Self-reflection

“My Self-reflection”

Future Center and Future Me!

When I knew at the beginning of this course that I have to do a volunteering project, I felt upset and confused.  The reason behind that was because I’ve never been in a similar situation before, but I said to myself let me give it a try.  In addition to that, I will make it more challenging to get closer to a layer of people that I’ve never been close enough to before, special needs.

I’ve chosen Future center, a place that I never knew or visit before, even I never heard about it.  In the future center I found a lot of answers for my questions, missing parts I was searching for since long time and pure souls to talk to.   The experience gives me the opportunity to explore some hidden skills in me such as teaching.  Furthermore, I knew that I have to be thankful on whatever I have and stop yelling and regretting on what I’ve missed in my life, because someone in the future center told me “ I want to be like you “.  How can I keep yelling on my unachieved goals while someone’s dream just to talk normally like me!

  This center added a new wish to my wishes list; yes I want to be a teacher one day.  Even though it’s not my profession, but I’ll do my best to be a volunteer teacher for special needs.   Thanks god and thanks future center for this slap on my face, I start getting closer to any special need person.  I’ll always remember future center when I feel upset from life and I’m totally sure that it’s my always cure.

And here is something that I’ll always keep in my office and read every day, a letter from my student.

Futuer Center ( Day 7 )

Day 7: Monday 5 May .. 8:30 am to 10:00 am

As usual, the day started with a music class, and after the class we continued what we started me and Eid couple weeks ago, Arabic lessons.  I noticed that Eid gain more benefits from listening and speaking than writing lessons, so I start asking him about his weekend, he answered me in Arabic and told me what he did during the holiday.  Furthermore, he was so happy because I asked his brother to talk more Arabic with him in home.  I continued teaching him how to speak Arabic and this time we moved to different topics like food, work places and greeting events conversations.  Eid said to me that he always face difficulties when he meet old people whom start long complicated conversation with him.  I told him to just try to catch the words that he know and try to link them together to know what is that person talking about.  In addition to that, we moved to improving his long answers skills, no more short answers.  I end up the day with a complicated conversation with Eid, and he improved, at least he started feeling free and face his fear.  I  think that Eid is a clever students and he have a lot of skills, but he have to face his fears and beat them.

Future Center ( Day 5 & Day 6 )

Day 5: Monday 28 April .. 8:30 am to 10:00 am

Another day in future center, but this time something special happened, Mr. Gregory visited us in the center and see what we are doing.  Unfortunately, during this day the class was out to an outside visit, but Eid was waiting for me to teach him Arabic.  We started our Monday as usual with a music class, and Eid was playing pieces on Org.  After that we moved to the class to start doing Arabic, I taught him the third letter in the Alphabet and review the old letters, numbers and colors.  While we were doing that, Mr. Gregory entered the class and joined us.

Day 6: Wednesday 30 April .. 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm

During the 6th day, I moved to another important skill in teaching Eid Arabic, he asked me to teach him how to speak with people and I think that Alphabet is not what he's looking forward.  So, we used to start listening and speaking class.  I start talking with him and ask him tell me what are his weekend plans but in Arabic.  At the beginning he was not comfortable and he told me "I feel shame if I said something wrong or mistake in pronouncing"  I calm him down and said to him that I am here to help you not to laugh at you.  We start talking Arabic and Eid start showing what he know, I correct for him what is wrong and teach him some new words that related to our home furniture, kitchen and bedroom.

Future Center ( Day 3 & Day 4 )

Day 3 : Monday 21 April .. 8:30 am to 11:00 am

As usual, the first class was a music class and the students were playing music.  After the music class we went back to the class, and I start teaching Eid Al Shamsi Arabic.  I  started asking him what he know in Arabic and review them.  After that I start teaching him the first two letters in Arabic alphabet, I used repetition, doing, connecting to real world and home practicing technique with him.  I use to say the letters and he repeat after me, then I ask him to write the letters, then I start link the letters with something around him and at the end I ask him to practice what he learnt today at home.  After finishing the class, it''s break time and students have their breakfast and I joined them.  I have some conversations with them and I figured out that I know Eid's  brother and that will help me in teaching him.  The students start feeling more comfortable with me and they start interaction and talking with me without being afraid or confused.

Day 4 : Wednesday 23 April .. 12:00 pm to 1:00

There was no enough time to do more activities, so I've started teaching Eid numbers,  colors and some greetings in Arabic.  He asked me to teach him how to speak with people because he can understand what they say but he can't answer.  I start speaking with him in Arabic, just short simple conversations and he start answering.  Furthermore, I asked his brother to talk with him Arabic in home and he start talking Arabic more at home.  Unfortunately, the day was over too fast and we end up by saying goodbye with each others but in Arabic.

Future Center (Day 1 & Day 2)

According to our project plan and timing schedule, we've been in the Future center @8:30 am in the 14th of April, it was our first day there.

