Initiatives, 22 February

Hello Guides!

On 22 February, the Year 1s and 2s had an initiatives session where they did activities to earn their badges, while the Year 3s and 4s worked on the WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) badge for World Thinking Day 2019, with the theme of ‘Leadership’.

The Year 1s and 2s worked individually on their Language for the deaf badges for 20 minutes, before working on their Artist badges for the remaining time. During this period of time, the Year 1s were also called out, one by one, to work on their Speaker badges.

Language for the deaf badge

1. Submit your pictures of people demonstrating the guides law
2. Write a short letter applying for a job, or asking a friend to tea, or telling a friend something she will be pleased to hear.

Artist badge

1. Draw your school bag and design the background
2. Draw someone in the room
3. A campsite 50 years from now  (An imaginative drawing)
4. A wallpaper design (guides related)

(All drawings must be coloured)

Speaker badge

1. After a short time for preparation (10 min) , read aloud a passage provided by the tester.
2. Share with the Guider an interesting experience over CNY holidays/an interesting experience in DHS

Reflection from Year 1s:

Although I find this activity(Language for the deaf badge) interesting, I feel that it can be improved in many ways. These ways include focusing more on the main purpose and objective of this activity (thus making it more meaningful) and include more content to it. This would perhaps make the activity more fun and attractive! Besides some tiny improvement points to focus on, I feel that this activity was quite well-planned. I would also like to thank the Seniors for their hard work in planning this whole activity for us! Thank you :D

The speaker badge was not simply just a test to me. It was wonderful recalling my personal events and experience I had in Dunman High for the past two months. For example, the first day I stepped into Dunman High, I was welcomed by seniors who where friendly and caring towards us. In just the three days of orientation, I got to know so much more about my classmates and also students from other classes. I would definitely cherish the memories and time I spent together with my peers. Therefore, I was delighted to be able to share my experience and thoughts through this speaker badge.

Reflection from a Year 2:

During the 集合 on 22/3, we were given different tasks such that we could earn our badges. One of the badges that we had to earn was the Artist badge. We were given four different things to draw under a time limit. I was quite happy about this task as I enjoyed drawing. However, I was worried as I was bad at it. When the timing started, I was quite at a loss of what to do. The things we had to draw all required a bit of imagination and innovation to draw, thus time was spent on thinking on what to draw. One of the things we were required to draw was a picture of a person in the room. I took the most caution in drawing that picture of my friend. This is because I really valued the friendships that I forged during Guides, be it seniors, batchmates or juniors. These kind of 集合s are really meaningful to me as they really make me reflect and expand my creativity.

Meanwhile, the Year 3s and 4s were to play a game unique to this year’s World Thinking Day, called Leadership: 110 years of adventure. Before that, however, they had to make preparations.

Step 1: Build your time machine

The Year 3s and 4s were split into their respective patrols, which would be the teams they would play the game in. For this part of the prepration, each patrol had to construct a ‘time machine’ out of recyclable materials they had brought beforehand. This time machine would be used as the token they would need to play the game.

Step 2: Start the conversation

While building the time machine, each patrol has to discuss and come up with a manifesto and what they look for in a leader. They would have to write this out in a paragraph.

Step 3: Play the game

Finally, it is time to play the game. The teams will take turns to play and will wait for the current team to complete their activity before the next team can take their place. There are three types of cards that will be arranged in a spiral on the floor- past, present, and future. Each card has a leadership challenge written on it. During the game, the playing team will have to choose a particular card with a leadership practice they want to aim for. They will then throw their time machine, trying to land on the card they are aiming for. If they land on a card, they must take the card, complete the activity on the other side of it, and keep the card. If the time machine misses the cards, the team must complete a Lost in Time challenge from a list the facilitator will have. The team must complete the Lost in Time challenge and follow any instructions it gives them. When the time is up or all the cards have been taken, the team with the most number of cards wins the game.

Reflection from Year 3s:

During 集合, we participated in the WAGGGS activity. Firstly, we were tasked to build a time machine using the recycled materials we had brought, as well as to write about what kind of a leader we wanted to be. My patrol had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for our time machine, and eventually decided on building a rocket like structure. We decorated it with coloured paper and patterns. Next, we had to choose post-its on the floor to aim for by throwing our time machine and landing on a specific post-it. We chose the post-its based on what we had written in our reflections about what kind of leader we aimed to be. Once we had successfully landed the time machine on a post-it, we had to complete an activity according to which post-it we had chosen. We had to fold an origami dove, which represents love and peace. When we landed on another post-it, we had to cheer as a batch, so we cheered our batch cheer, which was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the activity very much as it allowed me to think and reflect on what kind of leader I want to be and my aim in leading others, especially since our batch will be taking over the company later this year.

For the WAGGGS activity, we first built a time machine out of the recycled materials we brought, and list down some qualities we would like our patrol to have. Then, we would have to aim our time machine at one of the post-its on the floor. Each of the post-its contains some leadership qualities, and we were supposed to throw at whatever we agree with most. Then, we would have to complete the task the Year 4s gave us. For my patrol, one of the activities we had to do was to guess which statement was true or false. And through that activity, I managed to learn some new facts about guides which I never knew of before. Overall, this activity was rather interesting, since it was rather different from what we usually do in 集合s.

We had a World Thinking Day activity today and we used our creativity to build a time machine out of recycled materials. I find that this activity further bonded our patrol batchmates and improved our communication skills through a fun and interesting activity. I also enjoyed myself when we played the game together. We also got to understand our patrol leadership goals better as we brainstormed about what qualities of patrol leadership we wanted to achieve when we become the leadership batch this year. Overall, I felt that it was a fun session where we got to bond with one another as a patrol batch.

On Friday's 集合, the Year 3s were separated from the Year 1s and 2s to do our own batch activity. We were supposed to build a time travelling machine made out of recycled materials for a challenge organised by WAGGGS. Our patrol made it out of two plastic bottles connected by a toilet roll. After making our time machines, we were supposed to throw it onto a card and answer a question based on the past, present or future. I think the activity was meaningful as we were able to discuss what type of leader we wanted to be which is important since we will soon be taking on our leadership roles very soon. It was also a good chance to bond with my patrolmates as we got to talk and laugh together. Overall, this activity taught me that a good leader can come in many forms but only when working together can they succeed.

Hope that everyone has enjoyed this 集合!

Published by:

Yu Ning

50th Batch Secretary