Whakanui means celebrations. We had to work around themes of royal wedding and exhibit various text types that are related weddings from countries all around the world on 10th January, 2019. These countries included- Europe, Middle East, India, America and many more. I was a part of the group which was given Middle East as their country. We had to exhibit text types which show the understanding of the language and techniques are used by different cultures. So, we decided to pick up two different weddings- the weddings of Prince Rashid bin El Hassan, and the princess Zeina Shaban from Jordan, and Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Sheikh Suhail bin Ahmed bin Juma Al Maktoum from Dubai. My task was to create Twitter and Facebook posts for the Jordanian wedding- one post before the wedding and one later.
Learning outcome achieved –
LO 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
Since I am good at arts, it was easy for me to make A2 size charts on the content. Drawing was easy but writing concisely was a challenge. Since twitter allows only 280 characters per tweet, it turned out to be a hectic task than I imagined. Writing various posts and tweets made me better at writing and I learned few new techniques.
LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
We had to present our text type in front of students and teachers from grade 10 to 12. I am not good at speaking in front of an audience which make it difficult for me to present my idea. We were even being judged by our presentations, which made me stress more on delivering my message to the audience. My first 5-6 presents did not go well and ended with forgetting a lot of the content. Later as I was getting used to it, I was able to covey it properly, without pausing in between.
LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
We were clueless about our roles in a team. A lot of questions popped into my mind at first: Which text types do we have to do? Which one will I be doing? What should the content be about? So, we decided different text types, divided the students accordingly, explained each other their task. We even had various submission dates where we had to show our work, take approvals and move ahead with it. I made a google drive folder, which was shared to every member in our group. We had to submit our work there. This made us a little organised and everyone was aware about each other’s progress.
LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
We had various events and deadlines lining up during the time of the event. So, everyone had to be committed towards the completion of the task, helping others, being present on the day, regardless of other deadlines. This even kept me motivated and made the event a success.
LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
We always each other’s backs. We collaboratively helped each individual complete their task before the deadline. We kept our judgement aside and focused only on the completion of the task. Everyone had different opinions, which helped generate different ideas. So, with everyone’s help our task and work load was divided. Communication, bond between the team members was an important aspect of completing the work.
This event was connected to our curriculum. We can draw connection between writing text types and writing in our Creative Written Tasks and even between, presenting to the audience and FOAs. In both the cases, we were developing similar skills.
Overall, this event helped me change my weaknesses into strengths. It even gave me understanding about different cultures of the world and how language can be a powerful tool to convey a message. Our commitment and hard work payed off when we were voted the third best team of our grade. It was a proud moment for all of us. It seemed like a victory.
Pictures:
Video of the entire event-