I've found a friend who died for me

HELLO YOU THERE
=O

Haha!!

this post is actually just for myself !
but I shall be nice and post it cause ~~I think theres~~ some interesting stuff here. Haha

what I learnt at the last camp. Abt kids. And well..some other stuff too.

Oh! First…you gotta know ALL your fellow teacher’s name. cant be calling them OEI or AYE in front of the kids. Yea?

Children room prep

And yes! The children room! Please! Make it as pretty and handsome as you can. BUT! Not at the expense of the kid’s attention. You dun wanna have things that would distract the kids. not things like streamers at stage that would block the kid’s view or sth. Be careful with balloons. They are time bombs that might burst anytime. oh! And have stuff like “smiley” balloons. Its kinna cool cause it POPs up the atmosphere. Try as much as possible to use bright colours.! Red orange light blue light green pink and all… Oh! Long sculpture balloons are good too cause well..you can make anything outta them. If you are good that is. Well..for simple stuff…can make letters and words! Right? (oh!! on a side note! these balloons are good to cause if there are skits....the balloons can make great impromptu props =P ) The stage has to be well deco-ed but not too fancy. If its too plain..their attention WILL drift. For such… Masking tape and double sided tapes are a MUST. Yes?

Ah yes! The floor! Marking the “territories” of the groups is a really good idea. Not just having a tag naming “ handsome people” there but have a rectangle place for them to actually sit in. haha. this way..the lines will ~~always~~ most of the time be straight. But that being said. Have enough space for the WHOLE group to sit. If its too short..some kids will have to sit outside the marking. If its too long…the kids will all “repel” each other. Too thin and the kids would have to squeeze! Well..too fat and you’ll have kids sitting in twos instead of the desired 1 line. =S ~~KIDS!!~~ AwW! Cute things!. Also, have a “river” in between 2-4 groups so that a teacher can walk in the middle. If you dun have that…you will find it almost impossible to reach the middle kids if they start their funny business ( fighting.. for example ).

PnW

Ah! Yes! This is the part where I can go Choo-ee choo-ee coo-ee ohm ba ba! Wait!!! B4 that..

B4 a PnW, always check the sound. Dun assume that since the last PnW was okay. This PnW would be. Some jokers might have went to play with the PA set and well..when you start your PnW…you are gonna get a shock! BoOom! Making sure you know your songs and action is very impt cause the kids CAN tell if you are prepared anot.

OH! Dun forget to on your Mic. Haha. and when leading with 1 or more people. Dun oppose the other person. like if you were to start singing the verse and your partner starts with the chorus at the same time. Think b4 you say anything. Haha. and remember! When you are up on stage. MIRROR IMAGE! when doing actions. Their left is your right and vice versa. ~~sometimes~~ all the time. Leading action for PnW is not easy, actions with and without the mirror image is totally different. Which hand on top which hand below, which hand is suppose to do what, is ALL mixed up. Haha! and yes! If you dun learn it properly…u’ll end up like mi! I did half mirror image action and half normal actions. Haha! confused! Totally la. But heh! I had uncle david to help! THANKS YO! The choices of songs as well. Its impt! Dun choose songs that are totally new to you. At least listen to the song a few times and practice the actions.(mirror image remember? ). Songs chosen should not be all new songs to the kids as well..it’ll turn out like a concert. The kids would just stare.

For the PLMC camp that I went, we had no musician, so we lead PnW with CD music. Haha! oh! If you are using a CD to lead PnW, try to remember whats coming up. By that I mean…if the cd recording plays the verse 1, you are expected to know if the verse 2 comes up first or the chorus. This is so that you can tell say b4 hands to the kids “ You are my Lord! “ . this is also to prepare the kids. Sth on a side note. I realize that kids usually sing the chorus louder than the verse. I think this is cause well..the chorus of many songs are easier to catch than the verse. And of course! The chorus of many songs are usually higher in tone (key) compared to the verse. So its actually more audible. Well…back on track. If the CD recording plays the chorus a few times, you jolly well gotta know how mani times. Cause if you are the main lead and the mic you hold is the loudest right? Imagine if you sing wrongly!! GOSH!

