Residential Project Section

Hi,

Sorry for the delay.

Here is how you guys should do your residential section.

First part - pre and post, whatever u have done for this remains unchanged. our main aim is to do whatever a normal participant in an ocip will undergo. such as pre-trip and trip proper.

Second part - we will compile whatever we have learnt and undergo to create an overseas service learning facilitation package. we now write in a mindset tt we, having gone overseas, will understand the feeling of a participant and thus b able to come up with sth tt can cater to tt.

this is to ensure a smooth flow with the assessor report.

there will be three entries for ur post trip section other than the others as followed in my attached report at the end.

the three entries are:

Date: 15/4
Time: 1500-1700

Today is the first meeting for the facilitation package that were suppose to come up with. this session is mainly to consolidate all our thoughts about the trip and project, something of a reflection session to capture the thoughts that any participant might have before his trip. much of the pre trip questions were focused mainly on the participant itself, such as why am i doing this etc. there were also several questions for the group as a whole as we felt that the project is not only about one self but also everyone in the team.

and as we moved along into trip proper, questions begin to be directed to their experiences with the locals and their learning experience. some of us came up with great ideas such as allowing them to express their thoughts freely with as little restrictions by us as possible in the package to be given to them. yet, the main structure was still there to ensure a properly guided manner of reflection being done.


Date: 22/4
Time: 1530-1730

todays meeting agenda will be on project planning as trip such as this would require extensice preparation by participants involved and thus there is a need to teach participants on proper planning procedures. first, we split the whole project into pre proper and post. many of us brainstormed what was the norm when it comes to project planning.

we then tried to put these into activities that we can use to teach them. additional materials such as appendix A- guidlines to a proposal was also added to provide them with additional background knowledge if required.

as far as possible, we want to simulate the real planning procedure in our workshop such tt participants wil be able to understand better hands on and as facilitators, we can also guide them if they do make any mistake.

Date: 13/5
time: 1500-1700

the third formal meeting for this package. after consolidating all the information and materials, the booklet has been put together. this session is for everyone to vet through the whole booklet as a whole to ensure its smooth flow and also for further addition of any other points.

we also went through our lesson plan for the workshopto help troubleshoot and problems that may occur.

you can obtained your copy of my RP section here.
my content page can be obtained here as well

Assessor Report for Residential Project

For this residential project, the aim was to create an overseas service learning facilitation package. This involved the participants traveling to Vietnam, undertaking a service project, learning the mechanics, managing the demands of different stakeholders, in order to design workshop modules which could be used to facilitate the training and preparation of students from Victoria School who wish to undertake similar ventures.

The service project involved the refurbishment of a village primary school and the setting up of an English Library from book donations collected prior to the trip. Although this is the first time the boys are doing service on such a scale in an overseas context, they were determined to pick up new skills such as project planning, canvassing for donations, and time management as most of the preparations were done in the midst of their ‘O’ levels.

On the ground, the group had good dynamics during the time in Vietnam. They were blessed with a good mix of team leaders and team players. The workload was distributed effectively and naturally amongst them, allowing each the opportunity to take ownership of a part of the project according to their strengths. Logistics tasks such as getting paint supplies and other hands-ons such as scrapping off old paint flakes found ready volunteers. During this time, they had to make sound judgment calls due to changes brought on by limited resources and unpredictable weather. I am pleased to note that they were admirably flexible in modifying their plans to cater to these changes.

After the trip, the group collated their learning experiences and translated their individual reflections into a facilitation package and a service learning booklet. They were able to allocate the design of this training package to leverage on the strength of each of the participants in various areas from conceptualising the programme, to crafting templates, to formulating lesson plans to facilitating the activities. In fact, I was excited to know that they have been instrumental in enthusing their NPCC juniors to undertake a similar overseas CIP in June 2008. It is even more encouraging that these NYAA Gold Award nominees have volunteered their services to facilitate the training and preparation of their juniors, thereby putting the experience they acquired and the instruments they designed to directly benefit another cohort of participants.

I believe this outcome best captured the spirit of a Residential Project: to give themselves to a cause, to actualize the cause in a learning experience, to translate that learning experience into knowledge resources and to transfer the knowledge resources to build the capacity to give in other young lives.
________________________________________________________________________

this is the assessor report for RP. yes your report should cover the same focus with similar standards. now do you know what is expected of you?

