ELC 2013 Personal Reflections

As we have reached the end of our English Language Camp 2013, we have journaled our thoughts and reflections of our journey together as a team.

Do feel free to enjoy reading snippets of our thoughts.

Please  click here to read.

Collage designed by Kok Jia Xuan

The Perfect End

With laughters and joy, we have reached end of the English Language Camp. 

The ELC has ended but not the memories and friendship we share.

We, TESL Super Juniors, will grow and shine! 

Strive for excellence!

The end, for now.

Our story still goes on...

Thank you!

Quess What: Dessert

I am a type of dessert
I have a spongy base
and on top a hat
creamy with sweet colours, chocolate rice and candies
Guess who am I?

Source

Answer: Cupcakes

 

Quotes: Be happy, don't worry

Today I gained an inspiration from this little girl. This cheerful child does not seem to have any problems.

The moral value that I have learned from this little girl is not to think too much and to have faith. I should be more careful not to over-think and worry unnecessarily.

Short Reflection: What have we done? (Day 3)

The activities on the third day of the camp consisted of activities at the Kent Preschool and the Closing Ceremony. Before that, we had an aerobics session led by Team 22 in the morning followed by breakfast.

At the Kent Preschool, first, we had an ice breaking with the children. Then we had a slot on singing songs, storytelling and puppet show. The children enjoyed these activities very much. We also gained some experience in organising children in class. We ended these activities by giving cupcakes and a box of Milo to each child. 

The chidlren at the Kent Preschool enjoyed the puppet show
entitled "Peter and The Wolf"

Then, we started the preparation for the closing ceremony. The closing ceremony was officiated by the representative for the IPG Director, Encik Datu Raiman bin Datu Kauman. During the closing ceremony, we presented two songs and our blog to the audience. This session ended at 2:30 pm.

e-Journal: The Closing Ceremony

The Closing Ceremony of the English Language Camp which  was organised by Sunny Team  was held on 18th of April 2013, from 1.00 p.m. till 2.30 p.m. at the Tun Mustapha Hall .

The preparation for the event started right after we had our lunch at 11.30 a.m. Even though we faced some changes in the time and venue for the function, we did not panic because we were well-prepared. Everyone did their job perfectly and and we started our function on time. The function was officiated by the representative of the guest of honour, Encik Datu Raiman bin Datu Kauman.

Phoebe Hon, the organizing chairperson, gave the welcoming and thank you speech.In conjunction with our theme, English in the 21st Century: Blogosphere, we had our students' work presented by Ting Ngiik Ying in the form of a movie video and e-journaling. The presentation was impressive and the blog spot was well done. After that, we sang our theme songs before we moved on to the closing speech Encik Datu Raiman.

The closing ceremony marked the end to our English Language Camp 2013.Despite some minor mistakes, the ceremony was a success. The Sunny Team would like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone for their contribution to the function.



The arrival of the representative of  the Guest of honour,
Encik Datu Raiman bin Datu Kauman

Presentation of the blog by Ting Ngiik Ying



ELC theme song with actions!



Encik Datu giving the closing speech

e-Journal: An Interactive Session at the Preschool

It was a bright Thursday morning of sunshine and rainbows. It was the 3rd and the last day of the English Language Camp. We, Sunny team, had organised and participated in the interactive session at the preschool.

At 7:00 in the morning, our team members went to the venue early for preparation. We greeted the teacher and asked for some advice regarding the class management and children's behaviour.



The children love the "Chicken Dance" session the most.

After the pupils arrived, we were introduced to the young children. Our team members led the greeting session before our interactive activities started. Our ice-breaker was great. Both the pupils and the organizers enjoyed the "Chicken Dance" session. 

Next, the storytelling session was conducted by Miss Kok Jia Xuan, the winner of the storytelling competition which was held during our ELS session. Her story "The Giving Tree" is a sweet and nice story.



Children of Kent Preschool enjoying the puppet show.

   

After that, the champion team of puppet show competition performed their puppet show entitled "Peter and The Wolf". The children enjoyed themselves so much. They were totally engrossed with the story telling and the puppet show.

Finally, we ended the session with lovely chocolate cupcakes and Milo drinks for the young children and their class teacher. We also took the chance to chat with the children and the teacher before we bid goodbye to them. That marked the end to our final session of ELC. 

Overall, we gained new experience and beautiful memories. Both the teacher trainees and the young children enjoyed each other's company.

