29 Jan 2012 (Cooking Lesson)

Today, I’m going to practice on how to use knife correctly. My teacher did a demonstration on how to slice onions to small pieces and this is a new challenge for me. It was very hard and it took me several tries to do it right. It is still not perfect but my teacher suggested to keep on practicing even when he’s not there. After that, we also did some knife skills on fruits such as apples. This is also very hard to do since I’m not used in using knife yet. I still need to practice several times before doing it right.

28 January 2012 (Cooking Lesson)

Today, my teacher and I planned to make fried fish. I’m going to learn how to prepare fish from raw and this is a new challenge for me. It was very hard to prepare the fish and even after that, I have to season the fish with salts and some seasonings. Furthermore, when I fried the fish, the oil starts to jump everywhere and it was hard to flip the fish because of this. Because of this, the fish is overcooked. Next time, I need to be concious of the fire level so that the food won’t be overcooked.

22 Jan 2012 (Cooking lesson)

Today, my teacher want me to cook another simple dish: simple sauteed vegetable with garlic. Preparing the vegetable wasn't hard but cutting the garlic into small pieces took me several time to be able to do it. My teacher first demonstrate it and it looks so easy and fast to do but when I try it, I was scared to use the knife. So he teach me on how to use the knife correctly and safely. This takes most of my time to practice but in actually cooking the dish wasn't hard at all.

21 January 2012 (Cooking lesson)

Today is my first meeting for the cooking lesson activity. I'm really interested in cooking but have never learn it properly before and this is my opportunity to be able to cook correctly and safely. First of all, I study the utensils that I'm going to use for the next 12 meetings. First, I'm introduced to the knife, spatula, frying pan and other basic ingredients for cooking. First of all, I start to cut tofu to a medium sized squares (around 5cm x 5 cm) then start frying them. It was scary since the oil is starting to jump everywhere. It was also hard to flip the tofu since it is so soft.Other than tofu, I also cook some fried eggs since tofu seems so plain. When I tried it out, it was very nice. The tofu is not too salty and the fried egg is also very good. But I realize that the food is too oily thus next time I need to consider how many oil I'm going to use before cooking.

Cooking Lesson

I'm going to start me new CAS activity and it is COOKING LESSON!
Here are the learning outcomes that I'm going to achieve after finishing 12 meetings for this activity

Increase my awareness of my strengths and areas for growth: I learn cooking in Design and Technology class before and have never done any recently. I realize that this might be my weakness but it increases my sensitivity that this is one of the skills that I would love to learn. It will definitely increase my awareness as an individual because as I learn, I will learn new skills and will find my strengths in this area.

Undertaken new challenges: This activity is definitely a challenge for me because as I’ve said, taking cooking lesson is a first time for me and I have never cook anything complicated before.

Showing perseverance and commitment: I will show this learning outcome by attending the class regularly and ask questions about things that I don’t understand. Practicing at home will also be one of the ways to show my commitment to this activity.

Develop new skills: I will definitely develop new skills. With lots of practices, I would learn how to chop, bake, and wash different things. I will learn how to cook properly and safely.

December 1, 2011 (teaching)

Today, two of my friends came along and they are Vanny and Winie. They are the new teachers replacing Kristie and I for the next 12 meetings. Vanny decided to teach grade 3 and 4 replacing me while Winie will teach grade 5, replacing Kristie. Today, the grade 3 and 4 study math specifically on units conversion. I realize there is this one kid who seems to struggle and so, Vanny and I decided that starting next week, he will have a separate exercise so that he could practice multiplication and division first before learning about the other topics. It had been an unforgettable experience for me as I learn for the first time how to teach people. I realize that teaching is not an easy thing to do because as a teacher, I need to plan a strategy so that the knowledge could be delivered effectively. Because I have taught primary year students, it was hard to cooperate with them because most of the times, they refuse to be serious and prefer to play rather than study. This is why, I have to create a program that could teach them as well as delivering it in a fun way. I have learned that what I taught them will help them in later life and I realize this is a very important job.

Swimming activity (Sport)

As I'm done with my teaching activity, I will continue on by doing swimming activity. This activity will be my CAS in sport section. Because it's near the Christmas holiday, I will start this activity on Thursday January 19, 2012. The learning outcomes that I will gain from this activity are: recognizing my areas of strengths and growth, developing new skills, showing perseverance and commitment and undertake new challenges.

November 24, 2011 (teaching)

Today should have been my last meeting but suddenly, my friends, Vanny and Winie, could not join today so I have to still come to Tajur next week to guide them. Vanny and Winie are the new teachers replacing Kristie and I next week. So today, I'm continuing to teach them English by helping them on their homework. Then, learn some new vocabularies about furniture. They seem to have lots of fun studying English compared to math but I realize that they study well if it is followed by games.

November 17, 2011 (teaching)

Today is my second last day on teaching the kids. Today, I'm teaching them English. Many students did not come because it was raining so bad and there was none of the grade 5 students that come here. So, my friend, Kristie, have nothing to do today (as she is in charge of grade 5). In the end, she joined my class and we had a lot of fun teaching English to the grade 3 and 4 students. One students brought a pocket book that consists of English and Mandarin We had a little game before going home and they were very excited on continuing the game next week.