NYAA Entry - Service

Date: 4th Feb 2008
Venue: MPFSC (Blk 6, Marine Terrace)
Duration: 2 hour (1500 – 1700)
People involved: Edmund, Thomas and zhan liang

Today is the eve of eve of chinese new year and we decided to pay Mdm Ng a visit. Bought her oranges before we went up to her apartment. It is my first visit to her house after the first time i saw her afew months ago. She looked as good as i saw her the last time and was really happy when she see us visiting her for the new year.

Chatted with her on some common topics and being a really nice person, she treated us to some chinese new year goodies while insisting on giving us hongbaos which we duly rejected.

After further conversation about each of our daily live, we bidded goodbye and wished her happy chinese new year.

NYAA Entry - Service - Distribution of daily essentials

Date: 03/02/08
Hours Completed: 0800 - 1600 (8 Hours)
Ppl: zhan liang calvin jia wei edmund(LATE AGAIN) thomas boon kiat seth and joseph

Details

Today’s session was part of a much larger island wide distribution of daily essentials which included detergents and basic food items such as rice and salt. We started off early in the morning to pack the various items into bags. Things were a bit chaotic at first but it got better as everyone becomes clearer of what they are doing.

About 1000 or so goodie bags were prepared for distribution and by noon, they were properly packed into the cardboard boxes and placed up into trucks to various parts of Singapore by other volunteers. We waited behind to help arrange the rest of the bags and cleared up the remaining mess. We also helped to distribute to nearby blocks around Circuit Road.

Soon after, we were told to deliver a stack of 300 bags to the elderly centre at Kallang. Theses bags will be distributed on a later date by the centre itself to needy people around that area. Cartons of potatoes as well as rice were also included in the delivery.

NYAA Entry - Service - Befriending

Date: 25th January 2008
Venue: Block 53, a particular unit on 3rd floor
Duration: 1.5 hours (1500-1630)
People involved: Calvin and a friend, Changyang

The main purpose of this visit was to inform Mdm Alimah and Azmi about the probable dates of future visits and just to check that they were fine.

We set around and interacted with Azmi, sharing with him what are some of the things we are busy with at school. We also asked him about his art exhibition whereby he had presented his own oil paintings at Suntec City convention hall.

Both Changyang and I were busy with school the past weeks and were unfortunately unable to make a trip down. We hence saw the need to make a personal trip down to greet them. We informed that we would visit them on free Tuesday and Friday afternoons in the future.

NYAA Entry - Service - Befriending

Date: 18th December 2007
Venue: Block 53, a particular unit on 3rd floor
Duration: 2.5 hours (1130-1400)
People involved: Calvin and a friend, Changyang

Azmi showed us some of the oil paintings he has done over the years. We learnt from him that each oil paintings can take up to a few months from the start till its completion. Azmi had also participated in competitions and had even had his own exhibition.

He then referred to us some of the problems he was facing with his computer. We hence decided to lend a helping hand. He had problems trying to upload photographs from his camera due to problems of connection with the USB port. After many falied attempts, we decided we would bring along a personal card reader to help him upload his photographs. His computer was also facing problems with spyware. We helped to do a scan and later discovered that his computer was in risk of numerous viruses. We hence helped him to clear these viruses by downloading a software.

NYAA Entry - Service - Christmas

Date: 17th December 2007
Venue: Marine Parade Goodlife Centre (Block 16)
Duration: 5 hours (1000-1500)
People involved: Calvin, Thomas

The event was scheduled to start at 11am, so we were told to meet at 10.00am to help out with preparations. As we were not the organisers of this event, we were told to only facilitate and help out when needed. It was held in block 16, and at a good turnout of more than 50 elderly residents in that area, all members of the Good Life @ Southeast CDC.

It started with a game of Bingo where we were told to facilitate the announcing of picked numbers. The game lasted until many had that sheet of numbers all struck out. Following this was a game similar to Simon says, only Simon was now replaced by Santa Claus. We were told to help translate for our Muslim friends who were present.

