- cheerleading
- netball
- chamber orchestra
- Reading buddies
- Mentoring
- Math tutoring
- theory
- solfege
- piano
- Relay for life
- Respect week
- Uplands Environmental Society
- Badminton and Tennis
I've added more Action activities as Mr. Skinner suggested after our CAS meeting on Dec. 4th, 2008.
~Cheerleading's on Monday and to date, we've only had one session. The trainer was called in by our captain, Rebecca Ng, and fees are approximately 60 ringgit for four sessions. This week we were basically doing some basic routines, where we learnt to fall properly by keeping our body stiff. We also did a bunch of stretching exercises to begin with and we also practised some simple things like cartwheels and forward rolls. We also learnt how to climb people- i'm not too sure what the exact stunt is called. The one thing that really interested me was watching a 'flyer' stand on the hands of two 'bases' who lifted her in the air. This is called an 'elavator'. My greatest acheivement this session was that i was able to do a split, for the first time in 8 years. I'm rather proud of myself.
~Chamber orchestra is basically the same as before. There were a few new people we're now playing two new pieces called the Kaiser waltz and also 'WHen the going gets tough'. We've had about two sessions so far, and will continue to practise for our first performance in march for Ria. Ria is something of a music festival where there are a variety of performances, not only by students from our school but also from other schools like Dalat and Tenby.
~Math tutoring- I've had two sessions with Christine so far. The first was where we discussed her mock results. She has to make the decision as to whether she'll be taking extended or core math. I personally think she should take extended but she'd have to work very hard and do a lot of past papers, but time constraints may prevent this from happening. In the event that she does choose the core paper, we'll be able to go at a faster pace and focus on the necessary topics. I also went through graphs again with her.
~Theory, Solfege and Piano- Theory lessons have resumed and Wilson has assigned us a new project whereby we have to write an album of six songs and even go through the routine of trying to get it published. He told us that the reason why he wanted us to attempt this was because publishing is something that is useful not only in the area of music but also in other subjects. Solfege lessons have been going on too, and now that we're in solfege three, the dictations are significantly harder and explore a wider range of keys. We also have a new sight-singing book, but i believe we're starting off from the basics and building it up from there. Piano lessons on Wednesday are back to playing studies like Czerny and Hannon and also the Bach Preludes. Saori is currently making me work on a Beethoven piece. Its a sonata from Opus 1 and i'm currently on the first movement. I really enjoy the piece.
~ For respect week this year, we volunteered to help teach the lower years two programmes that complimented the theme of "Being different, standing together" during our free periods. Jack and I were alone for the ILC class, and although the students were initially quiet, they got more responsive as the class progressed and were also very creative in their ideas. The second class we visited was the year 6 class and they too were very bubbly and full of ideas. The last class was the year 8s and they went through the activities very well. I think the programmes were successful because the pupils were able to understand the message that we brought to them, and were also able to use our points and embellish them with their own ideas. By distributing the workload among our partners and supervising the class, we were able to interact with the students and join in their brainstorming and discussions. The best part was that being students, the children were able to talk to us more easily than if we had been teachers. I really enjoyed this experience and if our academic schedule permits, hope to participate again next year.
~UES- there's only been one meeting so far and we went through all the things we're planning to do this year. There's going to be a primary assembly whereby we'll have to do a powerpoint and interest them to help us in our environmental efforts. So far, our plan includes holding a interhouse competition whereby they'll compete to see which house collects the most bottles. WE'll have to make three large boxes to contain the bottles, and we're planning to joining several used cardboard boxing together in order to do this. Some of us also went to improve the original bottle collecting container that was already in existence by painting it green. Our other concern was finding a new newspaper agency who would come collect the newspapers that we had and pay us for them for our fundings. There will also be another secondary assembly to remind the secondary about our activities, and there'll also be a board that we're currently making to put in the foyer. I feel that UES is very constructive indeed.
~ i have already signed up for the other activities, but these have not started due to holidays and also the school prom. They should most probably begin next week.
