~.*Credo in Deum, patrem omnipotentem, creatorem caeli et terra*.~

Thursday, December 01, 2005

*[[ Guiding at SBWR: DAY 2 ]]*

EnviroYouth Project: Leave-A-Trail

Guiding at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve (SBWR)

DAY 2: 27th November 2005 (Sunday)

General Conclusions:
Strengths:
1. We followed our schedule closely and were on task again! Although during the trail, one of the groups was moving at a faster speed than the other, we managed to compromise some of the time lost with the prize presentation ceremony after that.
2. We were not as fortunate as the day before when it came to spotting the various flora and fauna in the wetland reserve. Still, we managed to see a reasonable range of species, especially the main ones. Also, we had managed to make use of the theatrette as a meeting place and also to screen the 10-minute audio-visual show prepared by SBWR. This was a job well done as it shows that we were trying to build up on yesterday’s positive points to improve our guiding efforts.
3. The number of prizes prepared was more than enough. Based on yesterday’s schedule, we realised that we, again, needed more time to collate the results of the games. Thus, we decided to follow yesterday’s plan and quizzed the participants on the crucial information which we expected them to have learnt during the trail. This was quite successful as the participants were able to answer the questions posted, showing that our efforts in conveying information about the flora and fauna in SBWR have not gone to waste!
4. The games we came up with were good! Everyone participated in these games and was quite enthusiastic about it. Also, the quizzes and crossword puzzles were of a reasonable standard, where the participants were required to think before arriving at the answer, but yet not get stumped altogether.

Weaknesses/Areas of improvement:
1. Not all the participants were paying attention to the station guides (e.g. some were wandering off on their own to take photos).
How to improve: While we did tell the participants explicitly that there will be free time given to take photos, we still find a few of them not paying attention to the station guides at times and observing their surroundings instead. Perhaps, in such a situation, we should let them explore for themselves the various species they can see at each station for a minute or two before letting the station guide proceed with explaining to them the different sights and sounds in their surroundings.
2. We were not alert about the attendance of the guides and participants and did not bother to do a head count of everyone each time we transferred to a different venue. In fact, we were not even sure about the number of participants and guides present that day. While we knew that there will be people coming late and will only be joining us later the trail, and also those who will leave early, we were not alert about these changes.
How to improve: We have to constantly keep a head count of everyone each time we transfer to a different venue and never assume that everyone is there. Fortunately for us, the participants were all above 10 years old and mature enough to take care of themselves. However, in future, if there were younger children, we need to be even more aware of who is there.
3. The participants showed some discontent over the prizes given. We had run out of more appealing prizes, such as packs of chips and bookmarks, and thus were left with the posters that we got from the National Environmental Agency (NEA). Although we had already foreseen that the participants may not like such a prize, we had a budget to abide by and thus did not get more appealing prizes.
How to improve: We could have been more enthusiastic in our fund-raising efforts so that we have a higher budget to work on.

Follow-up Action Plan:
1. Collation and analysis of feedback forms for Day 2 (Hui Ying)
2. Upload photos to the Shutterfly album that Yuan Yi created for EnviroYouth (Jia Yun, Yuan Yi)
3. Post reflections about this guiding project on the EnviroYouth blog (Yi Ping)
4. Meet Mr Siva next week (whole EnviroYouth team) at Raffles Museum at 4pmMeeting place: Buona Vista MRTMeeting time: 3pm
5. Get tokens of appreciation for the organizations and people who have helped us make this project possible:(a) Mr Siva(b) Airanyi(c) Grace (assessed us at Sentosa)(d) The guides who have trained us (Wei Siong, Kai Xin, Alison)(e) Mrs Seah-Tay Hui Yong(f) Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and its staff
The tokens of appreciation will be home-made cards where we will write a message and insert a photo where everyone will sign at the back.

~.*hUiYiNg*.~ says Amen. @ | Thursday, December 01, 2005

~.* Jesus is LOVE *.~