Then they played past the parcel, where the person holding on to a present when the music stop had to do a forfeit before he or she can keep that present. Everyone was feeling the Christmas spirit of giving! Thereafter, we stopped the games for catered lunch. We served lunch, drinks and thereafter cake to the elderly.

After eating, we helped to facilitate the exchange of gifts prepared by them. That was the end of the event. We helped to clear the area and keep the chairs back in the centre. We then helped to deliver the extra packets of food to elderly residents that often live alone or are in need of basic necessities. With that, the day of service ended for Thomas and I.

NYAA Entry - Service Section - 5th Anniversary for Good Life @ Southeast CDC

Date: 1st December 2007
Venue: EXPO hall 1
Duration: 4 hours (0900-1300)
People involved: Calvin, Thomas, zhan liang, seth and edmund

At 9 am, we began the preparations for the games that will be played during dinner itself. Shifting of necessary logistics from van to venue was done by those who came earlier. The rest were briefed on how to facilitate the games such as tikam tikam and given the necessary logistics for the game.

By 10am, the first busload of elderly arrived. Initially, the escalator was not operating and some of the elderlys had to climb up the stairs. This greatly inconvenienced the elderly as they were relatively frail and could not afford the strength the climb the flight of steps up. Few of us were there to help them up while the rest quickly got the escalator working.

Acting as ushers to the elderly in the beginning, we helped by guiding them across to expo hall 1. And during the dinner, we were facilitators to afew tables and guide them through the games such as tikam tikam and the scavenger hunt.

Lucky draw was next, with some winning items like vaccuum cleaner and even a LCD TV. Many of the elderly went home happy and delighted, especially because of the food and games thay they enjoyed the most.

NYAA Entry - Service - Befriending

Date: 6th November 2007
Venue: Block 53, a particular unit on 3rd floor
Duration: 1.5 hours (1030-1200)
People involved: Calvin and a friend, Changyang

This family was introduced to us by Seow Hong, who works at MPFSC. An elderly woman, Mdm Alimah, lives alone at home with his son, Azmi, who has difficulty moving around and in speech. His condition was due to a drug overdose some years back. Our objective was to make friends with her son, and to keep him company so that she can have more personal time to her own leisure. The old lady had been taking care of his son ever since the incident.

The first visit was only meant for introduction sake. We also spoke with her on the probable dates we would visit again, which was set on every free Tuesday. However, the following weeks will be impossible as Changyang and I are going overseas one after the other.

We found out that her son likes oil painting and smsing. So we took his number down to inform him prior to future visits.

NYAA Entry – Service

Date: 4th November 2007
Venue: MPFSC (Block 53)
Duration: 7 hours (0800-1500)
People involved: Boon Kiat, Calvin, Edmund, Jiawei, Joseph, Seth, Thomas, Zhan Liang
Special Thanks to: Zi Hao and Changyang

On 4^th November, the usual eight of us with the help of Changyang and Zi Hao went down to MPFSC to help them in a local community event. Senior Minister Gok Chok Tong had graced the event. In this event, MPFSC is trying to raise their awareness among the Marine Parade community with their target being the elderly living in the vicinity. They would hope to reach out to all the elderly so as to be able to attend to their immediate needs and bring joy to their lives.

All of us met up at 8am. The event was held at the multipurpose hall and the void decks of around Block 53 to 55. At this event, different non-profit organizations would showcase all the activities that they could offer. Computers were set up at the MPFSC booths with installed games which were meant for senior citizens. The main purpose was to attract the elderly to step forward and try out the games and if they were to be interested, they could sign up with MPFSC as they would arrange more activities for the elderly. When everyone had arrived, we reported to Seow Hong-jie before she started to assign different tasks to us. Zhan Liang was in charge of walking around the area, encouraging senior citizens to try out the games that were set up for them. He would at the same time hand out the queue numbers to them if they were to be interested. Seth was then in charge of keeping track of the queue numbers by collecting them back from the users when it was their turn. Lastly, the rest of us were assigned to all eight computers individually. We had to guide all the senior citizens and teach them how to play the games. The games featured included Bejewels, games involving mahjong tiles, etc.

