Concluding the week!

The weekends are here!

It has been a rather fulfilling week. Going to our posted schools, meeting our CTs and seeing the little kids for the first time. Of course, we cannot forget the uphill cycling that Justin and I went through.

 

Today was a little different. Everyone excluding Justin headed out to UCSB to meet up with our supervisors and fellow teacher candidates. We started off with a lecture by the principals of El Camino School and Brandon Elementary School speaking about educating lower income families and second language students respectively. From these lectures, we realized how similar are some of the problems both US and Singapore's education system face. It actually served as a reminder of the importance of education. During the lectures, it struck me how the teacher candidates were always asking questions and clarifying doubts.

After the lectures, we broke up for small group discussions helmed by our respective supervisors. Our supervisors planned a series of games to help us bond and that we can also used in the classroom. A particular segment of the discussion was for the teacher candidates to raise issues with regards to their practicum. One particular takeaway we all had was how vocal the teacher candidates were went voicing their disagreements. This despite knowing that any improvements will not benefit them but future batches. 

We also had an opportunity to meet the people who are flying to Singapore for their overseas practicum. There will probably be more meet ups between us to exchange ideas on the things to do and see over in Singapore.

Once all that was done, we all reconvened at Isla Vista for some ice cream before buying back dinner. Well, I shall just let the pictures do the talking.

 Some local ice cream.

Lots and lots of burritos and tacos.

For the weekends, we will be heading to downtown Santa Barbara to see the sights.