Theres another thing here. on a side note. well…for my kids in church…they are a “crazy” bunch. In a good way. Really. Some times when I lead PnW, theres this really interesting thing that happened. THE KIDS LEAD ME in worship. What do I mean? Simple. Lets take an example. I was leading the song “ In whom I can trust”. So I was doing the sign language actions and all. We sang thru the chorus twice and I wanted to sing the verse again. I signaled my musicians and they started playing softer and the keys and all were leading to the verse.so I sang the last part of the chorus “the rock of my salvation, in whom I can trust. “…and than I heard “ You are my Lord , in whom I can trust. “ the kids were worshiping. Well. I cant stop them right? Haha. I think when the kids did that, my smart musicians ( Yvonne and Harold ) played the chorus for the kids again. I did’t sing. My my! The kid’s voice were so beautiful. So very nice. I think the Lord must have been pleased. We sang the chorus again and again. Think a total of abt 4 times. Haha! =P but this is not the first time it happened lar. When things liddat happens, dun insist on singing the verse! Well…unless its just 1 kid trying to be funny. Can tell 1.

Here here. I think that’s 1 main reason yyy I prefer leading with a band than the CD. Cause you are mainly in control. Not the CD player controlling you. Haha! =P I could go on and on abt PnW but..haha!

LESSON.

Yes yes. First thing I’d say is..PLEASE PLAN LESSON!!. =P not that I’ve seen a bad example from SU. But..i know of ppl that dun plan lesson and than GO TEACH. =O believe it anot, kids Can tell. They are ~~kinna~~ smart.

Oh! From SU, I’ve learnt a lot of thing. A lot I would say. They use this formular mostly when they teach

Log on
Look in
Learn it
Live out

What is that? I’ll explain.

Log on.

This is the part where you can be AS CRAZY AS YOU LIKE. Really. Its to get the kids really interested in what you are abt to teach. =P for example. If you were to teach abt “ fishes of man”. You could prob do sth really dumb. Acting would be good. =P have a really funny story line that has abit of the lesson in it. =O believe it anot. It really helps as the kids would pay more attention in the lesson later.
Alternatively, you could also play a game of some sort. Well…in relation to the lesson of course.

Look in.

Here is where it gets intense. You gotta teach the kids the whole lesson, prob tell them the story from the bible, and explain it all to them. Oh! B4 this! Get the kids to go to the toilet first. And tell them that “ after this I am not gonna allow any1 to go toilet till I’ve finished” or you could say “ I wan every1 to go to the toilet.” Some kids might say they dun Here. “look in” would take abt 15-30 mins. To a normal teen its kinna okay. But for kids. THEY CANT EVEN SIT DOWN AND KEEP QUIET for a good 5 mins. Haha. that’s the real struggle. =S well… 1 way to catch a kid’s attention is to do sth that the kids like. For an example…balloons. You could be teling a story abt the armor of God. Than you suddenly take out a balloon and make a sword or sth. Well..this is course would get a lot of kids worked up. But! Especially for balloons, the kid that gets it would play with it. So….1 way to stop that is to onli do it towards the end of the lesson. Or maybe, for QnA as a prize.
Theres sth that SU taught mi than I thought was really useful. Instead of having onli 1 person talking and talking all the time, have 2 ppl up on stage. Than the kids can take turn focusing on them. 1 speaker to take 1 part. Or you could tell a story via a skit? Or even better, a puppet show.
Well well..all these being said. Its not easy actually. With another person on stage, you gotta know when to talk and when to shut. Its gonna be really “ funny” if the 2 ppl start talking at the same time. Than both realize and keep quiet, wondering if THE OTHER PERSON would like to speak first. Haha! =P so co-ordination is the key here. having a skit and puppet show would means tat man power is needed and prob a rehersal would too. Time! But all these actually takes the focus from the speaker and onto something else. For the kids..its really helpful. Imagine giving the kids a sermon of half an-hour. No jokes no skits no break. Plain speaking. Haha! imagines*

Learn it

LEARN! =P
Haha! this is really a very vexing part. You gotta make sure the kids understand the
“look in” and than to have them to learn and internalize it. =S
What I really mean is that….the kids might look like they were paying tons of attention and that they understand. But when you ask them a question…they dunno how to ans it. Happened a lot. So “learn it” is just to make sure that the kids really understand it.

