Two of the older boys in the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia are now continuing their education in the Philippines.
At the Home the two boys, like the other residents there, undergo a US-based home-schooling program. However, to ensure that they will be able to fit well into their community when they leave the Home, all the residents also learn the Khmer language.
Joshua is now enrolled in a college in the Philippines, while Samuel is continuing with his schooling. While at the Home, Samuel had shown considerable musical ability. There are no formal music lessons at the Home, only sporadic lessons from visiting musicians. Samuel learnt to play the violin, and also how to repair violins. He is thus now also enrolled at a music school in the Philippines.
So far the reports from their teachers indicate that they are coping well.
Joshua (on lady’s left) with his class.Samuel having a violin lesson
Goducate Laguna held its 2nd music camp at the Goducate Laguna Campsite in Pupuy, Bay, from Oct 30 to Nov 1. Unlike the first camp, which was held over 2 days for both the senior and junior orchestras (see Aug 29 blog), this one was a more intensive camp confined to only some of the senior players. As before, the orchestra was very unbalanced, made worse by the fact that not all the 12 violinists who had signed up for the camp turned up. Thus we ended up with 9 violinists (3 first violinists & 6 second violinists), 1 cellist, 1 violist, and 1 double-bass player.
Although the camp was held over 3 days, I spent 6 days in Laguna with the music group as a whole, and especially with the core group. Thus there were also meetings, teaching sessions on the Overview of Music Notation, as well as 2 evenings of watching the video Kung-fu Panda, which offers some precious life lessons such as:
We must believe in ourselves and in the people we are mentoring
There are no accidents in life’s events
Beware of being over-confidence and conceit
Do not under-estimate your enemy because looks can be deceiving
There are no secret ingredients in life because there are no short cuts, and we must be willing to work hard and take the hard knocks in life
To fulfil our destiny, we must let go of our illusion of control
There is no good or bad news because it depends on how one looks at it
An effective teacher must know what really motivates the student and adjust the mode of teaching to make the student hungry.
A true warrior never quits.
The mark of a true hero is humility.
Those attending the camp had new music to work on—namely, Mozart Mix, Fun for Fiddlers, Syncopated Clock, Little Russian March, as well as 2 Christmas pieces (Deck the Hall, and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas). The camp culminated in a concert for family members of the players. One of the items, Little Russian March, was conducted by Bernard, my conducting student, who did a good job.
The players enjoyed the camp, which resulted in definite improvements in playing skill and other skills— such as tackling technically difficult passages, sight-reading techniques, attention to details (such as intonation, change of keys, dynamics, articulation. They also increased their knowledge of musical terms.
One of the items discussed at the debrief was to look into means of improving the bad instruments mix, which is the result of a shortage of violas and cellos. The music group was thus urged to look into fund-raising efforts to purchase such instruments, after which the instructors can start recruiting the students for these instruments.
At one of the lecturesRehearsal with conducting studentAt the concert
*Our guest writer is Peter Yan, Goducate Laguna’s Singapore-based music director
October saw Happy Happy English students in two foreign-worker dormitories in Singapore celebrate their end of term. For the dormitory in Tuas, at the western tip of Singapore, it was the second end-of-term celebration. Here, Goducate’s Happy Happy English program had started in January. The program had started at the other dormitory, in Jurong, in the middle of the year. The program has recently started at a third dormitory.
This program is intended to teach foreign workers functional English, as well as to extend to them a hand of friendship. A 12-term is broken into two 6 week sessions, with a 4-week break in between. During this break friendship is maintained with the students through various events.
At both dormitories students had fun with the ice-breaker games, singing, eating (food kindly provided by the dormitory management), and, for some, receiving their certificates of attendance. The larger space available at the Tuas dormitory enabled the event to start with a volleyball match against a team from Goducate’s Connectayo program (which caters for Filipino workers through sports), and for the students to put on a dance/mime item.
Some students went on stage to tell of their experience with the Happy Happy English program. For instance, one said, “I like Happy Happy English because it’s different. They not only teach English, they teach me how to live”. Another said, “Happy Happy English is very good. I like the Chinese men, the Bangla men and the Indian men all coming together and study. It’s very good”. Yet another said, “All of you must come to Happy Happy English. I like it very much. The teachers are good. Everything is good. You must come”.
