Zumba Supervisor Evaluation

SERVICE: VietAbroaderClub Self Evaluation

Anastas Beloved - Guitar

Hi, here's a new song I wrote for my old friend on his birthday :)

Sense Coffee

     I had a chance to perform again, this time in Sense Coffee, District 3. I was hoping to get a part-time job here as well :)

An original song

     One year of learning guitar has allowed me the power to write my own songs! This first song I wrote is for my friend Carlton, who, although I hardly speak to on a daily basis, made quite a great impact on me :) The guy is so quirky, yet flirty and sweet at the same time. I wrote the song based on my fleeting experience with Carlton during the first semester in 2013. The emotional aspects of the song are inspired by my bestfriend: she liked Carlton, but dare not confess (I think most girls in my grade fell for him, too! .............. including me - but just a little ;p). 

     Anyhow, this experience has taught me how one skill can open new doors and lead to new interesting possibilities. Learning to play the guitar has give me the necessary tools to be creative in music. Had I given up to sore fingers, I wouldn't have discover what I'm able to do ;)

YOLA Competition

        SO I decided to join a talent show held by YOLA language institute, Vietnam. The theme of the show was Dreams, and the 3 winners from this show would have a chance to perform on a big national stage in front of thousands of people. 

        I did a solo remix of "Hall of fame" and "Be what you wanna be", and my guitar skills were put to good use :) I wasn't one of the winners, sadly, but it was such a great experience being in a singing contest, and I did make a lot of new friends from the event! 


        A new performing experience I learnt from this is that prior to one's performance, one should make sure that everything one needs is fully prepared. Since I was the only one to both sing and play the guitar, my performance needed a clip on microphone, and my assumption was that the organizers had had it prepared; well they hadn't. I should've checked with them before, but I hesitated, hence not delivering the best quality I could've. Also, another setback of mine I need to try to fix is that I tend to get quite nervous whenever I feel that the audience is not responsive to my performance: I usually speed up so that I wouldn't bore them, which is never a good habit. Next time I ever perform again, I'll keep a mental note not to go mental :)

        

Guitar Class Union @ Dallas Cafe

Love the way you lie - Rihanna

This love - Maroon 5

     I had a chance to perform in Dallas cafe in Phu Nhuan District, HCMC. It was such a fun event! I've got to know more of my friends in my guitar class and have also received a lot of performing tips from my guitar sensei :)) These performances were not perfect, but they were huge improvements from my last ones. Really hope my learning curve will stay steep!

Long Hoa Orphanage

     I joined the charity club for Long Hoa Boys Orphanage in the beginning of 2013. We take turn to come to Long Hoa every Sunday morning from 9am - 12am to teach them English, Music, Dance or Arts, and meet up every Friday lunch to plan our lessons.  

      On my first day at the orphanage, I was a little nervous. I'd been given a headsup on the fact that some of the kids might be reluctant to join the lessons, so the thought of awkward silence somewhat worried me. 
      

      The warning was true. During the English lesson, most of the boys in the class were quite shy; of the whole class, there was only one or two active students. Nonetheless, given my previous tutoring experience and my outgoing personality, I tried to get the class to spell the words in unison, with the purpose of getting everyone to sound their voices. I managed to gradually break the barrier between teacher and students, raising their confidence by means of encouragement. I focused on those who didn't participate much and complimented them when they made an effort. It could have something to do with the fact that I always smile and jump around a lot that the atmosphere in the classroom soon lightened up...  


     This experience has again challenged me and brought me out of my comfort zone. It occurred to me that teaching is not merely an act of transferring knowledge, but is also an establishment of bonding between the teacher and the students. A good teacher cannot solely be knowledgeable in his/her area, but also has to be creative and encouraging in terms of teaching method. It seems the lost girl who went to Long Hoa orphanage today to teach the boys new vocabulary on directions - she headed home the right way.  

     

Zumba Dance Instructor at Caravelle Hotel - "A night with VietAbroader Club"

        At the beginning of my junior year, I started to pick up zumba dancing. I've always been in love with latin american dance culture since the first time I watched "Dancing with the stars" on the telly.