The way SU does it is that they break the kids into their respective groups and than have them discuss. Write down what they learn on a piece of majong paper. Well….it’ll be good if each group has a leader to lead them. You dunno what the kids are really talking abt do you? =P HAHA!! “ ben 10!” “ Barbie dolls” =P

And than, each group gets a few mins to present to every1 what they have learnt and all. I really think this is cool. For example. We were teaching the lesson “ dun worry” and we asked the kids to write down what do they worry abt. For adults and teens..the top worry list might be “ no money, exams….” But for kids. Its different. They cant really relate to our fears. What they wrote on paper were things like “ darkness, no friends, A-H1N1….” So this is were the other kids night learn something too. =P after all..kids are the best taught..by kids! =P

Live out!

Alter call and the decision the kids make would be here. at the last part of the lesson. During the closing. =P haha! its when you are sure that the kids have learnt the lesson you want them to learn..understood the main points of the lesson..than this part comes in. its really for them to think and to make a stand. For example…” I’m not gonna worry cause I know that my God is able.” This kindda things lar. but in a worshipfull manner. Than some1 would lead the kids that raised their hands into a time of prayer. =P haha!!

That’s abt all for lesson! =P haha!!

Now now!

GAMES!!

This is the part where…if the kids were to forget all they were taught during the camp..they’ll still remember this..GAMES!

Haha!! I’m sure all kids enjoy games. But which kinds?

Heres some pointers for games!! I know I can go on and on and on on on!

If you are having a mass game..its gonna be real messy. Have enough teachers to calm the kids down and to make them keep to the rules. =S now that impt. For games that involve screaming and all..you might find some kids standing up and running all over the place. Cause they are just too excited. =S oh! Also…mass games means that every1 should be involved right? Make sure of that. Dun have some kids sitting at the side and watching. =S
For groups games!
Make sure its not a solo thing. Where onli 1 kid can go at a time. For a long long time. For example…let mi execrate abit here. if you have a station for 2 groups, like a competition. where the kids take turn to run and than do 10 jumping jacks and than to do 10 push up and 10 sit up. Followed by reciting a memory verse and then ….bla bla bla..its not gonna work. Its prob gonna be fun for that kid that’s doing it. But! For the rest of the kids..its plain old waiting. Boring! You could have the kids to cheer for that 1 person doing it but! Its gonna last a really short while. Have sth like…captain’s ball or sth that would involve almost every1. You could have some sit out to be sub if there are uneven numbers. At least its better. =P
Oh! Kids love simple games. Like the “ egg chick chicken superman scissors paper stone” "do this do that" or " Simon says" . complicated games generally have more instruction and it would get the kids mixed up and all. If so…you’ll need a time to explain the rules of the game and make sure the kids understand. Oh! B4 each game! Make sure you go thru the instruction. Dun take for granted that the kids know. =P haha!

taken from another camp of mine

Others!

You should never tell a kids what NOT to do. Always tell them what TO do.
Example: ~~dun talk~~ keep quiet !

Yes yes. And yea! Dun give them an idea they dun have YET.

Like…I was giving out satay sticks for AnC…and I so almost went “ dun use the stick to POKE POKE POKE your friends huh! “. Haha! thank God I stopped! =P
Theres a reason you should not. Cause they dun have that idea yet! So they wun be poking their friends right? But once you say that. Than they would have that idea. And we all know that some kid dun take instruction that well. HmM…

Yes yes! I know I still can say somemore but! Haha!! I think I’ll look at this sometime next year or sth! =P anyway..haha!!

Bye bye!! =P

I know I’ll be missed =P