4O's Reflection

CSI DAY For some of us, this was the first time interacting with children while for others, it was not a new experience. However, everyone felt that it was different from what was expected. Many had a preconceived notion that the children would be very quiet and shy which was proven incorrect. The children were actually really responsive and we could see that most of them did enjoy themselves. This was especially so during the Q & A session during storytelling where we did not expect the children to be that enthusiastic in attempting to answer our questions. Similarly, during the activities, the children were very engaged and interested. It was also rather easy to communicate with them and get ideas across to them. Although they were distracted at times, it was easy to bring back their attention and carry on with the activities planned. Mindsets towards children were definitely changed because of this experience and many actually found it very fun interacting with them. The team also learnt to interact better with children. During the start, it was a bit awkward when communicating with them but after learning to adapt, there was no issue with interaction between the children and the team.

THINGS TO IMPROVE ON Throughout this CSI process, we learnt that effective communication and engagement in the entire team was crucial. As mentioned earlier, the team was rather laid back until just before the CSI day. This resulted in a lack of awareness of each team member’s roles and responsibilities in the storytelling segment and hence inefficiency during the rehearsals. We found that more practice and more rehearsals would have resulted in greater preparedness. During the Q & A session after the storytelling segment, children could not really understand our questions as they were too long and hard to understand, hence giving unexpected and wrong answers which we did not know how to respond to. Questions should have been kept short and rephrasing should have been done for the questions to be better understood. Encouragement should have also been give them to keep trying even if they answered the question incorrectly. During the follow-up sessions, the ‘environment’ theme should have been reiterated more often and more explanation should have been given. For example, there should have been a mention of how the use of newspapers can be an alternative to normal printing paper to save the environment. After CSI, we also realised that we were caught unprepared in trying to solve problems that the children gave us. We did not anticipate nor preempt the behavioural issues the children might give us and had to think on our feet during the process, that might not have been the perfect response. As a whole, we acknowledged that more could have been done to empathise with our leader so that the project will be more successful.

OVERALL EXPERIENCE Overall, it was an enjoyable experience for all of us. Though some might not have liked the idea of working with children due to past experiences, the project has successfully provided a new perspective to what children actually are and can be, allowing us to reflect on how we actually perceive children to be. We also found it fun interacting with the children as they were less of a mess than expected and were rather responsive, creating a high energy level. Moreover, since the project was simple, like storytelling etc., it was not very challenging. Yet, we found it meaningful and exciting, it was also a new experience for many of us and hence we appreciated it very much. After CSI, we realised that the executing of the project was much less stressful than the planning, but acknowledged that the planning created the foundation of our project and cannot undermine its importance. Lastly, being able to be back at a kindergarten brought back memories. Many were overcome with nostalgia as they used the tiny chairs and tables and visited the toilets which were also very small. CSI has helped us bond as a class and was an enriching experience which helped us develop as an individual. Evidently, the programmes could have been better but it was a job well done overall. The team’s hard work paid off and after seeing how the children enjoyed their time, a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment was felt.

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