Fotologue 4: ExploRace Part I

Assalamualaikum and greetings!

Pheww, it's been a very exhausting week for me, as you might be able to see how long has it been since my last updates..I'm not sure, few centuries ago? I was just looking for the best time, place and condition to update my blog and well, I managed to squeeze into a little gap of time that I had this morning to update, after a sweaty and productive morning I would say.

Being in the last week of school, I believe only the bodies of the students are there; their souls are left wandering, probably alone or with their peers, looking for something that suits their fancy. It is a fact that we can hardly deny as teachers, as teachers also have tonnes and piles of stuffs to be completed and submitted before the school doors shut themselves for a few weeks, before they will be reopened next year.

I love games, and I believe games are where people are united as one, regardless their skin colours, religion, beliefs and personalities. Games are the place where we forget all of those petty unimportant things, put them aside and work together to achieve one goal. In my brief years of teaching in the school, I strongly believe that we could inculcate all the positive values highlighted in our educational philosophy; as in teamwork, togetherness and respect. I've seen the evidence in the games that I have conducted throughout the year and I'm always looking for new techniques and games to promote the positive values among the students and if you have any ideas to share with, I'm all ears!

So, basically what I did was, I gave an idea to my 2ERA1 babies to conduct a treasure hunt activity for their Form 1 juniors. My primary objective was to inculcate all the things that have been taught to the Form 1 students throughout the year and to create a platform to the students to practise the language in a more fun and exciting environment. Thus, there comes the idea of ExploRace.

The theme was based on the famous TV-series CSI and they have to solve a murder case based on the clues given and they will have to collect all evidences from the activities conducted in the ExploRace. The games that my students have come out with are Dying Message, Find The Ticket, Broken Telephone Message and finally, 1.5 L Blood.

The scenario goes like this; a girl from Kluang was murdered. She left a message to her mum at home that she went to the bus station to take the bus to Malacca, to meet her best friend there. So, the Dying Message is the first evidence the students have to decipher. Basically, it is a note with the letters are jumbled up and the students have to reshuffle the letter to get to the next clue.

Then, after they have solved the Dying Message, they will go to the 'bus station' to get the ticket the girl has bought. They have to ask properly in order to get the ticket from the counter. Here, the trick is that students have to get the ticket with the exact time and destination. If not, they won't be able to continue to the next game.

When they have got the right ticket, they go to the next station, the Broken Telephone Message. This game is adapted from the usual broken telephone game we usually play during birthday parties or family day. For this game, the scenario is the girl who was murdered, left her phone on the bus and in the phone, she left a message leading to her best friend. So, here, the last person standing in the row will have to get the exact message from what the first person has listened from the phone.

That game leads to the hotel where the girl was murdered. The evidence was to collect 1.5 L blood from the crime scene. The trick here is, every member of each group will be blindfolded and they will carry a cup of 'blood', made of water and food colouring, following the instructions given by their team members, to the 1.5 bottle and they have to fill up the bottle with the blood. It has to be repeated until the bottle is full, and the first team to fill up their bottle with blood is announced as the winner.

Interesting, don't you think? You are welcome to provide any sort of feedback and suggestions on how to improve this activity to make it more interesting and challenging.

So, let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!