After entering the center they gave us a volunteer card, they divide us and let each one be with a different class.  I am in the Academic English class with Ms. Rachel and the class includes 10 students from different nationalities and ages, but they all were males.

The first time I met the students during the music class, they welcomed me well and I noticed the happiness through their eyes when they saw me, in addition, they impressed me with their abilities to play music on different instruments.  After the music class was over, we moved to the main class room that they study in regularly, and while walking to the class I was having a short conversation with Eid Al Shamsi (a student) weho welcomed me and show me the class way.  Ms. Rachel ask me to be ready for a presentation under the topic of "Fun Run" that will be presented to me by the students.  They present the topic and tell me the story of how they got this smart board by running 2 km for charity.  I enjoyed the spirit and the happiness that I noticed when they were presenting to me, but as usual good times never last for long.  My first day ended and I was waiting for Wednesday to meet them again.


Day 2:

As we've scheduled, we reached the Future Center @12:00 pm, but unfortunately we've only 1 hour to volunteer because the timetable there end @1:00 pm.  As usual the students welcomed me well, but this time I interact more with them.  Ms. Rachel asked me to help the students in writing an introduction paragraph about themselves.  I have a lot of talk and conversation with the students and I feel that they broke the borders and start feeling free to talk to me.  Ms. Rachel asked me if I will be able to teach Eid Al Shamsi Arabic language because he was facing difficulties in it.  I accepted the idea and I was really happy to interact more with the students.  By the end of the day, I stayed in the center until the students left and say goodbye to them.  This class includes very clever students whom reached a high level of education and creativity, they know how to use computers, presenting and play different music instruments too!
As it's known that taking photos and videos is not allowed in the center without taking permission, I shoot this selfie before leaving ..

Note: this post for week 1

"Future Center project" / Plan

“Future Center volunteering project”

Group members:

Abdullah Abdulaziz Al Shaibani

Abdul Hakeem Al Jaberi

Ahmed Saeed Al Naqbi

Ali Abdulrahman Al Kalbani

Humaid Khamis Al Shamsi

Organization information:

Future Center for special needs

o   Contact person: Ms. Anjum Jaffer (Head of Education)

§  Tel: +971 2 5533506

§  Email: anjum1@futurecn.ae

Time / Schedule:

Our group will volunteer for 5 weeks in the center starting from 14^th April, 3 hours per week divided into two days.  The schedule will help us to end up with 15 hours of volunteering, but we may add more hours after week 1.

Target audience:

Mental disability, Autism spectrum disorder, multiple disability, Down syndrome, physical disability and speech disorder students.  Students are from different ages and nationalities.

Activities our project will involve:

Sport classes.

IT skills classes.

Art classes.

Outside trips (if it possible).

Afternoon activities (football or basketball).

Aims of the project:

This project has many purposes and outcomes for both of volunteers and target audience.  Us volunteers, we are going to gain experience and background about education volunteering work.

 We will learn more about disabilities and how to treat people with disabilities and disorders, especially that we will learn by doing and dealing with them.

This project is a part of this course, by doing it on the best way we will pass this course with the best outcomes.

Planning and preparing is one of the most important purposes of this project, we will improve our planning skills.

Try to help the target audience and people in the future center as much as we can during our volunteering time.

Come up with new ideas to improve the center services and help the managers with some future possible plans.

                                                     

Benefits of project on target audience:

The philosophy of the center says “Individuals with disabilities have the right to appropriate education and intervention.  They are to be accorded every opportunity for growth and development”.  We are dealing with disability people and they have special needs and we should know what they need from us, we have to make sure from everything before we meet them.  Students there are so sensitive and some actions that we see regular may have a negative reflect on them.  For this purpose, the best way to get ready is to think about their needs and put them in levels:

a)      Level one needs

Understanding: Students will feel more comfortable if they find someone who understands them, and by this way the education process will be easy on both of us.

Time – Patient: We should be patient and give the students time, and we always have to remember that we are dealing with disability students.

Support: The purpose of the project is to help these students, and they need moral support more than any other kind of supports.

b)      Level two needs:

Sympathy: To support disability students and help them to improve their skills to involve in the society we have to show them kindness and love.

Listen-notice: If they feel comfortable they will try to say their thoughts and ideas and we should listen.  Sometimes actions say more than words, so noticing is not less importance than listening.

c)      Level three needs:

Opportunity: Disability students need an opportunity to show people around them how good they are and they are not on the same situation anymore, we have to give them opportunities.

Motivation: they may not success from the first opportunity; they need motivation to try again and again and keep improving and learning.

b) Level four needs:

Confidence: Students will gain confidence and believing in themselves by time and after getting their needs from the past levels.

Acceptance: After getting their previous needs, students will have to get the acceptance from the society and people to live naturally.

           

            Challenges:

We are going to face many challenges and we are going to pass them.  Some of these challenges are:

-       The acceptance of the students.

