Tang Yuan Bo

Service Learning Project

   This is a capture of the Community Involvement Program that has been done by students from 3I.During this project towards the old from the All Saint's Home, we did two mean subjects. Firstly,we had the Flag Day. Students were separated and sent to every part of Singapore to collect donation from the citizens. Secondly, we held a performance for the old. The performance lasted a few hours.

    From this project, I learned that the old should be taken good care of. Some old people feel very lonely if they don't have their sons or daughters with them. Hence, it's very important for we the youths to help this lonely old people, bring joy and happiness to them.Also, this was a perfect chance for the students to show their talents. Those students who was good at musical instruments could go onto the stage and play songs for the old. Hence, this program was a chance for all the students to learn and performance.This service learning benefits all of the students.

I have learned from this project that I should take care of the old well. I am supposed to show my love to the old in my family. Only with love and care from the young, they can feel the happiness of life. By asking donation for them, by performing for them, I feel so great seeing them simile happily. When they praised my job, I got the feeling that what I had done was the most respectable work in the world.

I hope that there will be more projects like this, so that students can learn more about life without sitting in class. We need to learn to care and love the people around us, and this CIP is a very good chance for us to achieve this. So I hope that we can have more projects like this.

-------Tang Yuanbo, 3I

Su Jin Hao

Service Learning Reflection

This is a photo for our CIP activity at All Saint's Home. At there we played

 guitar, flute, Malay drums and sang together to entertain the old folks.

It was very successful that as seen in the picture, all the old folks were

 happy and paid full attention to our show. There are some successful things,

first is we had both Chinese and English MCs, therefore the old folks can

understand better. Our performance included pop music, folk music and

classical music, all the old folks who have different preferences could enjoy

 the performance. One thing I think we need to improve at is to have a more

 variable performances including other events besides music. We can perform

 some ethical dances and tell stories to them. Through this activity I realized

that there are many people who need help, it can be so easy as a group of

 secondary boys doing music show. In the future I will actively participate

in this kind of activities because it makes me feel the need to help others

while I am able to. When I get old, I might be just like one of them, I can

 imagine how sad I would be being alone in an old folks home. I really hope

 people can know the situation that these poor old folks are in and help them.

With everyone helping one another, our society will become a strong and kind one.

Shao Qi SL reflection

During the course of the service learning project, I believe that every Singaporean has the responsibility to give back to the society. One instance that we managed to achieve as a class was the performance and flag day for the All Saints Home. Giving back to the society is not always easy, and under the heat and much rejection of the public, we still braced through. Sometimes we may grumble for the large amounts of homework given by our teachers, but little did we realise that it is actually nothing compared to the unfortunate who do not even have the basic necessities to support themselves. Through this service learning activity I've come to realise how fortunate we are, and that we should not take any of the things around us for granted. Even though it was merely a few hours of performance and effort in completing one flag day event, it is through such actions that one may learn to build our own character and morals. One thing that we could have improved on was undoubtedly the amount of hours clocked, I believe we could have given in more effort for the elderly in the home. I am grateful for such an experience and if given the extra time, I would really make a point to commit myself to such activities during the holidays again.

 "We went to the All Saint's Home for our service learning project to help out and raise money for the elderly, as well as put up a spactacular performance. The trip to All Saint's Home was really a meaningful one. We went to the All Saint's Home for a total of two times. The first time was to do Flag Day and raise money for the elderly there. My group was assigned to a market at Eunos and we went around asking people for donations. There were many kind people who donated money to us. On the second visit, we put up a performance for the elderly people there. There were songs, musical pieces played and the elderly enjoyed it a lot. In my opinion, I think it is a meaningful event as we should care more for those who needs help on the society and offer them the best we could do. So before we think how unfortunate we are next time, look around and feel for those who are worse than us and we should be glad."

Xiao Han

Brandon Adam Joseph (4)

What aspects of the project were well done?

1. The duration of the program was just right and the audience was comfortable with it.

2. The performances were well-prepared for and it could be seen that everyone had put in a great amount of effort.

3. There was good teamwork and everyone worked together to make this possible.

What will we do differently next time?

1. We could practice more as i felt we could have done even better.

2. We could plan the activity on a day which everyone could attend so that everyone participates in the project.

3. We could have a greater variety of performances as it seems that most, if not all, of the performances were musical.

4. We could go to more crowded areas to collect money during a fundraising.

What was the feedback gathered from:

a) The community served: The performances were enjoyable and I loved singing along.

b) The teachers/mentors: The project was well done but more effort could have been put in for some performances.

c) Others who may have helped us: NIL

What have I/we learnt from this project?

I have learnt that I have to give back to the community and that it is good to serve the people in our community.

How can I/we serve and learn even more next time?

