Friday, September 14, 2007
Penned on:
|10:25 PM|
Thursday, August 2, 2007
This week, we borrowed 2 wheelchairs from SCAS to school for use in a game during the National Day celebration. Something routine?
Definitely not.
Having tried traveling around in a wheelchair before, we all have a conception of how hard it is to travel in a wheelchair. But when we do get into the streets, we realised that it is even more difficult. (Even if we were just pushing the wheelchairs along.)
Firstly, traveling in a wheelchair over long distances is hard and seldom would we see a wheelchair-bound person on a public transport. Even though the facilities have improved, with lifts being installed in MRT stations and so on, we still do not see disabled people actively using them. This is a sharp contrast from many other countries where disabled person get to travel as freely as any able person.
It may be due to the society's perspective on these people or perhaps the lack of infrastructure for the disabled in some places, or maybe both. But either way, the fact is that the disabled in Singapore do not move around too freely in the public.
With a society that is growingly aware about the situations concerning disabled people or people with special needs, the situation is likely to change in the future. Meanwhile, we too would play a part by creating awareness through our exhibition and hopefully, in a time not so distant from now, the disabled can stand up and assume an equal position in the society.
Penned on:
|11:21 PM|
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
For the past couple of weeks, we have been trying with many different things to do in our lesson. We abandoned the use of brushes and instead, we turned to paper prints, to leaf prints and to blow art. This week, we once again tried a new medium of art known as "Marbling art".
To create a marbling art, we have to fill a bucket with water to a height of around 2-3cm. We put a few piece of floaters (a type of paper that floats) onto the surface of the water and then add a few drops of paint onto the floater and allow the paint to spread over the water surface. The children will press pieces of drawing block onto the water surface to create unique patterns.
In this lesson, we noticed that some of the children took up more initiative, especially Shalih who add the drop of paints onto the floater by himself and he managed to drop them precisely onto the floaters. This is no easy feat because for many of them, it is very hard to complete tasks which ask for precision.
As this lesson could not be taught through demonstrations on the white board (unlike the other lessons where we can stick the painting onto the board), we have to teach the children individually. This method of teaching is slower because we have to repeat ourselves various time, therefore it was unwise to do the same for the other lessons. Also, as the children have always paid attention to us, individual teaching do not actually affect their level of enthusiasm of attentiveness.
The children however did find this lesson the most intriguing and asked for more even as time ran out.
Next week, we will return with mosaic art and we hope that they would find it equally interesting.
Penned on:
|10:54 PM|
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
After 10 visits and 8 formal lessons, we decided to abandon the traditional painting technique of brush and paint and decided to do something different.
Of course, we have tried to let the children create prints (using mould, leaf etc.) before but those type of art is still done largely using hands.
In this lesson, we let the children tries with "blow art". A form of art created by blowing the paint across the paper. The paint were diluted with water before being dipped onto the drawing blocks. The children would then have to try their very best to blow the paint across the surface of the paper.
This was a very tiring task and very often, the children were caught out of breadth and had to rest for minutes before they can resume. Nevertheless, all of them
persevered and completed their paintings on time. They were also very excited by this new form of art and most of them expressed their liking for this lesson.
A hidden curriculum in blow art is that the children can actually train their lung capacity as in normal circumstances, some of the children do not breathe in and out as smoothly as we do and some tend to hold their breath or breathe very lightly.
Learning to breathe properly complements their physical therapy sessons and what better ways are there to achieve this than to let them engage in something they enjoy. Hopefully they woudl find this of use.
Penned on:
|1:58 PM|
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Today we went to visit the bookmark manufacturer together with our teacher mentor to finalize our designs. Over the past few weeks, we have been sending him improved designs over and over again – and today we would be able to witness the culmination of all our work.
Mr Robert Tan came across as a very compassionate and nice man. He showed us around his office and his factory where we saw the internal workings of the industry. Then he proceeded to introduce to us the different types of paper we could use to print our bookmarks. It was a highly eventful day, and also the first time I witnessed how a business deal was negotiated and eventually struck. Mr Tan and his wife were highly accommodating, offering us with packet drinks and even a special treat of ondeh-ondeh.
What really struck me was Mr Tan’s lack of hesitation to agree to printing the bookmarks for free. With a gentle dismissal when we asked about the cost of printing, “It’s for a good cause, why talk about money?”, it touched my heart greatly. I believe he is a role model for socially responsible corporations – not only do they exist to provide products and services to the people, they must also serve and be responsible to all stakeholders, including the needy.
Penned on:
|11:06 PM|
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Due to my commitments in the SYF, I had not been able to go to the SCAS centre with the rest for the first few times so my initial impressions of the children were limited to the entries online by my teammates and what they convey to me directly. I had believed that the children will be unable to move, need forceful restraining from teachers, and unable to communicate with us.
Daoyuan told me that the actual situation is much better than what I had thought, but I still approached the centre with some doubts in my first visit in April.
"Hello!" Daoyuan said cheerfully to the class. "Good afternoon, GeGe (哥哥, or big brother)!" the response came with a few waves and smiles at us.
How wrong I was! These children are almost as normal as the rest of us!
After a few lessons with the children, I realised that not all the children are of the same standard. Some can draw very well on their own (I would have thought that she is a normal child if not for her wheelchair), while others need more help to control their hands so that they produce the image in their mind. It is a great test on patience since the children can not draw quickly. I will have to slow down my pace to suit theirs so that the teaching can be more effective.
Penned on:
|5:30 PM|
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Through this project, we realised that the society had brought us up, giving us the opportunities and providing the vital nourishment for our healthy growth. While we celebrate the events in our life, we must remember that there are the less fortunate, and we must do out best to reach out to them and put colour into their lives.
It had been quite a while since the first lesson, and we had tried to do our best to bring out develop each and every child. We too were taught a valuable lesson that teaching through demostrations are more effective than pure verbal instrutions. By showing the children what to do, they are more engaged and truly understand better, and their attitutes towards their work reflects just that. So far the children have enjoyed our efforts and beam happily at our every visit. We really hope that there will continue to be smiles on their faces.
-Group reflection
Penned on:
|8:35 PM|