Initially, for all senior citizens using the computers, it was tough for all of us as they were extremely unfamiliar with regards to the utilization of the computer. Thus, they had difficulty in following our instructions. However, within the time limit of around 10-15 mins provided for each user, they were able to get used to the maneuverability of the game itself. Hence, all of us felt contented and elated by the fact that the senior citizens were enjoying themselves and we were able to add colour to their lives in that short period of time.

The event had ended at around 2pm and we began dismantling the computers and packed everything up. By 3pm, we had returned to MPFSC with all the computer systems kept safely in the storeroom before going off for lunch.

After the event itself, we proceeded to Block 6. We would be helping MPFSC plan for their next activity. We would be holding a Hari Raya/Deepavali celebration for the senior citizens. The celebration would be held at the void deck of Block 6. Thus, we went over to check out the area to ensure that our floorplan was correct and that the space given was sufficient for us to fit in at least a hundred senior citizens for the celebration itself which would be held on the 12^th of November. Through this recee trip, we have ascertain the space given was sufficient and everything would go according as planned.

NYAA Entry - October and November - Electronics and Electricity

Date: 7/10/07 - 3 Hours

Date: 21/10/07 - 3 Hours

• Charateristic of Resistor-Capacitance Series Circuit.
• To verify the relationship between the supply voltage, voltage across capacitor and the voltage across resistor in a Rc series circuit.

Date: 28/10/07 - 3 Hours

• Charateristic of pure Inductive Circuit
• To show that the ratio of the voltage and current in a pure inductive circuit is equal to the inductive reactance, X of the circuit.

Date: 1/11/07 - 3 Hours

• Fixed sockets for Osim exhibition at Vivo City.
• Circuit tripped due to incorrect connections.

After Action Review for Vietnam 2006

Those who are going for the EOY trip are required to do an AAR to reflect on what happened in Fusionoize Vietnam '06 and state the the lessons learned from there to be applied in the '07 trip this year. The format below is as follows:

1) What we should have done during the trip
i.e Things that we did not do or plan to do, but realized it was necessary after the trip. These are the lessons learned by reflecting and evaluating.

2)What could be improved?
i.e What we should have done and done better?

By answering the above 2 criteria in point form, we have to derive the following:

Based on the areas for improvement listed above, what could we have learned to be applied in the '07 EOY trip?
i.e To ensure we do not make the same mistakes of leaving out or not doing something crucial in the future for such trips. (In the EOY trip '07 context)

Please answer the above 3 reflections and send them to me by Sunday morning, 10am. It can be a word document or email, just make sure I can understand what you are trying to say. The writing can be in point form, continuous writing or even in a table, as I will compile everything to be made into an group AAR for submission.

Your input is particularly important as I cannot do this alone, so please do not default on this submission. Do note that this only applies to those going for the EOY trip in '07 (5 of us) and will determine the success of our trip this time.

NYAA Entry - Skills - Overview for October - Guitar

5th October 2007

-Individual assessment of third page of Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
-Finalized Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
-Practiced new song Lao Shu Ai Da Mi
-Music Theory
: Chords - Augmented eg. G+ ( + = Augmented )
: Octave - Open string note = 12th fret note
( 1 Octave is from 1 note to its higher note )
Eg.

• 1st string open = E note
• 1st string 12th fret = high E note

12th October 2007

-Practiced Lao Shu Ai Da Mi melody and chords
-Individual assessment of Lao Shu Ai Da Mi melody
-Bending - Push string -> Increase tension -> Pitch increase
-Harmonics ( 12th fret ) - Practiced playing Harmonics


19th October 2007

-Individual assessment of Lao Shu Ai Da Mi melody and chords
-Played Lao Shu Ai Da Mi together, some strumming chords and others plucking melody, and switched over.


26th October 2007

-Lesson on Harmonics. Natural and Artificial Harmonics
-Natural Harmonics ( Open-String Harmonics )
: 12th, 7th & 19th, 5th, 9th frets ( easy to difficult )
-Music Theory
: Semitones - Practiced Semitones scale ( for Artificial Harmonics )

More to read up about Semitones
http://www.musicarrangers.com/star-theory/p04.htm

-Artificial Harmonics ( Fretted Harmonics )
: Fretting a note & playing Harmonics with respect to it.
Eg. 12th, 7th, 5th frets away from the note.

