After a hurried intent (on Thursday) of making a welcoming lunch for the new students of grade 10th, 11th, 12th, all preparations seemed set. We had our short game, some snacks, and a sort of scheme of what we were going to say and do. It didn't go to plan. The kids were bored, most even questioning why they had come. We, the presenters, were talking over each other constantly. The activity we had prepared was divided into groups like it should've been. Most of the kids were nice and said that they would give it another try on Friday, where we would have another lunch activity, but some seemed eager to leave.
I, as the leader of the activity, should have been there to regulate and make sure that we stuck to plan, and should have looked over all the details to make sure that the kids would have been engaged in the activity. Frankly I can say that I failed, but this didn't put me down.
At the end of the activity we asked the children, in smaller groups, what they thought we missed and how we could improve the activity. Most said they wanted to learn peruvian slang. When in more intimate groups I actually got to have a connection with the kids. I realised, with much of my group mates, that the smaller the group, the more intimate the conversation and hence better the interaction between each other. We jotted down all this feedback and then with the help of the people in charge of Friday's activity, came up with a new plan. We would have two different sessions, each with just 15 kids. We would have a short activity on peruvian slang, and then everything would be left to friendly conversation between us and the new students.
I think that it came out great. I actually got to meet a lot of new students and I think that when in a small group we interacted way better. They actually got to learn a little bit about us and we got to learn a little bit about them.
Friday's success couldn't have come if we hadn't learned from Thursday's failure. If you test something out and it doesn't work then you take a different approach towards it, and thats how you make it better. I think that through the teamwork we got to make a great product that could actually be implemented in years to come.
I, as the leader of the activity, should have been there to regulate and make sure that we stuck to plan, and should have looked over all the details to make sure that the kids would have been engaged in the activity. Frankly I can say that I failed, but this didn't put me down.
At the end of the activity we asked the children, in smaller groups, what they thought we missed and how we could improve the activity. Most said they wanted to learn peruvian slang. When in more intimate groups I actually got to have a connection with the kids. I realised, with much of my group mates, that the smaller the group, the more intimate the conversation and hence better the interaction between each other. We jotted down all this feedback and then with the help of the people in charge of Friday's activity, came up with a new plan. We would have two different sessions, each with just 15 kids. We would have a short activity on peruvian slang, and then everything would be left to friendly conversation between us and the new students.
I think that it came out great. I actually got to meet a lot of new students and I think that when in a small group we interacted way better. They actually got to learn a little bit about us and we got to learn a little bit about them.
Friday's success couldn't have come if we hadn't learned from Thursday's failure. If you test something out and it doesn't work then you take a different approach towards it, and thats how you make it better. I think that through the teamwork we got to make a great product that could actually be implemented in years to come.