Sunny team would like to convey a "big thank you" to each and everyone who helped to make this session a success!

A group photo was taken before we have to go!

Team 3: The Sunny's Introduction

 
This is the video to introduce our team. We are team 3, "The Sunny". Dorina Wong Ming, Yap Sze Miin, Sally Sia Yin Yin, Sally Lew Tze Ee, Yean Yan Tong, Kok Jia Xuan and Phan Chei Kuan are the members of the team. We have chosen this name because in our opinion, an ideal language teacher must be cheerful.

We hope to spread joy and happiness though all the activities we have organized. The activities that we have conducted are the puppet show competition, an aerobics session and the interactive session with young children at the Kent Preschool. That's all for our introduction.

Hope you will like it. Thank you.

Guess What: Tree

Guess what?

What has a bark but no bite?
Source

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A tree!

Poem: Save Our Mother Earth

Bright and warm sun shines in the blue sky,

Animals live with their families in the jungle,
Children play happily in the playground,
The air is full of healthy gases;

Fire ball hangs up highly in the sky,
Animals have neither homes nor shelters,
Children are locked in the prison,
The air is saturated by harmful gases;

What has happened to the Earth?
Broken bottles and pieces of glass scattered everywhere,
Mountains are bald and icebergs are melting,
Her beauty has been destroyed!

Let’s stand up for our Mother Earth,
Let’s work together to save the Earth,
Let’s keep our environment green,
Let’s go green!

Source

Story: The Frog and The Mouse

Source

Once upon a time, there was a frog which dislikes its neighbour, mouse very much. The frog was always looking for a chance to teach the mouse a lesson.

One day, the frog convinced the mouse to play in the water. The mouse refused to do so as it could not swim. However, the frog told the mouse that there was a way to keep it safe. It was to tie them together with a rope. Finally, the mouse agreed to give it a try.

In the water, the frog tormented the mouse. Sometimes, it swam fast; sometimes, it  dived into the water. The belly of the mouse swelled up as it swallowed too much water and it started to float.

Suddenly, an eagle appeared in the sky, looking for food. Soon, the eagle noticed the floating mouse. The eagle pounced on the mouse with its claws and flew away. The frog which was tied together with the mouse was also pulled up by the eagle. Before being eaten by the eagle, the frog regretted what it had done to the mouse and said, "I did not expect myself to be harmed."

~The End~

Justification:

I adapted this story as I got inspired by the mangrove clean-up activity that we had done in the Kota Kinabalu Wetlands. We picked up the rubbish in the wetland. This story reflects the situation between humans and the environment nowadays. The beauty of the environment is being destroyed by humans as there are plenty of rubbish everywhere. This irresponsible action has resulted in the pollution of the environment which is threatening not only animals but humans themselves.  Just like the story above, the frog aimed to harm its neighbour but unfortunately the frog itself was also harmed as well. Bear in mind, "we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

Source

Short Reflection: What have we done? (Day 2)

On the second day of the English Language Camp, we led the aerobics session early in the morning. The activities for the day consisted of an outing to the Kota Kinabalu Wetlands and the Tropical and Biology Conservation of University Sabah Malaysia (UMS), language games and the preparation for the English Language Camp blog.

After having aerobics session, we took a bus to to the wetlands. It took an hour to reach there. At the wetlands, we observed the food chain and collected rubbish of the swamp. With everyone's cooperation, we managed to clean some parts of the swamp.

After that, we visited Institute for Tropical and Biology Conservation in UMS. We saw some samples of insects and animals that we have not seen before. This visit had widened our knowledge about floras and faunas. It also gave us much inspiration in writing poems, which was one of the purposes of this trip. Then, we returned to our campus.

We started the language games at 4:30 pm. There were three games consisting of riddles, word search and Basta. All of these games were quite difficult but we managed to complete them. Allthough our group did not win, we enjoyed the games very much .

At night, we wrote poems, drew pictures and edited photos and uploaded these to our blog. We also edited the blog together. Besides that, we also practised the songs to be presented during the closing ceremony.

We were glad to have the oppotunity to work together and also get closer to the environment. English Language Camp is really fun and nice.

Quotes: Only you can make these ideas a reality

I took this photo at the Exhibition Hall of Kota Kinabalu Wetlands. This quote is to persuade people to conserve mangrove swamps. Remember,environment conservation starts from you. Turn your ideas into reality before you persuade others to follow your ideas.