More to read up about Harmonics :
http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/lessons/lesson46.htm
( Lesson on Harmonics )
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/harmonics.html
( Videos on Natural & Artificial Harmonics )
http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/harmonic.html
( Harmonics in music notation and guitar TAB )

-Tuning
: Normal

• 1st string open = 2nd string 5th fret
• 2nd string open = 3rd string 4th fret
• 3rd string open = 4th string 5th fret
• 4th string open = 5th string 5th fret
• 5th string open = 6th string 5th fret

: Harmonics

• 1st string 7th fret = 2nd string 5th fret
• 3rd string 7th fret = 4th string 5th fret ( *2nd string have to do normal tuning )
  
• 4th string 7th fret = 5th string 5th fret
• 5th string 7th fret = 6th string 5th fret

More to read up about Tuning using Harmonics :
http://www.guitarnoise.com/faq.php?id=31

NYAA Entry - September - Electronics and Electricity

Date: 2/9/07 - 3 Hours

• Theory on three phase circuit diagram.
• Usage of Wattmeter.

Date: 16/9/07 - 1.5 Hours

• Phase Test

Date: 30/9/07 - 3 Hours

• Practical on Capacitance DC circuit
• Theory on different capacitor such as mica capacitor and electrolytic capacitor and its usage

NYAA Entry -Overview for September - Guitar

7th Sept
- Revised on Slurs
H.O is a smaller to bigger note progression
P.O is a bigger to smaller note progression
slides- fast progression of notes played

-grace notes
illustrated in very small numbers
very fast progression in playing,
such that it does not add onto the beats in a bar
can be left out if very complicated

-individual assessment of Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
Jiawei, Calvin, Joseph went through first page of tabs in a one-to-one session with Chris
due to time constraints, Edmund and Boon Kiat will be in the next session

14th Sept
Edvox Term Holiday, no lessons for the week.

21st Sept
-individual assessment of Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
Boon Kiat, Edmund went through the first page with Chris in a one-to-one session with Chris
Calvin, Jiawei and Joseph went through the second page of tabs during their session

28th Sept
-individual assessment of Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
everyone goes through the second page of song, third page will be in following lesson.
-learnt new song: Lao Shu Ai Da Mi

NYAA Entry – Service ll

Date: 6th September 2007

Venue: MPFSC

Duration: 4 hours (1000-1400)

People involved: Boon Kiat, Edmund, Joseph, Seth, Zhan Liang, calvin and jia wei

The day started at 1000 when everyone reported at the MPFSC function room to prepare for a mini gathering party for the seniors in the area. We shifted chairs into a circular arrangement for about 20+ seniors who is expected to arrive at around 1100. The guitar people practiced their performance item which they have learnt during their skills training in the meantime.

By 1100, we began with a simple game of pictionary in chinese and malay with the seniors with simple words such as chicken rice and fruits which they can easily associate with in their daily lives. Many of them enjoyed the game very much.

After that, we proceeded with the performance item by the guitar people. They played Di Tanjong Katong, 500 miles as well as Seasons in the sun while the rest sing by the side. The seniors even danced whilst they were playing the song.

The gathering ended with a simple lunch afterwards at around 1230.

From then on, we carried on with our outreach project, as me and edmund visited once again our kind senior whom accepted us as befrienders. We chatted with her for a while about our lives and so on as she introduced some pictures to us. Jia Wei and seth on the otherhand, sent their senior to CGH as he fell down conincedentally.

