This was a student lead event done to understand the language in cultural context. The theme for this event was a royal wedding and 7 teams were assigned different continents. Our group got America and the royal family that we selected was the Duke and Duchess of York (Prince Andrew and Miss Sarah). The creative aspect in CAS is covered in this activity as we had to create our own text types (I created a wedding card – and as a group, we also made a menu card, twitter post and blog post in a form of a listicle ) and its analysis was required.

LO1 Identifying own strength and weaknesses

I understood that making decoration and crafty thing (like a paper cake) is not an easy job and I like skills in it. However, my strength here of gathering ideas was beneficial. Majority of the decoration done by our team was my idea (saying that, I ain’t taking any credits because all us worked together). I think I can sharpen my creative skills more by taking us more activities that challenge my artistic skills.

LO2 Demonstrating challenges that have been undertaken for developing a new skill developed in the process

The skill of writing a new text type was developed in the process. I had written articles and essays before but never created a  wedding card earlier. It was a new experience as it wasn’t a normal wedding card but a one where invites had to be sent to other royal families. I overcame this challenge by taking help from my teacher and looking at similar text types. I feel good I got to learn something new and I discovered I actually like writing. Therefore I can conclude it is important to take challenges to learn more about oneself.

LO3 Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

I was not a leader for this event but I understood to showcase leadership you don’t have to be a leader. Our leader went on a trip so I made sure I took up his duties and help the team. I made a list of text types that we wanted to showcase (6) and divided work among people according to their abilities. While picking what text type should we present I made a long list of all the types and canceled out the ones that did not match the standard of the event. It was hard planning yet fun. While planning decoration we all pitched in and then the ideas were finalized by me. My team was very cooperative and did not argue with me. Even while I selected the venue as balcony they were very supportive.

LO5 Demonstrate the skill and recognize the benefit of working collaboratively

This was a group task and we had to make our own team, however, I think because of this we wasted a lot of time. Even while making team and also while working (maybe because we focused on having fun rather than working). It was really fun working with them however it was a test of my patience. Few of them were not serious and were demotivating. Our team work lacked symphony because of which instead of presenting 6 text type we only presented four. I know it was supposed to be the whole team’s responsibility to get work done but if few members aren’t serious, the others can not force them to complete their work. The presentation will suffer but the quality of the work matters. One of our teammate did not make the text type and did not even show up on the day of the event. This event taught me I can work in a team but if I get an option, I would choose to work alone. I believe I am more productive, calm and managed when I work alone.

LO7 Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and action

We all made sure that all the references and images have the citation because it is not ethical to take the credit for someone else work. Since I mentioned we had less text type, a person in the team created a text type before the day. But I rejected it as she copied it and lied about it. I was very soft-spoken and mad her understand why it wrong to do something like this.