CAS Portfolio: Alisa Chau

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Developed new skills: APPLYING CRITICAL THINKING, SELF REFLECTION AND EVALUATION SKILLS TO REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES

Good reflection is...evidence of serious thinking and questioningself awareness and honestyfull of concrete and specific examplesthoroughwell organised and correct in terms of language and structurethe ability to synthesise-pulling alot of different ideas together and showing relationships between concepts prior and new knowledge, classroom and CAS workthe ability to analyse-breaking down ideas into their component parts in order to understand how they work

What did I learn? Have I changed as a result of this experience?

How did I go about making sense of this information/situation?

What parts of the experience were the most valuable/useless, why?

What does this contribute to what I already know about this concept?

How does what I learned relate to my other classes?

How does the experience relate to me as a person, to my other activities?

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Engaged in issues of global importance and considered the ethical implications of the trip: ENGAGING WITH MOROCCAN CULTURE, PEOPLE AND OUR DMC [Deep Meaningful Conversation]

There was one particular discussion that had occurred during our trip that had really affected me and stayed with me long after I had returned to Hong Kong, I felt as though our conversation that night had encapsulated the ethos of our trip.

When we got to the Sahara desert, we were told that there would be some time for us to ask any questions we pleased about Islam and Moroccan culture after dinner. This was to be an unadulterated, civil discussion whereby our potential ignorance or misinformed knowledge about the unfamiliar culture is corrected in a polite way from a credible source - our local guides. I was happy to know this, as I wanted to learn more about Morocco and correct any misunderstandings or schemas I unconsciously held. Still, I wanted to be respectable and accepting of our guides views, I understood that there are differences between us in terms of culture and values and that I may not agree with everything they believe in. That being said, I was incredibly disappointed when my peers were unwilling to be open-minded and tolerant of the explanations the guide offered as to why certain social issues are viewed in a negative light there compared to in our society. It really showed their reluctance to listen to the argument of the other side, only imposing their perspective onto the guides.

One girl in particular (who will remain unnamed), questioned the idea of homosexuality as a sin in the Quran. Though I held similar views that opposed the belief upheld by most muslims, I didn’t choose to attack the guide’s personal belief by singling out the homophobia in the Quran. When faced with the answer that ‘misogyny and homophobia are prevalent in more than one culture’ and that the Quran was only a variation of that position, the girl kept criticising Islam for holding that supposition. I felt as though this was a very rude and insensitive way of forcing one’s beliefs upon others. Though I didn’t agree with the guide, I respected her in the way that she accept the rights of homosexuals, even though she didn’t agree with their sexuality.

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Showing perseverance and commitment: PHYSICAL ACTIVITY - HIKING IN UNFAMILIAR TERRAIN

To reiterate a previously mentioned point, I tend to dislike sports and demanding physical activities. Something I loathe in particular is hiking, so I had to prepare myself both mentally and physically to go on the 5am hike near the Riad. I was thinking of ways to motivate myself, perhaps thinking about the scenery or simply enjoying the company of my friends, but it turns out that both of these techniques were not going to work because we found ourselves climbing over slippery grey rocks and sand in near darkness, causing everyone to become too panicked, tired and cold to talk. This made it particularly challenging and I found myself vomiting halfway up the hike, but the support from my friends had helped me get over my issues in order to complete the hike. Once we reached the top, it was particularly rewarding to see the sunrise in a new setting and to put the distance and height we covered in perspective.

STX Crux 3000 in Lizard

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Working collaboratively with others: THE SCAVENGER HUNT - 6 SPECIAL ITEMS

A present for the bus driver - A postcard

Something handmade - A silver bracelet

A piece of artwork - Tea artwork

Something in Tuareg blue - Crafted earrings

Something created by the sun - A mini clay tagine

An item with something inside - A spiralled rock with a blessing

Something magical - Our friendship

On the second day, we split off into groups to participate in a ‘Scavenger Hunt’ whereby we were given a list of items (above) that we had to find in the area that we were in. The list was somewhat open to interpretation, leading to many interesting, creative and humorous results. We were given a budget of $250 dirhams (HKD $197.71) for the items and had a time limit. Our group also consisted of 6 people, each providing an idea and helping to tick off the next requirement on the list. We put our heads and abilities together to complete the search mission and successfully came first place with extra change, a completed list and extra time. It really showed the benefits of letting each person exercise their strong suit when relevant and the positive effects of cooperation.

When we reached the first (and technically, only) store we visited, Mitchell immediately noted that we needed to ration our budget. He weighed the costs and advantages of continuing our search elsewhere which wasted our time and put us at risk of elimination, or not having enough money to complete the list. At first we were going to buy a scarf in Tuareg blue which cost around 50-60 dirhams but decided against it as we were only on the first item on our list. This was a decision which saved us time and money when we later needed extra dirhams for an item. Another person who also helped with our group finances was Alicia, whose haggling skills had reduced the price of our handmade silver bracelet from 150 dirhams to 80 dirhams, a whopping 70 dirhams discount.