Quotes: Our Day 1 and 2

We have compiled the significant moments in Day 1 and 2 into this short video. Sit back and enjoy!

Story: The Mangrove Trees' Story

A long time ago, there were thousands of tall and strong mangrove trees in the Wetlands located in Likas. There were also many animals that lived there such as insects, crabs, fish, lizards and birds. They were happy to live together and would always sing and dance in groups. However, a new city has been developed opposite of the Wetlands. Many people moved into the city. Unfortunately, many people started to throw rubbish into the river. When there was high tide, lots of rubbish was trapped among the roots of mangrove trees. It caused the trees and the animals to have breathing difficulties. Soon, diseases started to spread among the animals. There was no cure for these diseased animals. They could not sing and dance anymore and they were sad. They became lifeless and they started to died one by one.

One day, a group of students came. They brought a few packets of plastic bags. Then, they started to pick up all the rubbish that they could find in the mangrove swamp. They also replanted new mangrove trees. What a rescue! The students pledged to come again in the following years and they would do the same rescue work in the Wetlands.

What a joy! The animals can sing and dance again. They live happily ever after.

The End.

A group of student pick up the rubbish

Justification:

I wrote this story as I was inspired while picking up the rubbish in Wetlands. It was not an easy job. We must preserve our environment.

By: Dorina Wong Ming (Sunny Team)

e-Journal: Aerobics Session (DAY 2)

On the 17th April 2013, we started our aerobics session from 6:30 am until 7:00 am at the field next to Tun Mustapha Hall.

The Sunny Team

From Left: Sally Lew, Phan Chei Kuan, Dorina Wong, Yean Yan Tong, Kok Jia Xuan and Sally Sia

Our aerobics leader, Phan Chei Kuan, lead the warm up session.

 Warmed up!

Bend, bend and bend!

Stretch, stretch and stretch!

HAHAHA!

They enjoyed themselves very much!

Poem: In Our Hands

Guess What: Transport

 

What is the shoe that can float on the water?

Answer: The boat

 

Short Reflection: What have we done? (Day 1)

It was the first day of the English Language Camp 2013. We had some interesting activities such as ice breaking, treasure hunt, etiquette session and a puppet show competition. 

In the morning, after having the aerobics session, we had a slot for ice breaking. During the ice breaking, we were divided into two groups - the instructors and the blinds. The blinds had to search for the shoes of their instructors and then help put them on. 

After that, we had a treasure hunt organised by Team 22. It was amazing. We had to find out the stations using the clues given. Besides, at every station, we had to accomplish some missions such as Spell-It-Rightt and riddles. It took almost two hours for us to finish all the tasks and reach the finishing line.

Later, we had an etiquette session led by Madam Shubashini, an English lecturer from the Language Department. This session was related to the characteristics of an ideal teacher. At the end of this session, we managed to figure out the characteristics of an ideal teacher. 

At night, we held a puppet show competition. All of us helped out in the preparation of the puppet show competition and it was a success. The champion group was the Candy Girls with their story entitled "Peter and The Wolf".

Quotes: Care for Earth

Beautiful scenery of the capital city
Photo taken at Signal Hill Observatory, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

"I am not an environmentalist. I am an Earth warrior."

Darryl Cherney

On the 2nd day of the ELC, we volunteered ourselves to collect rubbish that was trapped amongst the mangroves at the Kota Kinabalu Wetlands. Since we had extra time after lunch, we stopped by the Signal Hill Observatory for a short photo-taking session.  

The observatory is a really great place for sightseeing. The scenery of the magnificent bright sky and the clear sapphire blue sea with beautiful tall buildings really did amaze me. It was, however,  a complete contrast to the situation at the wetlands. Rubbish such as tyres, slippers, bottles, plastic bags were brought in to the mangroves by tides. 

That was when I started thinking about mother nature- how long can our beautiful scenery still be seen and enjoyed? What will happen to the blue sky and the sapphire sea in Sabah if our modern industrial development destroys mountains that are covered with trees, lakes, and running streams and transforms them into  mountain of junks, garbage, slime pits, and debris?

Mother nature is a gift from God! Stop the depletion of natural resources. Don't you hear the silent cries of the Earth? Be grateful! Give back what we have taken from our Earth. 

From now on, let us not only be an environmentalist but an earth warrior!

A drawing inspired by the scenery of Kota Kinabalu Wetlands.

"Don't you hear the silent cries of the Earth? Be grateful! Give back what we have taken from Her. " 

Yean Yan Tong