Whakanui – means celebration in the Maori language. This was a student-led event held in school based on language and literature, to understand the language in the cultural context. The theme for this event was a royal wedding and 7 teams were assigned different countries. Our group was assigned the Middle East and the royal family we selected was the Jordanian royal family, Jordan and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai. I had to do extensive research on the decorations of Dubai’s royal family. We decided to compare both the royal family’s wedding. The comprehensive research added a lot to my knowledge as to how the wedding looked like, different types of dishes and decorations 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. The creative purpose of CAS is been in this activity as we had to make our own text types (I created inshorts for decorations – as a group we created wedding cards, Instagram post, menu card and also a blog post)and analyze it.
LO1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
I’m already aware of my potential in arts, so I chose to make inshorts as I’m not good at arts. I tried to make the inshorts as creative as I could by adding pictures and a short description of the picture which made it easy for the audience to understand. The difficult part was to write a short description in 50 words as there was a lot of information about the royal wedding that everything was not fitting in just 50 words. Writing this text type made me better at my summarizing skill as well.
LO 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
We had to present our text type in front of school teachers, grade 10 and 12. I’m not a very good public speaker and I get really nervous when it comes to speaking in front of people which made it difficult for me to present my idea. In my first 4-5 presentation I kept forgetting what I was supposed to speak but later I got used to it and the presentation went well, I was able to convey my information properly. We were also being judged for our presentation which stressed me more.
LO 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
There were a lot of tasks to be done in a short time span along with other IB submissions and we were all clueless at first about our roles in the team, what text type to choose? what content to present? how to present it? which one I will be presenting? We decided to divide the tasks according to the strengths and then we gave them a deadline to work on their task. The event was on 10th January 2019 thus we kept the deadline as 8th. Also, we decided to do an early in on the day of an event to create a wedding like atmosphere. Thus, planning and organizing things helped us have a successful event.
LO 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
We had many deadline and events lined up during that time of the month and focusing on one was difficult, but still, everyone on the team showed commitment towards the completion of the task, helping other team members, coming for early in, being present on the event day. I enthusiastically worked and attended all the meetings my team leader had set. This kept me motivated and worked my best to make this event a great success.
LO5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
This was a group task and we had to make our own groups. My group always had each other’s back. we kept our personal issues aside and worked towards the completion of the task. Even though teamwork helps everyone to achieve the same goal but I, however, feel that, if I would have worked alone I would have done a much better job at my work. Communication and the bond between the team were really appreciable.
LO7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and action
Our group made sure that all the references and images we use are properly sited using MLA7 citation. As it is not ethical to take credits for someone elses work.
In all, this event helped me change my weakness into a strength. It gave me an understanding of different cultures around the world. Our hard work and commitment paid off when we were awarded the third-best team in our grade.