Y.LEAD: Meet the People Session! (Part 2)
1. Interview with a facilitator
For today’s article, we managed to interview Yu Xin from Group E22. Although she met several obstacles on the first day of the event, Yu Xin still feels that she has learnt much from the Y.LEAD Seminar:
Q: Why (did you decide to) lead in the Y.LEAD Seminar?
A: I felt that my character is best suited for that of a facilitator as the job requires me to display a lot of energy. I would also want to teach the participants what I have learnt two years ago when I first joined this seminar. Moreover, I feel that I can gain a lot from interacting with the participants as everyone is unique and you can always learn from other people.
Q: In your opinion, what makes your group special?
A: My group is quite active and all of them take the initiative to participate! Some of them were quite shy initially but they eventually managed to become less reserved.
Q: What was the most memorable event today?
A: It was when we lost the placard and everyone was worried. To my surprise, the group I was in charge of (E22) felt that this was a problem which should be borne by the group as a whole, and not by the facilitator alone.
In the end, it turned out that the placard was with Ally (our Facilitators’ Committee Head), and she made us do a forfeit to earn the placard back. Some of the members in my group took the initiative to teach the other members a dance as part of the forfeit.
I was really touched by the fact that my group was already displaying initiative on the first day!
2. Interview with Miss Ding Li, a Teacher Chaperone from Tianjin
River Valley High School is a hive of activity, with enthusiastic students from all over Singapore and across the seas gathered here for the Y.LEAD Seminar. Under the evening sun, the metal tables outside the Junior High lounge are bathed in a warm glow. This was where we interviewed Ms Ding Li from Tianjin Nankai Xiangyu school to find out more about her thoughts and feelings regarding the Y.LEAD Seminar.
We are extremely grateful that she accepted our request for an interview. Despite arriving so earlyl in Singapore, she did not carry the 4pm sluggishness which most of us are known to have.
"We arrived in Singapore today (17th July) at 5am," she said, smiling amicably. "I came with another teacher. It is our first time here." She also stated that her first impression of the students from River Valley High School was very good. "I thought that they were enthusiastic, generously helpful, and very polite."
We asked Ms Ding Li what she wanted her students to take away from this seminar. Her reply was very sincere. She said that she brought her students here, hoping that they would "take part in more group activities", and that they would be less reserved and improve their communications skills. She seemed to suggest that they did not have many chances to do so back in Tianjin. "While I was here, I saw them having activities here... and here," she said, pointing to the canteen and red-bricks area respectively. "We don't have much of that in our school."
Over at Tianjin Nankai Xiangyu school, the predominant culture is one that places great emphasis on academic work. Ms Ding Li said that the burden of exams weighed heavily on their students and they do not have much freedom. Holidays for them means additional classes, tuition, and cram schools, most of which is the students' own accord. "I asked one of the facilitators if Singaporean students signed up for more lessons during the holidays too. He said yes, but not as much," Ms Ding Li added. In Singapore, it is every parent's dream for their child to request for tuition, but it would appear that the teacher thinks otherwise.
Aside from the school culture, Ms Ding Li also found Singapore vastly different from Tianjin in many aspects. She attributed it to the diverse ethnicities within our population. The climate was, of course, another factor. She hoped that this seminar could serve as a way to let her students de-stress and broaden their perspectives.
At the end of the interview, we thanked her and took a photo with her. We sincerely hope that she and her fellow teacher as well as the students enjoy the rest of their stay in Singapore and bring home great memories from the seminar.
If you'd like to know about more Y.LEAD Seminar participants, feel free to browse our website; the articles are all here for your perusal!