Polo Tshirt Designs

The front is ilovesmile logo, the back says 'Happiness starts from ME :)'

The design will be embroidered on the t-shirt, not the printed on type.

Final Shirt Designs :)

I like blue and white shirt designs.

Next polo shirts.

Pre-trip Local Proj @ St Hilda's Pri

The Local Project for St Hilda's Primary was done on 3rd (P6/4) and 5th (P6/10) of Nov respectively. It was an activity-packed and meaningful 2 hrs cultural exchange for the kids.

After a few ppt slides on Project SMILE, Myanmar location and traditional culture.. we moved on to breaking the ice with the kids!

Due to the large class size, we divided the kids into three facilitation groups according to their index numbers. Phew, there was a more or less equal mix of males/females! The first 2 Burmese phrases they learnt were "Mingalabar" and "Jer ma/naw namae _______". So we practiced these 2 phrases during the introduction round whereby they'd to say those as well as an interesting fact about themselves.

Yongyan and Kyaw breaking the ice with P6/10

The high energy kids were itching to move around after the introduction. Next activity: Jigsaw mix! The facilitators pasted fragmented pieces of Burmese/English words on the students' backs, and they were supposed to shuffle themselves around to construct 2 sensible English phrases per group. The eventual six phrases were pasted on the whiteboard and we went through the Burmese translation for each phrase. Some students from P6/10 actually copied them down on a foolscap paper for reference! wow

Lijun making the kid's life VERY difficult by pasting it upside down?!

P6/10 solved the puzzle really fast!

It was back to the P1 days whereby we parroted the teacher's words. hahaha
Teacher: Je zu din ba dae means "Thank you very much". Class, now repeat after me.. 1,2..
Class: (in chorus) Je zu din ba dae

The next segment was probably the most captivating segment of the lesson. Adrian showed 3 videos on how Chinlone is played in Myanmar. A brief description on Chinlone - it's not a competitive sport but rather, seen as a form of 'dance' whereby the person in the centre (known also as the 'Prince') would display graceful stunts to juggle the ball and his friends (surrounding him in a circular arrangement) would help keep the ball in the circle. The agility, flexibility and ball control of the Burmese wow-ed the students and even the teachers! The kids couldn't wait to give a shot at Chinlone.

Shafiq juggling the ball like a soccer player. Rising star aye!

This girl must be a ballerina! or it's the "chapteh" style

Adrian joined the boys

Well, all good fun comes to an end. Soon, we'd to begin on our card-making session. The Burmese phrases from the Jigsaw mix activity were left on the whiteboard so that the kids could include them in their cards. Here's the P6/10 girls writing rather lengthy cards:

The facilitators walked round throughout the entire session to attend to the kids' queries. This helped ensure that the contents in the cards were suitable for the Burmese children to reply to! The students showed enthusiasm in using their newly learnt Burmese phrases!

Sadly, we only had time to take a group shot with P6/4 and their completed work.

Adrian's sheep (Group 1)

Lijun's potential soccer stars (Group 2)

My.. err.. silly billys. (Group 3)

Haha, so the days came to an end. We, as beginning teachers learnt some new classroom management skills (ahh, typical tee-chers!) and how the new generation of kiddos were going to be. I'm sure the Burmese phrases stuck close to their heads cos the next time I met my teacher, he told me;

Mr Soong: "Lisa, my boy spoke some weird stuff to me along the corridor yesterday."
Me: "oh really? was it Mingalabar?? it's the easiest word they could remember!"
Mr Soong: "No... it was longer than that!"
Me: "-laughs- then how did you reply?!"
Mr Soong: "Sorry la, I don't understand Burmese!"

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Pre- trip Local Project @ CDAC

On Sat 24th Oct 2009, some of our team members set off to CDAC Tampines Student Service Centre. We arrived at 3pm and proceeded to conduct our local project. We kicked off the session with a brief ice-breaker to allow us to learn more about the children and vice versa.

After the round of introduction, we moved on to give a presentation about Project Smile and what we were planning to do. In no time, the children were deeply captivated and enthralled by our colourful and elaborate slides.

Next, they were having fun trying to converse with one another using some basic Burmese words taught by us.

After that, we proceeded to distribute the heart-shaped cards to them. With that, they commenced the card-writing session. They were having fun trying to dish out their creativity on the little pieces of papers. Due to the size constraint set upon them, they completed their papers in a short time. Most of them were peppered with sincere greetings and well-wishes.

To conclude the session, we brought the children out to introduce and play a short game of Chin Lone. Most of the children were excited as that was their first time playing a foreign game. However, it had to be a quick demonstration and trying out due to inadequate time. Nonetheless, they had a quick game.

Some strengths:

• The children were able to be successfully engaged by us throughout the entire session. Most of them felt excited to be part of this.
• Our team displayed much friendliness to them thus allowing them to be at ease to concentrate and have fun.
• They understood and grasped the differences between the Burmese children and them. This left a deep impression on them to not to take things around them for granted.

Some shortcomings:

• The constraint of the card as it was too small to effectively allow them to write much or draw much. This limits their creativity and some degree of warmth and friendliness that they could have offered to the recipients.
• The timing was very tight due to some unforeseen circumstances such as their need to prepare for their examinations.

