Action: School Basketball Team

            Today was the date of our second practice. We will be having practice mainly on Tuesday and Thursday, with the requirement that we come to two practices each week. However, some of the team members have other activities on either Tuesday and Thursday, and because of that, there will also be days when optional practice is held on Monday and Friday, and on these days, those who cannot come to a Tuesday or Thursday practice, can make up for the practice that they missed.

            Today, we focused on more skills related drills such as doing layups, and practicing shooting. Many of the people joining the basketball team this year have not participated in basketball before, and so as a team, there are a lot of things that we can work on. At the end of practice today, we played against each other in teams, as we took turns playing full court.

Action: School Basketball Team

            I have decided to join to the school girls basketball team this year as it is my final year, I would really enjoy one final chance to play basketball. It will also be a good way for me to exercise, which I have over the last few months really felt the lack of.

            This year, our school is participating in a league, so the structure of the sports teams follows the schedule for the league. Because of this, the grade 10 to 12 (SMA) sports team will consist of the boys and girls soccer team, and then later the boys and girls basketball team. This is the reason that the formation of the basketball team started so late into the first semester of the academic year.

            As such, today was the very first day of practice. We focused on conditioning today and did drills and work outs that helped us with our core area especially. Not having exercised well in a very long time, today was quite tiring for me, but I am still determined to join the basketball team this year.

Service: Teaching English Club

            At today’s meeting, we gave the teams a change to try out debating for themselves. We asked them to case build for a motion regarding whether schools should or should not have uniforms. We divided the four house teams into two groups consisting of two house teams each. These two big groups were assigned either the role of affirmative or opposition.

            We helped them along in their progress to case build, mentioning possible arguments that they could make as they continued discussing within their groups. We also reminded them to take into account the arguments that the opposing team might make, and to think of ways in which they could counter those arguments.

            From the two teams consisting of two house teams each, we then picked a house team from each, to represent the affirmative and opposition side. The chosen teams then debated the motion, in a loose manor, as this was the first time for most of them to debate, and feedback was given to the teams. All in all, it was a chance for the teams to try out debating for themselves.

Service: Teaching English Club

            Today we commenced with our third unit: Debate. During this first meeting, we started with introducing everyone to the basic knowledge that we were introduced to when we first joined the Debate Club last school year. As the different house teams will be competing in a debate competition soon after their return from Christmas break, they all sent representatives to join this unit of English Club, along with a list of names that will make up their two teams, with two member of their house team listed as a team keepers, one for each team they send. Though some of the house teams have not submitted completed lists yet, we still had representatives from most all the house teams attend.

            First we introduced them to the style of the debate competition that we will be holding, that is, Asian Parliamentary. With this introduction we explain to them the concept of motions and speakers, explaining to them that each team will consist of three speakers, who all speak in turns, as well as having either the first or second speaker act as the reply speaker. We explained to them that when two teams go against each other, one team will be supporting the motion, as the affirmative, and they will define the terms of the motion. The other team will then act as the opposition, stating their arguments for why the motion should not pass. Aside from this we also explained to them the amount of time that each speaker is allowed, which we have shortened for the House Team Debate Competition, as there are times constraints that we have to work with.

            Most of the time, the house team representatives were listening and note taking. The purpose of today’s meeting was mainly to introduce them to debating and the format of debates as seen in debate competitions, which is unfamiliar to most of the house team representatives, if they did not participate in Debate Club last year. I feel that the teams are beginning to understand the format of debates, even if some of them are still somewhat confused, or do not have a clear idea of what a debate will actually look like when they take part in it.

Creativity: Piano Lessons

            Today, I played pieces no 13 and 12 from the Bach book. I need to play bot with greater accuracy. For number 13 especially, I need to learn to play the song faster. I again played Humoreske which I still need to practice.

Service: Teaching English Club

            Today was the last meeting of the Creative Writing unit. As we did with the previous unit, for this last meeting Mr. Peter was again present as a guest. For today’s meeting, the participants of the unit had prepared short stories. The aim of this meeting was to share the stories that they had written. Again the desks were set up in a circle, and one by one, those who came read the stories that they had written, or at least parts of the stories, since we had limited time to listen to all the stories. Most of these stories were works in progress, but they all have well developed styles, with a clear premises if the participants chose to finish the stories.

            After each participant shared their story, we went around giving them feedback and also mentioning our impressions of their work. All in all, I was quite impressed by the variety of styles that we saw. Everyone had a distinctive style and there were a variety plots too. There was even a work without a clear plot that more of just brought you through this experience, more like. I feel that the different styles and storylines that we witnessed showcased that really anyone can write if they put themselves to it.