Though there were other ways to contribute to the group’s quest in finding our 6 special items. Tara was keen on finding cultural variances between Morocco and Hong Kong, she was quick enough to spot a man who was selling artwork made from tea being painted on paper then treated by a flame to make it appear permanently.

Halfway through the activity, we had hit a dead end and was circling the same area looking for new shops when all of a sudden we saw Jeff being approached by a man who asked him what was happening. Jeff amicably told him of our situation and he rummaged in his bag to hand us a special rock which he said contained a blessing, he decided to give the rock to us as a token of welcome to Morocco and for us to finish the race. Jeff’s sociable nature had earned us a special gift that ticked off another requirement on the list. Throughout the trip, Chantelle had been guiding us and pointing us in the right direction, both metaphorically and literally. She had the natural quality of being a leader and kept our group together.

I hadn’t played Lacrosse for a long period of time up until today due to consistently bad weather and mock examinations. We worked on our zone style defence systems and practicing attacking in a triangular formation. In terms of defence I find myself zoning in on whoever has the ball and forgetting where I am, therefore I always accidentally ran into the forbidden goal circle. As a group, zone defence was the better option for us though I felt as an individual I still needed more practice with this technique. As an attacker however, I found it easier to ‘cut into’ the goal area when defenders are in a zone defence structure. After the session, Ms Stuart noted that our defence was more effective for our team but that we needed to work our stick skills and fitness.

Areas to focus on:

Not running into the circle area around the goal

Reverse stick catching/throwing

Taking extra precaution to make sure that the person I am throwing to is likely to catch it rather than blindly fling to an empty space due to pressure from defence

Stay cool under pressure from defence and find a way to lose them/get in front of them

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Increased awareness of skills & areas for growth, planned and initiated activities: TEACHING - TEACHING ENGLISH AND CURATING MATERIALS

I have a lot of prior involvement in teaching English to children but a major difference between my past experiences and the one I had in Morocco was that I was able to translate difficult words into the children’s native language (when teaching Chinese children) and the children already had prior knowledge in English. The language barrier between the Moroccan children and us proved to be an issue but we overcame this by finding other, non-linguistic methods in teaching.

To prepare for the lesson, we decided to make little booklets for each child with the topic we were teaching (the basic numbers from 1-10). Each page included drawings and each booklet varied in style. This was so they could have notes that were aesthetically pleasing and useful. We were happy to see that the children liked the books which they decorated and coloured. The booklets also helped in the students’ engagement with what we were teaching and facilitated interaction between us. The visuals of the books (and images we drew to define vocabulary) and our ‘physical’ mode of teaching (which involved a lot of gesturing and pointing and charades-esque movements) coaxed them out of their shyness and rid of the issue of our language barrier.

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Undertaken new challenges: CONSTRUCTION WORK - BUILDING A SCHOOL

My previous experiences in service work typically revolves around teaching and creativity based activities. This was one of the first times I was involved in being physically active for a good cause and it involved doing construction work to build a school for the local children.

It was originally planned to be done in groups on rotation; I was put in Group 1 and was to spend the first half of the first day on the site building the foundation, paving the road and collecting materials to reinforce the concrete mix we were to make the next day. The second half of the day was meant to be Group 1′s teaching session, we would go over to the completed building and teach the children some basic English. For all that, after our group completed our first session of construction work, we were told that the teacher wasn’t ready and we had to return to our construction work, all whilst Group 2 had already done their part in teaching. This really taught me to be, in my trip supervisor’s words, “flexible” and ready for anything.

The Pride is the school's very own student led committee that aims to inform students and raise awareness regarding important social issues which affect both students in KGV and others from all over the world. In joining the group, I was aiming to become informed about impactful global situations and to engage other students in discussions about said issues.

Every academic year, The Pride focuses on a specific topic that is then explored and presented to students, all whilst running activities that link back to the chosen issue. This year, The Pride’s major focus is centered around the 'Refugee Crisis'.

This year, our VTG got together and collaborated by creating as many squares as possible. Being one of two people who could sew, I had to frantically put together numerous blankets over the final weekend.

Prior to my selection of this challenge week, I didn’t think I would have been able to have an opportunity to travel to anywhere in Africa, so I was very glad that I was able to go to Morocco, a country that I previously already had an interest in visiting. The trip appealed to me as I was already very intrigued by the culture of Morocco and wanted to see the beautiful scenery and architecture that I had always been shown in films and shows in front of me. The volunteering aspect suited the skills I have acquired from other service based activities over the years, as they mostly revolved around teaching and supervising younger children.

I had many goals and expectations that I had established for the week. I personally had an interest in enhancing my knowledge of Moroccan culture. Even though I was quite aware and open-minded regarding the differences between the Westernised, international culture I grew up in and the traditional, religious and rich culture of Morocco, I found myself with some common misconceptions and misunderstandings that I wanted to rid of. Also, because the action aspect of the trip was also fundamentally linked to providing a service, I felt more willing to be more active as my assumption was that whatever I did would eventually benefit others. Finally, since this was my last Challenge Week trip in KGV and ever, I was overjoyed that I could share it with some of my closest friends, hoping that it would be a memorable, enjoyable and beneficial experience for all of us.