 

 

Our Group pic

MINUTES OF PROJECT SMILE TEAM MEETING HELD ON 051109 AT 1950 HOURS

Present:
Chin Guan
Siew Kuang
Kay Khine Win
Lisa
Wan Ting
Serene
Adrian
Mike
Ain
Liz
Yong Yan
Li Jun
June

Absent:
June
Kyaw
Darren
Ei Kyaing Soe
Leong Hwee


1 Commencement of meeting
The meeting was commenced by Siew Kuang at 1950 hrs.


2 Announcements
2.1 The respective ICs for each local project are to archive on the Project Smile blog.

2.2 All members are required to bring their passport, 3 IC photos with (preferable with white background); and completed forms for Visa application next meeting, 12 Nov 2009.

2.3 All members are required to transfer $600, together with the estimated expenditure, to Wan Ting and send her an sms notice after they have done so.

2.4 For members who will be extending their stay in Myanmar (be it earlier or later), need to transfer extra money, for food, accommodation and travelling (preferrale $250 for 5 days).

2.5 Members who have not gone for the medical checkup are reminded to do so. Medical Clearance forms are to be passed to Kay.

3 Details on Myanmar Visa Application Form
· The requirements for Visa applications are briefed by Chin Guan. Members can visit the Myanmar Embassy Singapore website ( http://www.mesingapore.org.sg/visa.htm ) to download the two documents, 1) Application form for tourist visa and 2) Report of Arrival for the Tourist Visa type (a): $35.

· Three copies of each form are to be filled in and signed by the application before submitting to Siew Kuan next meeting, 12 Nov 2009. In the application forms, for fields requiring the “full address in Myanmar”, members can simply fill in “hotel”.

· All other relevant documents (stated in the Embassy website) required for the Tourist Visa should also be submitted next meeting.

· Cover letter for the application will be drafted by Siew Kuang and Chin Guan.


4 Itinerary Briefing
Refer to “Project_SMILE_2009_Itinerary_Version_1.docx” under nieprojectsmile@gmail.com


5 Allocation of Working Groups in Myanmar
• After arriving in Kayin Chung Village, the team members will take on different roles according to the working groups assigned. There are 3 working groups, namely 1)Special Events, 2)Outreach and 3)Workshop.

• The role of Treasure, Welfare, Logistic and Program committee will remain the same, on top of the duties in working group; whereas Fund raising and Local Project Committee will change their role according to the working group assigned.

• The tasks/responsibilities and members of each working group are as follows:
o Special Events
– Sports enrichment
– Sports day
– Learning festival
– Farewell ceremony
– Science
– Grade 1,2
– Members: Kay, LiJun, Lisa, Ain, Wan Ting, Chin Guan

o Workshop
– Grade 3,4,5,6,7,8, 9, 11a,b
– Teacher’s sharing
– Resource banks
– Art enrichment
– Members: Kyaw Wunna, Kyaw Swar Oo, Liz, Siew Kuang, Yong Yan

o Outreach
– Library corner (refurnishing and building up resources of the library )
– Village Library
– Reading corner
– Hospital (to buy and donate medicines to the hospital)
– Other village
– Members: Ei Kyaing Mike, Adrian, Serene, Darren, Leong Hwee

• Teachers in Myanmar will be invited to join our team in the working groups, so that sharing can take place. Teacher sharing sessions will also include workshops on how to make Big books by the teachers.

• Special enrichment classes to be conducted for the respective levels of students includes: games/songs, Phonics, Nursery, Picture story, Art, Postcard Workshop, Drama (EL speaking), Science/Dialogue, Inspiration.


6 Update by Ain on the Sports Equipments
These equipments will be useful for the sports day, in activities such as Telematch, chair games, soccer, etc.


7 Update by Treasure on Donation Drive
Wan Ting reported that the Donations/Funds collected was $3367.50 (updated till 05 Nov).


8 End of meeting
Meeting ended at 2220 hrs.

Sorry guys for the super late mins!

MINUTES OF PROJECT SMILE TEAM MEETING HELD ON 221009 AT 1915 HOURS

Present:

Chin Guan

Siew Kuang

Kay Khine Win

Lisa

Wan Ting

Serene

Adrian

Mike

Kyaw

Li Jun

June

Leong Hwee

Absent:

Ain

Liz

Yong Yan

Darren

Ei Kyaing Soe

1 Commencement of meeting

The meeting was commenced by Siew Kuang at 1915 hrs.

2 Introduction

The meeting started off with sharing of the group/individual hopes and fears. Members split into two groups and worked on their personal/group fears and hopes. Robert shares with us how to use basic materials such as asking questions using pictures. We can use phrases like “tell me what you see”. We can also try to be wrong so the kids can “correct” you. This way we will know that they understand. Robert proposes future phonics course for us to teach them.

3 Myanmar Activity

Team to piece the jigsaw puzzles under their chairs and read the notes written behind. They learnt about MM ethnic culture through their costumes and childhood toys/games, and what to do/not to do as a respect to the burmese people.

4 Sub-Committees Update

We chose 2 logos.

Fundraising and Sponsorship and Grants: Li Jun and Leong Hwee are need to know the other members’ timetable for the bazaar roster. Every slot will be 2 hours. 2 person each from 11am-2pm. They will come up with roaster asap with specific instructions.

Local Project: Serene still need to confirm with other schools for the local project. CDAC will start this Saturday (24/10/09). We have 4 schools at the moment. CHIJ 6th November Friday. Si Lin (last week of nov), St Hilda’s (5/11/09)

They will need materials/resource for art. Duration of 2 hours.

Donation: Adrian will share about the accountability for donation drive. Powerpoint slides to show them (potential donors) what we are doing. Adrian will send us the ppt slide and form to execute in our classes. We will send them a copy of the report. Write your name and class and total amount collected for accountability. Please photocopy one copy for WanTing. (donation account for the lib/bazaar and donation from classmates)

5 End of meeting

Meeting ended at 1020pm