Fountainhead School organized service sessions for underprivileged kids in the school itself where the students will teach them various hobbies and activities. We had to volunteer and select an activity which we will help the kids to learn and cultivate an interest in the activity. I have been playing football for 4 years and possess credible skills and knowledge of the sport, thus, I volunteered to teach Football. We started with telling the kids to warm up and exercise to prevent any injury, then divided them into two groups. We taught passing to one group and dribbling to the other and after ten minutes swapped the groups. Afterward, we taught them the basic rules of football and how a football game is played. Learning this all, the kids got very enthusiastic and were eager to play their first match! We divided them into 4 teams and then made them play a knock-out tournament. They were thrilled to play the sport and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The LOs we covered in this activity are:-
LO1:- Identify own strengths and develop areas of growth
During the first service session, there was a lot of chaos as there were about 40 children who wanted to learn football and only 5-6 of volunteers. This caused a lot of managerial problems and we could not deliver our content fruitfully. The kids were just whiling away their time and no proper teaching was being undertaken. The major problem was that the kids only knew how to speak Gujarati and I was the only volunteer who knew Gujarati. Thus, I took an initiative and decided to lead the session. I used my communication skills and effectively divided the kids in two groups and asking volunteers to lead those groups. I have never possessed much leadership skills, however, circumstances led me to lead and identify my skills.
LO3:- Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
After learning from my experiences in the first day, we decided to plan before-hand in order to have a more fruitful session. We started by setting an agenda and corresponding it with the time allotted. We listed down all the activities and then wrote besides the estimated time it will take to complete it. Then, we divided the group of students and made sure we stayed on our plan. This helped us organize our sessions better and helped me learn the importance of planning prior to any activity.
LO6:- Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
Poverty is one the most significant global issues which is affecting more than half of the world’s population. Due to poverty, millions of children do not even get a chance to get proper education. I believe education is one of the most fundamental rights every individual should get and I feel very bad when I see the lives of underprivileged children who never get education. Rightly said by some great personality, oceans are also formed by drops of water only. I cannot improve their conditions, however, these service sessions gave me a platform to contribute a step towards eradicating poverty and spreading knowledge.
LO-7- Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.
A lot of volunteers were seen just sitting and playing themselves instead of teaching the children. The service sessions were in the afternoons and the sun was blazing hot, thus, many students were demotivated to do any acts of service. However, I willingly taught these children out of heart and came in all the service sessions because the joy I get from doing service is immense and I love the self-satisfaction I get after teaching these children.