        Albeit no expert at it, dancing has always been a great source of joy for me. Just like singing, it helps me to express myself through the arts.

        On march 31st, i was lucky enough to be hosting a public event "a night with vietabroader club" with other club members. VietAbroader club is an organisation of young vietnamese teenagers who plan and carry out projects that benefit the vietnamese students in educational ways. The purpose of the event was to engage traditional vietnamese student to various cultural activities such as Indian hand painting, japanese origami, world arts...  I was in charge of the zumba workshop, which represents latin american culture. My job was to dance and try to get the audience to follow my lead.

        In order to prepare for this event, I had to learn the choreography to 8 spanish dance songs, record my practice and send it to members in the club who are interested in learning the moves.

        During the actual event, the hardest thing I experienced was to get people up on stage to dance. Most of the audience are pretty shy, which is quite understandable. However, I made a point that zumba is not about making the right moves, but taking the effort to follow just for the sake of fun! I managed to get 3 people on stage for the first song, and the number escalated to about seven by the third, with more people hopping up along the way. Finally, the evening was wrapped up with an exciting zumba performance of a full stage!

        It was such a nice feeling being able to connect with a totally new community. I guess that's the power of music, it brings people together in the most natural way.

       After this event, I feel quite proud about myself and what I have accomplished in the end. I'd performed quite a lot on stage before, but this was my first time dancing, and not only that, leading. It has struck me that just because one is novice to a field doesn't mean one cannot ace it. Thus, I believe that I should test my ability more in areas that are out of my comfort zone to constantly challenge myself towards the better!

Long Hoa Lessons CAS Contract

CAS proposal Long Hoa Lessons

SSIS Week of Heartbeat

     To celebrate the International Women's Day on March 8th, my friend Michelle and I have decided to organize an  SSIS school event called "The Week of Heartbeat". The event is a week long (Monday March 4th - Friday March 8th) and the purpose of this event is not only to raise awareness of heart diseases but also to promote the strong bond of companionship within the student body. The profits raised during this week is also dedicated to Heartbeat Vietnam Organization - a nursery for kids with heart diseases, and Long Hoa Boys Orphanage in Vietnam.

     The brief schedule of the event is as follows:

• MONDAY "MONDAY VIBE": We organized a Monday Vibe (an SSIS musical event that takes place every Monday of the week, where students perform at the school entrance for charity), and sang songs about the heart and companionship.
• TUESDAY "TOY STORY": We officially jumpstarted the Toys and Crayons Drive. We asked teachers and students to donate toys and/or crayons for the kids the in mentioned organization. The crayons are to aid an SSIS student-led Arts Lessons for the boys in Long Hoa Orphanage. 
• WEDNESDAY "WEAR YOUR HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE": Students were given heart-shaped stickers to stick on their shirt sleeves. This is to raise awareness on the importance of the heart, emotionally and physically. Also on that day, posters about different heart diseases was posted on bulletin boards and the library in order to further reinforce the incentive to protect our hearts. 
• THURSDAY "GIFTS SALES": We set up our booth, For The Ladies, at lunch in the school kiosk. The products included various bracelets, rings, earrings, teddy bears, etc.
• FRIDAY "BAKE SALES": Friday is the actual International Women’s day. We sold the best homemade French brownies from our good friend Cecile on this day for the same purpose of charity.

The event's outcome was announced on SSIS e-news on the next Monday morning:

"From Heartbeat Vietnam:

      Hello everyone, we hope you enjoyed the "Week of Heartbeat"! Thanks to all of you, we've been able to donate 1,340,000 VND (64.32 USD) and a tons of toys & crayons to the kids from Heartbeat Vietnam and Long Hoa Boys Orphanage. In short, YOU ROCK!

¡Spread the love!"

     All in all, the event was a success. From this event, I've learnt more on how to be a better leader. Albeit ran into many obstacles along the way with the proposal and group planning, I've gained valuable experience that would definitely be of great use in my future events.

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