I can help the less fortunate by donating food products or other useful items to them, and organise activities for the elderly living in retirement homes to help keep them happy. I could learn more by asking them how they felt about the activities and listening to their opinions.

Royston Long (28) SL reflection‏

The service learning project was an overall success. Some of the aspects, inclusive of the packaging of the gifts for the elderly, were well thought out. These gifts were filled with goods that the elderly there would not receive on a daily basis, and as such we had hoped that they had enjoyed that temporary commodity. The Flag Day also saw great success as the class worked considerably hard to accumulate such a large sum of money for the sole benefit for the old folk’s home. The class performance was indeed breathtaking and saw tremendous accomplishment, as our classmates reveal their innate talents within the realms of music. It not only provided the elderly, the main audiences for the performance, with a spectacularly wide range and variety of musical performances, but it even ended up fostering a closer bond between classmates as we get to learn more about each other’s personality. However, one critical flaw was that the class was not allocated sufficient practice time for the performance, which resulted in a lack of proper planning and scheduling. Our finale, which consisted of performing a group singing, was largely an extemporaneous act as most of us were not aware of such a routine. Needless to say, despite the initial confusion from the group singing, we managed to demonstrate substantial class spirit, as we began accruing interest, joy, and excitement from the experiences.

I have picked up several key points from the service learning project, one of which was to learn about how we, as ordinary citizens, can step up to the cause and help those who are in greater need. There exist a myriad of options for us to help these needy citizens, and it certainly proves beneficial if we, at a young age, got to experience some of these options first hand, and thus can do the same in the future with greater expertise, and maybe even encourage such joint activities to future associates. The other point I have learnt is the importance of teamwork. The service learning project gave the students a chance to seize the opportunity for planning out the events. This allows the students to gain a sense of responsibility, improve problem solving skills, ease the process of communication with others and in our case, build confidence by performing in front of an audience. All these benefits add on to the overall development of student wellbeing, for we learn how to work together to achieve a common goal.

The service learning project which my class undertook was very focused towards the ability for us to gain a thorough understanding of social awareness. Social awareness is the enlightenment of knowing what kind of problems the society has to endure, especially those on a considerably lower financial scale of the hoi polloi. By immersing ourselves with the project, we are able to mutually comprehend the plight which they encounter on a daily basis, enabling ourselves to better serve the community by understanding what they have to go through.

In culmination of my reflections, the project did serve a vital role in helping us gain experience with the importance of not taking people and objects in our lives for granted.
However, I personally felt that the project was too centered towards a specific group of people, rather than on a larger scale. While these people are too in need to help, I think it would be of greater contribution if we were to instead help those who are not in the care of the old folk’s home. While the elderly in the old folk’s home certainly do require just as much help, they are under constant supervision from the volunteers and workers there. Conversely, the disparity compared to those living alone holds a stark difference, where the elderly often have little to no one to rely on for moral as well as financial support. Thus, it could have proven to be more of an amelioration should we have chosen a broader spectrum of people for us to aid. Nevertheless, it was a thrilling experience to be able to assist such an immense multitude of the impecunious.

Amir Syafiq (2)

A few weeks ago our class ,3I, made a visit to All Saints Home, a nursing home located in Tampines . Our class has organized a few performances to enlighten the mood and bring a little colour to the lives of the elderly there. We were broken up into groups, each to come up with one performance. After much discussion, my friends and I reached  a consensus on having a kompang performance. Kompang  is a traditional malay instrument and since most of us were from the Malay Cultural Society, we had some basic knowledge  on how to play the instrument. We met once or twice a week during the June holidays to practice our pieces  and worked on our performance. Due to our lack of practice,  our coordination wasn't very good. Nevertheless, I think that we gave a good and unique performance that entertained the elderly who were smiling and clapping. Other performances by our classmates include a classical Chinese instrument piece, a guitar piece and a piano piece.Lastly, for the finale of the performance , we came together as a class and sang "payphone" and "Fall for you". Overall, i feel that this service learning project not only allowed us to contribute to society in a fun and enriching way but also bonded us as a class. Seeing the bright smiles on their faces during their performance, definitely left an impact on me and i would not hesitate to do it again.

Ri Il Ryong

We successfully carried out our service learning project by going to All Saints Home and performing various kinds of entertaining activities. Our performances included playing piano, guitars and singing as a class and so on. Although the period was quite short, it was obvious that the elderlys enjoyed our performances as we could see smiles on their faces. By carrying out this project, we became more mature and learned new experiences.

Wong Wei Xuan

From this service learning project, I have learnt many things. Firstly, I have gained much knowledge about how to be more socially aware of the things that are happening around us. For example, when we visited the old folks home, there were many people that were less fortunate than me. The old folks there were abandoned hy their family members and some even had terminal diseases. Besides that, I have also learnt to be filial to my parents. 

