had to facilitate a group of 7 students.  All of them were shy at first but we managed to get along quite well after one or two session of activities. However, by 2 p.m. I asked one of the high committee to replace my place because I decided to help the camp commander, with his works. I also volunteered to be a judge for skid competition and I have to admit that despite the students acting were all not as good as I expected them to be, they managed to make me laugh and I enjoy the skid competition very much. Despite we were late for an hour to start our camp in the morning; we managed to complete all activities by 4.30 p.m. 

Language Camp B (Pre)

Assalammualaikum and Salam 1 Malaysia…

                This was not my first time attending a language camp as a facilitator as I had once, became a facilitator under a program organized by Mr. Ghazali in the year 2012 if I’m not mistaken. As for the language camp B, I was assigned as the director. Truth to be told I hate to be assigned as a leader but I have no choice but to accept the responsibilities given. Moving on, Mr. Ghazali told us that our target students are going to be Form 1 students. I was happy to know that because I think that we have to organize a language camp for a higher form, it will be a little bit difficult for us.

                Before 11^th October 2014, we had two meetings in order to make full preparation for the camp. In the first meeting, we decided to divide ourselves into several groups and each group will be responsible for different kind of activities. The high committee however was excluded from involving in the group as each and every one of them was busy with their own tasks. In the second meeting, every group was asked to explain on how each facilitator is going to conduct each activity. We also discussed on the materials needed for the upcoming camp. Some of us asked for helps from the facilitator of the previous camp so that we do not repeat any mistakes or problems occurred in the first camp. I also went to see Dr. Zainab personally together with Ekin in order to ensure that all of the materials are enough for the camp. 

Language Camp A: On the job! Facilitating a group of minions like a Boss!

Hello peeps, it's me again~ ^A^/

In this post, I'm gonna talk bout my experience during Language Camp A. I hope my experience during this camp can come in handy for you guys. 

I woke up that day with anxiety and in all honesty I really have no idea what to expect. I have never until that day handled a group of elementary school kids. When I stepped into the hall I was overwhelmed by the sheer sight if all the small lil' students. I had to convince myself it's going to be just fine just to be able to not panic. 

That whole day I tried my best to interact with my students as much as possible, they are really shy at the beginning but slowly they warm up to me after I made one of them laugh at my gesture later during the one of the games. I spotted that one of the students in my group is really good at getting others to join in, it was a blessing for me. The lil' angel really helped a lot to get others to warm up to me and participate more actively in the activities. I also assign simple small tasks for each student in my group while conducting the activities such as cleaning up and arranging things to let them feel like they are a part of the group. I think my group of students like it. My group students really like the attention given to them when I call out their name to help me and when I listen to what they want to say. 

My group English proficiency is mixed, some are low and some are intermediate and high. I needed to ensure my instructions where simple enough that they can easily understand and I did cheat a little by repeating my instruction in Malay.  The high and intermediate proficiency students get bored easily since they can do the activities faster than most of their peers in the group so I asked  them to help their friends during the activities especially during writing and reading activities to keep their interest and attention. .

The best moment during the language camp was during the drama activity. They are elementary kids, so I have taken it upon myself to write out their scripts in big letters so they can read them out but I had all of them contribute telling me what they want to say. My kids love making the props for the skits, we did the props together and well long story short it was a messy, a very FUN MESS.

At the end of the day, I had tons of fun. I love those cute lil' angels. I am very proud that my group manage to do the drama successfully since all of them overcome their shyness to talk in English at the beginning of the camp. I wish to have more and more fun experience like this again.