I will write a detailed post of my experience as an adjudicator for WSDC 2015 once I can breathe from case writing madness for my students. Work has been crazy hectic for the past month and there is another month to go.
From being selected to attend adjudicators training and showing up that very Tuesday on July 28, it was a total dream July/early August. Walking into the lecture hall and being surrounded with overwhelming talented and good looking people from all around the world, I was in awestruck and kept asking myself, 'is this real, is it really real?' Taking two judges tests which was really nerve wrecking and pushed me super hard to think and craft out answers to my utmost best, knowing that it was all or nothing for me. I told myself even if I did not make it to adjudicate, it was already success thinking of where I was 10 years ago in life, repeating the gcse's.
Then came the email from the CA on Wednesday as I was about to go into teacher training at the British council asking if I was free on Thursday, I completely freaked out and went into ultimate spazz mode realizing I was one step closer to fulfilling my mission I had set out on. Fast forward to Thursday morning, showing up at Chij and my name being called at adjudicators roll call, holy crap it felt unreal that this is now, this is for real, no more wild dreaming. Walking into the room where I took my seat at the adjudicators table on the right side and filling out my name and country on the chairmans introduction sheet and having my name announced as one of the judges. I still remember every moment of it like a memory that cannot be erased. Last year was a trying year with lots of setbacks and going deep into the valley, months where I believed there was no hope, to rising above and beyond to get to this stage. I was at top focus when judging and knew it was all or nothing cause this might be my one and only opportunity. I ended up being in the majority of a split ballot giving the win to the opposition, and my, team Slovakia has very atttactive looking speakers. Not even joking, hot damn they looked like gq models, even the female speaker who could easily be a model too. Giving feedback over lunch to both teams, done and dusted, one round in the books. Talking to Josef who is super young and yet so gifted.
Fast forward to Friday morning judging another round, and meeting team Turkey who was extremely helpful with travel advice when I told them that I would be in Istanbul for a day in December, after I had been the minority vote in a split decision. Their coach, Miha one of the most soft spoken and humble guys I have ever met.
Saturday night, I was out and received a call from the CA asking whether I was free on Sunday to judge both rounds and of course, I said yes. Wholly crap, 4 rounds of judging?! You never expect it to be in your wildest dreams, two weeks later I finally get to take a step back and finally see what I have done.
Sunday morning, I judge a round, giving the minority vote yet again, then rush off to meet Nate at the train station to take him back to the venue. Sounds insane but yes, I bring a friend whos in town for the weekend on his first visit to Singapore to watch debate. I introduce him to a bunch of people who are judges/organizers etc and he seems to soak it all in. Nate sits in the room I am judging and gets acquainted with team Mexico (yet again), I give the minority vote.
Fast forward to the closing dinner which was amazing. Anton gives me a goodbye hug, damn I will miss those suave looking speakers. Talking to Chris, the convener for next years tournament who is one of the most down to earth people I've met and finding out that he's on cs which I have a profile on and talking random things and getting a goodbye hug from him too. I need to find a way to make it to
Stuttgart to judge next year! And talking to the Dutch team makes me miss the Netherlands real bad. 5 years since I left Holland from exchange but I will be there in December.
I'll write more later.
Out of here like a reply speech.
Friday, August 14, 2015
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Surrender the moment, bring it to life
In September, I coached a wonderful group of year 5's from Henry Park school for the raffles institution primary debate competition. Having only a week to prepare, they performed above and beyond and made the quarterfinals in 7th place. By the skin of their teeth I must say.
It was my first time that I've managed to break through to the elimination rounds in 2 years of coaching and it sure was a great feeling. Although they lost the quarterfinals, one of the team members came in sixth place overall (out of at least 100 students who competed) in the speaker rankings!
Belated congratulations to the team- Titus, Ren Ying, Conrad, Rohin and Brandon (and not forgetting Noelle who was part of the research group.
It was my first time that I've managed to break through to the elimination rounds in 2 years of coaching and it sure was a great feeling. Although they lost the quarterfinals, one of the team members came in sixth place overall (out of at least 100 students who competed) in the speaker rankings!
Belated congratulations to the team- Titus, Ren Ying, Conrad, Rohin and Brandon (and not forgetting Noelle who was part of the research group.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Never too late for good news
For the first time in the Secondary Schools competition, I had a student ranked.
One month overdue, already history, but it must be shared.
Number fifteen. Nothing more than praise and happiness directed at the first/second speaker who was the quietest and shyest in class. A humble heart gets you far. Yes, I am truly proud of him for his accomplishment
One month overdue, already history, but it must be shared.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
For this is my cry, my one desire
To see all of you succeed in life, to never have the fear of dreaming big cause there's nothing between you and your dream.