  There are both advantages and disadvantages to this service learning project. An advantage is that we can learn many values and help to build up our character, shaping who we are and will be. Through the performances for the old folks, we have also learnt to build up our self-confidence to go up on stage.

  However, the disadvantages of this service learning project is that some of us may not be able to fully contribute to the performance for example, going up on stage to perform.

  In conclusion, I feel that I have gained many good experiences and values, and thus making me a better person as a whole.

Alvinn (1)

For our Service Learning project, we decided to visit All Saints Home which is an old folks home. There were two parts to our service learning. The first part required us to go on a Flag Day. Sadly, some of us, including me, were not able to make it as we had a Malay workshop at the same time. This could have been better improved by having the Flag Day on a certain day where the entire class is free.  However from what I have heard from the experiences of my friends, I realized that they enjoyed it thoroughly. This is due to the fact that they were able to play their part in helping the old folks. I find this very meaningful. Some of my classmates are able to get more than they expected while others barely reached the target. However, it is not the amount of coins collected which is important but the unique experience that we obtained from it and the amount of effort that each one of us had put in. This is the most significant and meaningful part of the Flag Day.

The second part of our service learning is the visit to All Saints Home where we performed for the old folks. I volunteered to perform a song on the piano called “You don’t have to say you love me” by Dusty Springfield. However, my performance was not very well done as there were some mistakes. This was due to the fact that I was nervous as I had never performed for such a huge group of audience. I also feel that we were not given enough time to practice our performances. I would have played much better if more time was given for us to practice as I was not free during the whole month of June. Regardless of this, I still managed to play my song to the end. There were other performances such as the kompang performance by the Malay boys ( Kompang is one of the various Malay traditional instruments), the guitar performances of Canon in D by the China scholars, the chinese flute performance by Wei Xuan and Royston and last but not the least, the choir performance where the whole class sang two songs. The two songs were “Payphone” and “Fall for You”. We sang our hearts out as a class. Personally, I feel that the performances that were put up were heart-warming and enjoyable. The old folks were exhilarated and thoroughly enjoyed our performances as they were clapping their hands and their faces were lit up too.

Sembian

There are certain aspects of the project which are well done. They are preparation, teamwork and presentation. Our class was very motivated to being well-prepared for our performance. We prepared with every spare second we had for our various performances. The teamwork we had was also excellent. We helped each other out in any way we could so that we could make our performance the best. Finally, the presentation was extraordinary. The months of hard work paid off as we put up a mind blowing performance. The one thing we would do differently would be to do a show in collaboration with another class so that we would have higher manpower and more spectacular performances. The feedback gathered was also great. The old folks, who were the audience, swayed in time with our musical performances and not a single ounce of boredom was visible upon their faces. The teachers also said that our dedication and teamwork was very apparent from our performances. I have learnt from this project that anybody, even students, can do their part to the community to make a positive impact.

Tham Yeow Wai (33)

Service Learning Project

The service learning project was indeed a meaningful and memorable experience for most of us. It provided us with opportunities to give back to society, such as Flag Day, where we went to different placescollecting donations for a good cause and performing for the elderly at All Saints Home. Following the performance, we then handed them some daily necessities. Although some of the elderly may not be able to express their gratitude clearly, I am sure it touched their hearts.Nevertheless, there are always room for improvements. For instance, if we had more practice singing the song, we would feel more confident on the stage. Still, it was a commendable effort, considering that everyone played their part to make it a success. Hopefully, this performance would let the elderly know that people out there still care for them. The success was a reflection of everybody’s hard work and effort. Without them, the result may have proved otherwise.

Tian Cheng (26) SL reflection

Service Learning Reflection

by :Qin Tian Cheng(26) 3I

I did not attend the service learning with the class but I made up for it by going to all saints home during the holidays and serving as a volunteer. This is my reflection.

PRE REFLECTION

Prior to the visit, I was nervous of course. It being the first time I ever went to an Old Folks, I was not sure what to expect. A large part of my anxiety came from thinking about how to communicate with the old folks. Language was definitely one issue, especially since quite a number of the elderly spoke in their dialects. Another issue that loomed large on my mind was the contrast in mindsets we would have to deal with. We were after all ,generations apart, and common topics were not easy to be found. I hoped that our visit would not just be a superficial one, where we simply went there to go through the motions, for the sake of CIP hours. After all, if you were there already, why not give it your best shot? All in all, I was not in a very positive frame of mind, but I hoped that things would turn out fine. 