-       We are not allowed to take photos or videos without permission, and by this way our blog reports are going to be weak.

-       The center strict rules (for instance, no phones are allowed during the volunteering hours .. etc)

These challenges will be passed easily and we are going to achieve our target and we will end up with a great experience and project at the end of the course.

  

Exercise #7

LSH 2903 – Community Service – Learning /  Exercise #7

Charity and Volunteering in the UAE - Information and Activities

The UAE is famous for its hospitality and the desire to give one's time and efforts to help other people.

When I travel to other countries and talk to people about my job, the students and the UAE in general, one constant thought I hear repeated is that the UAE is a very hospitable country and its people are very generous. People in the UAE often want to do things to help others, whether it is other UAE Nationals or people from other countries.

Within the UAE we see so many examples of people volunteering and giving to charities to try and help others. People do this out of the simple goodness of their hearts and to try to help other people to have a better life than they have at the moment. An obvious example is TAKATOF which promotes the idea of volunteering within the country.

Just last semester (March 2013) we had a major charity fundraising week when students, staff and teachers of ADMC raised 25,000 Dh to donate to a school in a poor village Cambodia.

The UAE is also very strongly represented in the international field of assisting people from other countries. It may be through the Red Crescent that people donate money, time or skills to try and help others. So much of the time when we hear about various international problems, the UAE is one of the first to step forward and provide assistance.

Activities

Use the following link to access the website of the UAE Red Crescent.

Once you are there, see if you can answer the following questions. This will help you to find out what the organisation does, what some of their projects are and who are the people involved in the organisation.

http://rcuae.ae/

1.                   The UAE Red Crescent has contributed to a number of building projects both inside and outside the UAE. Name three projects the UAERC has worked on

a.      Construction projects (houses and mosques).

b.      Building houses and mosques.

c.       Education projects.

2.                   Name at least 4 countries the UAERC has worked in to provide various project assistance

a.      Somalia.

b.      Lebanon.

c.       Palestine.

d.      Afghanistan.

3.                   What was the estimated total cost of projects undertaken in the UAE during 2009?

-          180,830,333 DHS

4.                   According to the information about the foreign based projects, which group of projects received funding of 8,373,558 Dirhams?

-          Infrastructure, education and health projects.

5.                   According to the information about the Foreign Projects, the UAERC is involved in some very important work. According to the English translation, these are listed below. Try to come up with an easy explanation for each of the terms in the grid.

	Translation Term	My/Our own meaning
	reconstruction	Rebuild
	disasters	Ruin that happens because of nature
	crises	Ruins that happens because of human activities
	rehabilitation	Repair and recover
	infrastructure	Foundation, base
	devastation	Ruin
	public utilities	Public services

6.                   Name three situations which are listed as �natural disasters�.

a.      Earthquakes.

b.      Flooding.

c.       Storms.

7.                   Crescent Volunteers University

What are the three areas of training/qualification that university students could work towards?

a.      First Aid.

b.      Volunteer work methods.

c.       The international humanitarian law.

UNICEF + Takatof Activity: Exercise #6

UNICEF Activity 1: Exercise #6

Open the link http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/uae_44659.html

List and discus the latest newsline events in the United Arab Emirates

-         Arab media Award on Child Rights initiated to honor outstanding achievements.

-         UNICEF and Dubai Cares support quality education to break the cycle of poverty.

-         Police boost AIDS campaign in Dubai.

UNICEF Activity 2:

How can you help UNICEF? Working in groups, fill in the table below.

Ideas of supporting UNICEF	Ways of achieving it	Date of completion
Education for children	-         Volunteer as teacher. -         Donate books.	-
Protection from hard working	-         Awareness campaigns. -         Support laws that forbid children working in poverty countries.
Protect children from diseases	-         Donate medicines. -         Offer doctors -         Spread awareness through parents.
Clean sources of living	-         Build water filtering stations in poverty countries. -         Donate healthy food.

1.     Takatof - Exercise #6

Click on the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMDUTjeymxk&feature=related

Activity 1

Using Google search for information about Takatof and answer the questions below

What is Takatof?

A social volunteering programme in United Arab Emirates that established in 2005.  Takatof vision is to offer a better community by offering people social volunteering projects.  It offers the society creative solutions under the dress of volunteering.

  

Which year did start? And who started it?

It starts in 2005 under the patronage of his highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

What volunteer work have they done?

They’ve worked on many projects, some of them were inside UAE while the others outside UAE.  For instance, training programs to develop the volunteer’s skills, Formula 1 project, Ramadan project and school makeover campaign.  Furthermore, Tanzanian project and Tornado recovery aid in USA are two projects that were outside the UAE.

How can you help?

We can offer them help by volunteer and join their training programs.  In addition, we can offer them some new ideas for projects that they may handle in the future.  Furthermore, we can spot the light on some issues in our society that they could fix by a creative volunteering project.