I can do It! challenge at Yusof Ishak Secondary

Three straight days of early rise and shine for Hua Yi Secondary School and Yusof Ishak Secondary School was quite draining for someone who by nature was introverted and well not a high I. This experience presented me with a challenge and as Sam put it “I survived!”

At my final day at Yusof Ishak I was suddenly given the challenge to lead the ice breaker games by my lead facilitator Jaime. [Pause, with a tiny bit of apprehension] Ok, I was up for the challenge. Unfortunately, the combined class of 2E1 & 2E2 consisted of international students from China, Korea, Thailand, etc. A game of Tarzan,Jane & Gorilla started with inertia when the students seemed puzzled over my instructions due to the language/cultural barrier. They wondered why "Jane" in the game was a girly-act-cute portrayal when in reality; Jane was their popular male korean classmate who went around giving his friends hi-fives.

Unaware of the reason behind their shyness and standing there with mic in hand, I was thinking to myself "What in the world did I get myself into?” But of course, this being the “You Can Do It!” programme, I couldn’t stand in front thinking “I’m not cut up for this…” and try to encourage students to have the right attitude and achieve their dreams they have set for themselves right? One had to lead by example and eventually with a combined effort of the team of facilitators the game was complete. [Breathes a sigh of relieve] I persevered and went on to finish talking the students through the administration for the DISC profiling for which I am thankful that they responded well [Breathes a sigh of relieve…again].

The diamond in the rough for these three days of courses, was seeing the students respond to the program as they exclaim "Oh ya! That's me!! Haha" Or listening to them as they open up and share the problems they have in school, ask me fashion tips or simply wave goodbye at the end of the day.

I think the important lesson for both the students and the volunteers is being aware of why we respond the way we do. For example, I could have been discouraged when the students did not respond well to the game but understanding why they responded in that manner helped me to improve the way I gave instructions and tailor the approach to the personality/dynamics of the class. In the same way, the students now understand why their friends or parents react differently from them and not feel discouraged as easily when the response is not what they were expecting.

They say nothing in life is failure, You’d win some and You’ll loose.

-Adapted from song

This is a fact of life, one can’t always “win”. But being able to understand the context helps one to learn and improve.

YOU CAN DO IT,

Posted on behalf of Nicole Then