Mother Tongue Service Project

 Hasara and I have met with the preschool and Grade 3 classes regularly.for the past 2 weeks. We meet with the preschool class every Monday and the Grade 3's on Thursday. The Sinhalese class is actually integrated into the classes schedules.

The Grade 3's seem to be quite successful at remembering almost all of the vocabulary we teach them. Studies have shown that at a young age children have the ability to learn languages quickly and more succinctly. We have just finished a unit on colors and animals. We are now organizing a unit on fruits. We are trying to organize and plan  lessons that relate to what they are currently studying in their normal classes. This week they are doing "Healthy Foods" and we feel that a unit on fruits will be perfect. 

The Preschool class seem to find it harder to remember a lot of the vocab that we teach them. They all seems to remember a few colors and even a few animals. They are currently doing a unit on farm animals. We met them last week and asked them to draw some of the animals that they had learnt. We then thought them the Sinhalese word and they seemed to enjoy the lesson. With the preschool class we try to incorporate a more fun work ethic and we ind that this works well. They are easily distracted and teaching them takes quite a lot of perseverance.    

This service project has really made me aware of the skill I have with talking to and teaching kids. I feel like since i'm still young, it is easier for me to connect with them and make the lessons enjoyable for both the kids and myself. I also feel that Hasara and I are dealing with a issue of global importance. The mother tongue service group is an interesting way to tackle the idea of "preserving culture through language". Which is a significant issue in our ever globalizing community.

"An estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world. But that number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades. What is lost when a language dies?"
(BBC World)

Article: The Death of Language 

This Article really sums up what this service project is about. In today's world society languages such as English, Mandarin and French are being spoken all over the world. What happens when a new child is born and the only language he/she learns is English? In a 100 or maybe even a 1000 years how many languages will be lost? Teaching preschool kids may not me a sure-fire way to fight the loss of language, but it's a start. 

  

SAISA Volleyball Tournament 2014 Dhaka, Bangladesh

29th October-1st November

The OSC Geckos took part in this years SAISA volleyball tournament held in Dhaka. We placed 4th and lost to the host team in the semi final. They would end up winning the championship, The tournament was structured in a round robin setting and we played a total of 8 qualifying games. It was exhausting. I personally had to show a great deal of perseverance as my right knee was bruised up pretty bad and it was effecting my jump. After every game I had to ice every 20 minute interval to make sure I was ready for the next game. SAISA has never had a round robin setting before and it was a completely new structure that demanded a lot of physical and mental prowess. As Captain I had to make sure that my team weren't neglecting their injuries and were resting well.

Our last round robin game was also against the home team ; Tigers. The scores were dead even between 15 and 20 points. As captain I was shouting and screaming at my team until my voice would give in. We were up 20-18. Suddenly, we started falling apart. The score was 20-23 in an instant and we were playing like we had already accepted the loss. Volleyball isn't a game that anyone can win by themselves, it's not possible. After the 23rd point I brought my team into a huddle and spoke to them directly. I told them that we look like we've given up and we are not playing our game. It's against the rules to be in a huddle for longer than a few seconds without calling a timeout. We didn't care. I still can't remember what I said to my team but when we broke we had this new found adrenaline to fight. We ended up losing that set 23-25. I was really proud of my teams ability to come together in the end and play through that mental block. I was also really proud of myself for being able to inspire it. 

I'm currently starting training for the SAISA Basketball tournament 2015 that is going to be held in Chennai, India. 

Photo Credits- Gimesh Ragapakse                                                    OSC Gecko vs LAS Buffaloes 2-0 

Being Captain was an interesting experience that I learned a great deal from. I feel like it prepared me for being a leader in the future and most definitely prepared me for captaining the SAISA basketball team. 

Photo Credits- Gimesh Ragapakse                                  Osc Geckos vs AISD Tigers 0-2

Mother Tongue Project

Last week Hasara and I met with the grade 3s. We wanted to start this lesson off as a more of a introductory lesson rather than a teaching lesson. Handling preschoolers is certainly a new thing for Hasara and me. They are easily distracted and you need to keep them active and attentive. During this lesson we told them who we were and what we wanted to do with them. We learned their names and thought them a few basics such as "My name is" and a "Blue" "Red" "Yellow" and "Green". It was actually quite fun and teaching a class together really involves a lot of collaborating with your co-teacher. We are meeting them again next Thursday and we have a different class lined up for this Monday as well :)

Selfie I took with the class on my Iphone.

Endicott survey- SGA

Over the past 2 weeks the Executive Committee of the SGA has been looking over the Endicott survey results of the past 2 years. We have been comparing the areas in which OSC has been improving and where it has been depreciating. We brainstormed ideas of how we could make the necessary changes in school and what capabilities the SGA has to make those changes. We are currently trying to find a way to express the SGAs ideas and changes to the Board and HODs.

The SGA is also organizing more spirit days and a rally for the SAISA teams. 

Local Volleyball Tournament Hosted at OSC

Starting this Friday on the 17th and 18th of October OSC is hosting a inter- school volleyball tournament. We are hosting 4 teams and will be playing round robin games on Friday we will be playing the placement games. SAISA is only a week away and this tournament is a great chance for us to test our skill and our collaboration as a team in clutch situations. This will also be my first chance to be the captain of the team for a long period of time. We will be at school as a team for a total of 8 hours between Friday and Saturday, we need to concentrate on conditioning and being ready for every game. As captain it's my responsibility to make sure that my team is keeping up physically and mentally. Leadership is not a new skill for me but it is a skill that I have acquired over the past year and I still have many aspects in which I need improvement. I will be the Captain of the Basketball team in 2015 and I really hope I can carry my team to a medal.

Mother Tongue Project

This week Hasara and I went to the library to borrow a Sinhalese children's book. I am on par fluent in speaking Sinhalese and so is Hasara. I however cannot read and Hasara is at a grade 1 reading level. Therefore actually taking a book out, reading and explaining it was pretty challenging for the 2 of us. We did pretty well I think, reading Sinhalese is a new skill I wish to gain and I feel that this service project will really help my acquire it.

SAISA Volleyball Week 4

I've been selected as the Captain of the team.

This brings in a creativity aspect to my primary action. I'll be in charge of warm ups/cool downs and basic team management. This is a leadership role that requires a lot of responsibility and is actually a new skill for me as this the first SAISA team i'm captaining. I've taken up other leadership roles in sports day when I led Red House and in my Group 4 Project when I led my group. Being the Captain of a SAISA team however is a little different, it is a 10 week commitment and my captaincy stays off the court as well. I'm in charge of making sure my team does not get into idiotic trouble and organizing food for visiting teams. It's also added pressure on the court too, I need to be the one who keeps his composure and keeps the team together. I can't be having emotional outbursts despite my lack of performance and concentrate on keeping the team moral up. 

We are currently organizing our visa applications for Dhaka and have about 7 weeks left until we travel. The team is improving exponentially and I'm really looking forward to bringing home a medal.