NYAA Entry – Service

Date: 3rd September 2007
Venue: MPFSC (Block 6, 15, 16 Marine Terrance)
Duration: 6.5 hours (1000 – 1330 hrs, 1530 – 1830 hrs)
People involved: Boon Kiat, Edmund, Joseph, Seth, Thomas, Zhan Liang, Calvin

We reported at MPFSC at 1000hrs to continue our outreach project, but unlike the last time, instead of visiting rental apartments, we were to visit three-room apartments at Blk 6 (where Good Life @ South East is located). We were briefed by the personnel in-charge on the details, what to do, what to ask, and what to find out from the residents, for about half an hour, before starting out on our outreach project at around 1030 hrs. Our focus of this outreach project was somewhat the same as that we did the last time, to investigate the living status of senior residents at the block. Each pair were to visit unit-by-unit, covering 4 floors, to find out their names, whether they heard of and whether they are members of Good Life @ South East, who they are living with in the unit, their support network of relatives and friends, how they pay for their expenses, their medical conditions, their contact numbers so that MPFSC can contact and inform them about activities, and for those senior residents living alone, whether they will be interested in delivery of meals at two dollars per meal and whether they will be interested in joining a club where senior residents can meet weekly to interact with one another and make more friends, expand their social circle. As we wanted to find a senior citizen per pair to attach ourselves to as befrienders, but the centre could not find sufficient senior residents for us to attach ourselves to, we took this opportunity to approach and look senior residents who were willing to accept our befriending services.

What we experienced this time was somewhat about the same as that we did the last time, except that, more people were not at home but out at work or doing grocery shopping, conditions of the apartments were better, lesser occurrence of language barriers as most people knew how to speak the universal language English, as such lesser people rejected and closed the door on us as they could understand our explanation of why we were there visiting unit-by-unit. However, there was an especially significant difference in the needs of the senior residents of the three-room apartments we were visiting, as compared to that of the rental apartments we visited the last time. Senior residents of the rental apartments we visited the last time were more in need of basic financial support (eg. money for food and other basic needs) while senior residents of the three-room apartments we were visiting were more evidently in need of social support network, as although these senior residents are relatively richer, most were living alone, having very small social support network and were lonely. Our focus was thus to find out about and record their social support network so as to identify those who might require assistance in social support from the centre, and also to look for those who require social support and were willing to accept our befriending services.

We managed to finish our outreach project in one and a half hours and went back to meet at MPFSC at around 1215hrs, to discuss and conclude on our findings with the personnel in-charge, for about half an hour. Only one pair managed to find a senior resident willing to accept the befriending service. Knowing that we wanted to do befriending with senior residents, the personnel in-charge then found us each pair two units at Blk 15/16 from the records, who are more in need and may require befriending services, to approach and ask for whether they were willing to accept our befriending services. We left at around 1245hrs and visited our respective two units for about half and hour before meeting back at MPFSC at around 1315hrs to discuss and conclude on our results for about fifteen minutes. All of us got rejected and we did not manage to find any senior residents willing to accept our befriending services. We left for lunch at around 1330hrs.

We came back from lunch and reported at MPFSC at around 1530 to help the YAH! Community College to do some paperwork (folding and stamping of letters to be sent to their students). We were briefed by a personnel in-charge from the YAH! Community College on what to do. We were to fold two sets of papers (yellow set on top of the pink set), slot them into envelopes and have the envelopes well-stamped. We had helped MPFSC to somewhat of the same tasks before (folding of newsletters, slotting them into envelopes, having the envelopes well-stamped, pasting the addresses of the recipients onto the envelopes and thereafter dispatching the envelopes into post-boxes and mail-boxes) and thus recognized that we have to divide our tasks (Edmund and Joseph doing the folding, Thomas doing the slotting into the envelopes and Boon Kiat doing the stamping of the envelopes) in order to achieve the highest efficiency, and complete the tasks in the shortest time possible. After a while, there were insufficient stapled yellow set of papers, while there were insufficient stamps to stamp on the envelopes thus Boon Kiat changed tasks and went to staple together the yellow set of papers, before changing back to stamping after more stamps arrived. We learnt to think quickly, make use of all the manpower available and be flexible to change when unexpected incidents occur, in order to sustain the highest efficiency and complete the tasks in the shortest time possible. We completed all the paperwork in about three hours, stopping at around 1830hrs.

