Service-Learning

Service-Learning Project
[A collaboration with National Library Board]

July 2019

What I did:

This service-learning project was a collaborative effort by the Singapore National Library Board (NLB) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic.  In this project, a group of us including myself had to plan and implement the ‘Jiggle, Read & Rhyme’ programme at the Cheng San Public Library, in which the programme was catered to children aged 1 to 3 years old. I was appointed as assistant group leader helping the group leader keep everyone in check on their work progress. I was also tasked to search for age-appropriate and relevant books for the programme, in which the librarians and even my teachers complimented on the book choices. After getting the approval from the librarians about the programme flow, song choices and book choices, my team and I had to make the many different props for the implementation and pack up numerous take home tool-kits for parents to extend their child's learning at home. During the day of the implementation, my team and I had to run the 30 minutes programme, singing rhymes and reading books to the children.

Challenges I faced and how I overcame them:

1. During the day of the implementation, a child entered the programme room crying and the caregiver of the child was unable to coax the child. Thus, I used a hand puppet that was in my hand and used the puppet to get closer to the child. With that, the crying child immediately stopped crying and reached out to touch the hand puppet.

2. Another challenge our team faced was trying to maintain order throughout the programme. Children were running around the room and making a lot of noise, distracting those who were engaged in the programme. There were also children who were quieter and stayed in the arms of their caregivers. Thus, in order to accommodate to the different children, when I was reading my book, I made use of the hand puppet in my hand to get up close to each child and ask them if they could name the animal on the book or if they could help me open the flap on the book, engaging each one of them.

Result:

At the end of the programme, when we got parents to rate our programme, all of them said that the programme was a good and excellent one. Seeing children getting engaged in the storytelling and rhymes, even mimicking the actions, I can safely say that the whole implementation was a successful one.

What I learned:

From this implementation, it taught me how to apply what I learned in school into how I teach children and into getting the right materials for children. This implementation also gave me the opportunity to apply hands-on skills that I have learned in school such as using my voice and actions to engage children. All in all, this service-learning project provided me with a real life situation where I had to teach children and interact with parents, giving me a deeper insight into the life of an early childhood educator and the possible struggles I could face when teaching children and how I can overcome the challenges in the future.