GESL & Meranti

GESL: Group Endeavours in Service Learning

For our GESL, my group conducted a 6-week project at Rainbow Centre at Margaret Drive (RCMDS), a school for students with varying degrees of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and multiple disabilities (MD). We divided ourselves into 3 groups, and each group was assigned to a class within RCMDS and instructed the class in a specific skill. My group was involved in reading literacy programme with a class of 6 students aged 7-8 and diagnosed with ASD. We structured our reading sessions around the existing lesson plans and learning objectives for the class by liaising with the teachers in charge of the class beforehand. We would then spend an hour on Thursday afternoons conducting the reading session and interacting with the students. The experience was very enjoyable, but it was also an important learning experience for me as I came to a better understanding of the challenges faced by students with ASD as well as those involved in their education.

The Meranti Project

Before embarking on the execution of our GESL, we attended a two-day weekend course in NIE called The Meranti Project. The Meranti Project provided a platform for my GESL group to know each other better, which was important since many of us did not share the same classes in NIE. This was facilitated by numerous reflexive exercises that helped us to define our personality and working styles, which could then share with each other. The course culminated in inter-GESL-group games, where our different personality types had to work together to guarantee our success - and I am proud to say that our group emerged as champions on the day!