POST REFLECTION
On the whole, I felt that the visit was a bit of a letdown. The management of the Home seemed more inclined to using me as a manual worker, as they made me run up and down the home, carrying and labelling boxes. Apparently, their flag day was coming up, and thus they needed us to assist them. I was assigned to a group  with 3 students from Dunman secondary, and I had to work with them for the afternoon. I was  not given any opportunity to communicate with the elderly there, and I felt that this was the biggest disappointment of all. Who goes to an Old Folks home and not have a chance to talk to the old folks there? It defeats the purpose of the whole excursion. However, when we inquired, the management’s reply was that they needed more people for the organization of their flag day. I left the home with a sore feeling. 6 easily earned CIP hours, fair enough, but surely is this what Community Involvement is about?

Joshua Teo (11) SL reflection

For our service learning project, we performed for the old folks in the All Saints Home, and raised funds for them on Flag Day. It was my first time raising funds on Flag Day and it was a good experience as I was able to interact with people and get out of my comfort zone by approaching strangers and asking for donations. The raising of funds for the All Saints Home was rather well done except that there were many absentees so I feel that if another day was chosen, it would have made the project more successful. For our performance, we entertained the old folks with a guitar performance by the Chinese scholars, a kompang performance from the Malays, a piano performance by Alvinn, while Royston and Wei Xuan played the Chinese flute and lastly, a choir presentation by almost everyone in the class. After this, we gave gifts to the elderly. This activity was well done, as it was rather organised, and the best part about it was our team spirit, where we all went up together to sing some songs to the old folks. Most importantly, we made the Old Folks happy and let them know that many people care about them. However I feel that it would have been better if the performance was longer and there were more varieties of performances as we were only able to entertain the old folks for an hour.

Muhammad Firhan Bin Azhar (21) SL Reflection

The project have been organised well despite the lack of experience honestly. When deciding to embark on this project earlier in the year, I thought that it would be a complete failure. That was in the earlier stages where the performances were yet to be confirmed. However much later, everything just seemed to fall into place. The performances are starting to come together, people are co-operating to get their performance ready. I believe that our class has the ability to accomplish things together as one. Although we have different background and views, there is a workable chemistry among us. I had no idea that 3I had the enthusiasm to carry out this project. I give credit to everyone who has done their part. MCs, performers, bloggers, gift wrappers and the photographer (ahem). The time we spent rehearsing was quite little, but we managed to pull it off in the end. 

There are some areas where we can improve should we carry out a project similar to this one. We need to have more interaction with the old folks. We should get to know more about their lifestyle and the problems they face. We can widen our understanding from this and look for ways to improve their life. Not everybody is as fortunate as us. Therefore we should reach out to these people and help them in any way we can. However I feel that it wasn't entirely our fault we didn't get to interact with the elderly because they had to leave quickly. We did all we could. At least for that day.

In conclusion, I've learnt that we should not neglect the elderly. They have experiences we don't. Especially our parents - I wouldn't want my parents to end up there. I'm sure many will feel the same way. But we cannot judge those that have allowed their parents to end up in the home. They could have personal reasons we do not know of. All in all, I feel that the project was a success. 

Nawfal Marican (23) SL reflection

For our Service Learning project, we had carried out a Flag Day for  All Saints Home and we also put up a performance for the old folks staying there. Although I was unable to attend the Flag Day, I have experienced such a thing before and I understand the hard work and patience that has to be put into it. Most may find it an easy task, but standing at one spot for a few hours can prove challenging, both physically and mentally. As for the performance, the Malay students of the class played two musical pieces using the traditional cultural Malay percussion instrument, the Kompang. The other students had a week or two of preparations while I only had a few days. Despite the time restrictions posed before me, I suppose that my contribution was of what you would expect with the given time range. However, as a whole, I felt that we could have been more prepared as we only practiced our pieces a few times. On the actual day, our performance was not as good as we had hoped, but nevertheless, it was still an enriching experience. The priceless pleasure and glee emanating from the old folks after the entire performance was definitely something hard to forget, and these memories are surely those that I will remember.

Jason Wong (9) SL reflection

For our Service Learning project, we helped out in All Saints Home, by performing for the olds folks there.  We performed a few items in the one hour we were given, including the malay drums (kompang) performance, the chinese flute performance and a choir performance.

I feel that the project was well done as the old folks enjoyed the performances that we put up. At the end of the visit, we presented gifts to them, thus we were able to entertain and cheer them up.

However, there were places where we could improve on. An example is to prepare more performances so we could entertain the elderly for a longer period of time. Also, we could have practised more on our performances to make them better as we only practised them once as a class. Lastly we could have prepared better performances that would suit the elderly better instead of modern pieces that we chose.

Overall, I feel it was a job well done since we managed to entertain the old folks. I also learnt many things from this project, for example lending a hand to the less fortunate.