NYAA Entry – Overview for August – Guitar

10 August 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and plucking/strumming of chords for Qing Fei De Yi
- Learnt the stumming patterns (all strings, for two chords in one bar: down-up-down, change chord, up-up-down-up; for one chord in one bar:down-pause-down-up-pause-up-down-up) for the chords and the different chord sequences for different parts of the song, the introduction and chorus verses (C-G-Am-Em-F-Em-F-G, ending of chorus: F-G-C), bridge (Am-Em-F-G-C), and ending verses (D-A-Bm-F#m-G-F#m-G-A)
- Played notes of Qing Fei De Yi individually

17 August 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and plucking/strumming of chords for Qing Fei De Yi
- Learnt combination of plucking and stumming of chords for Qin Fei De Yi
- Played notes and strummed chords of Qing Fei De Yi individually
- Played song (from introduction verse to chorus verse) as a whole group then switched between notes and chords grouping
- Learnt the uses of a capo, how it changes the key of the notes played to become the key of the notes heard (eg. Play: C, Capo: 2 -> Key: D)
- Learnt the common chord sequences of certain keys (eg. Key C has common chord sequence C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am)
- Learnt what the time signature means (eg. 4/4 -> 4 beats in a bar)

24 August 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and plucking/strumming of chords for Qing Fei De Yi
- Final assessment of Qing Fei De Yi (playing the notes and strumming the chords of the song individually and as a group)
- New song given: Yu Jian
- Learnt and practised plucking of notes and chords for Yu Jian

30 August 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and chords for Yu Jian
- Learnt plucking of chords for introduction verse of Yu Jian (timing of plucking and holding the chord)
- Assesment of Yu Jian (playing the notes and chords of the song individually)
- New song given to practice at home for next lesson: Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui

Entry For Skills--Competitive Swimming--August 07

Entry For Skills
Swimming Training For August

Participants: Thomas

Overview:
- Techniques for Freestyle

Venue: Geylang East Swimming Complex (Mon, Wed)

Date: 1/8, 6/8, 13/8, 15/8, 20/8, 22/8, 27/8,
Hours completed: 18 hrs

After the competition, we rested for about 2 weeks before returning back to the normal routine and training. As our results were not up to expectations, we needed to work even harder in preparation for the next competition. We had to push ourselves even further to achieve better results as compared to our current timings. Thus, the coach decided to start off by teaching us the correct techniques to our strokes as every little detail accounts for a great difference in our speed.

Starting off with freestyle, he begin with the techniques for the upper body. First of all, our arms had to stretch out straight and reach forward in order to stretch and glide well in the water. Secondly, our fingers had to be closed up at all times to ensure that we pull through the water with maximum force and thus result in a greater distance moved as we glide through the water. Thirdly, we had to ensure that our hands do not cut into the water surface when reaching forward as our arms enter the water to pull ourselves forward. It has to enter the water surface with grace and try to stretch forward. This is to also ensure that we glide through the water with a greater distance covered. As an indicator to whether we are performing the strokes with accuracy, there should be minimum splashing of the water when we sprint through a lap of 50m.

Going on to our lower body, our feet would have to be constantly kicking to ensure that we are still moving in the water when our arms are not pulling. In order to kick and move with maximum distance covered, our feet would have to move like a dolphin or in a wave motion to push us forward and cover an extra distance. We would also have to ensure that our feet does not bend inwards as it would instead cause the swimmer to be pulled backwards and slowed down tremendously.

NYAA Entry - Skills - July and August - Electricity and Electronics

Date: 8/7/07 - 6 hours

• Online self learning in the morning on basic concepts of electricity such as safety regulations as well as resistance and circuit breakers etc.


• Afternoon practical on usage of analouge ammeters and voltmeters, how to operate them at the correct range, positioning of meters and reading of meters.

Date: 15/7/07 - 3 hours

• Practical lesson in the afternoon to verify ohm's law using simple circuit and multimeter.
• Also, practical drawing of simple circuit diagrams.

Date: 22/7/07 - 3 hours

• Practical lesson to verify the resistance of several resistors using mulitmeters in a series circuit.

Date: 29/7/07 - 3 hours

• Practical lesson to investigate the value of current flowing through various series circuit using a DC power supply unit.

Date: 12/8/07 - 6 hours

• Morning self directed learning on the use of series and parallel circuits in domestic apartments.
• Afternoon practical on the investigation of voltage drop across each of the parallel branches.

Date: 26/8/07 - 3 hours

• Practical lesson on the usage of series-parallel circuit.
• Drawing of schemetic circuit diagrams.