This goes out to my students: Hansel, Benjamin, Nirvain and George (if you happen to read this).
I believe in you that's why I set even tougher challenges and hurdles in round 3. I saw the potential and ability in all of you. We may have registered that loss, let each other down with tensions and emotions at its highest, but at the end of the day, all of you are warriors. You did try. That monster was too big and swallowed us up. We have learned something and all of you are going to get even better. Don't ever stop learning. 'Cause you guys spoke like you owned the room.
Thank you for letting me have the chance to coach you. I genuinely cared for all of you and am I am forever indebted to be your coach for the past month. For I took a chance and ventured into the unknown quitting my previous job and this was indeed the most beautiful thing that I could have ever asked for in life. February-March was the highlight of my life, in my 20s. If I didn't quit that job, I would not be experiencing this beautiful feeling now, and wouldn't change anything in the world for it. Have I ever felt real happiness before? If this is happiness to be able to coach the most eager to learn and enthusiastic 15 year olds, that feeling is beyond amazing. Better than the riches of this world. Better than my time in Europe and the States in 2010 and the pre-college graduation trip to the East Coast and touring Yankee Stadium in 2011/12 at Christmas.
4 days, 11.5 hours of lesson this week. Non stop hard work. We probably worked harder than any professional team or any team in the competition. I'm not even counting the hours every member of the team spent working on their speeches and case outside of class. If I could turn back time and be downing red bulls all night and not sleeping for a week, I would do it. The coach goes through tons of material, just like how in professional sports, the head coach goes through hours of film, pulling all-nighters and not even having any shut-eye time so that the team is able to succeed. I am strongly motivated by Roy Williams, Joe Torre and Gregg Popovich, three of the head coaches of my favourite teams in college basketball, baseball and NBA.
Keep your head up, never look back on this. All the talent, insanity and jokes that transpired from learning, that's what class should be. Never give up on your dreams. If you ever feel down and out, remember my voice parroting at you to not undermine yourself because you are bigger and better than you think. I wish I could just keep going on coaching and educating all of you cause you make me want to teach you even more. It's the biggest gift that an educator could ever receive, your spirit. I could jabber praises about everyone till the water dries up in the oceans.
Signed,
Coach N
P.s Monsters shall be reduced to dust. We'll grab their horns and bones and eat them up. :)
Ostriches with their heads out of the sand!
This goes out to my students: Hansel, Benjamin, Nirvain and George (if you happen to read this).
I believe in you that's why I set even tougher challenges and hurdles in round 3. I saw the potential and ability in all of you. We may have registered that loss, let each other down with tensions and emotions at its highest, but at the end of the day, all of you are warriors. You did try. That monster was too big and swallowed us up. We have learned something and all of you are going to get even better. Don't ever stop learning. 'Cause you guys spoke like you owned the room.
Thank you for letting me have the chance to coach you. I genuinely cared for all of you and am I am forever indebted to be your coach for the past month. For I took a chance and ventured into the unknown quitting my previous job and this was indeed the most beautiful thing that I could have ever asked for in life. February-March was the highlight of my life, in my 20s. If I didn't quit that job, I would not be experiencing this beautiful feeling now, and wouldn't change anything in the world for it. Have I ever felt real happiness before? If this is happiness to be able to coach the most eager to learn and enthusiastic 15 year olds, that feeling is beyond amazing. Better than the riches of this world. Better than my time in Europe and the States in 2010 and the pre-college graduation trip to the East Coast and touring Yankee Stadium in 2011/12 at Christmas.
4 days, 11.5 hours of lesson this week. Non stop hard work. We probably worked harder than any professional team or any team in the competition. I'm not even counting the hours every member of the team spent working on their speeches and case outside of class. If I could turn back time and be downing red bulls all night and not sleeping for a week, I would do it. The coach goes through tons of material, just like how in professional sports, the head coach goes through hours of film, pulling all-nighters and not even having any shut-eye time so that the team is able to succeed. I am strongly motivated by Roy Williams, Joe Torre and Gregg Popovich, three of the head coaches of my favourite teams in college basketball, baseball and NBA.
Keep your head up, never look back on this. All the talent, insanity and jokes that transpired from learning, that's what class should be. Never give up on your dreams. If you ever feel down and out, remember my voice parroting at you to not undermine yourself because you are bigger and better than you think. I wish I could just keep going on coaching and educating all of you cause you make me want to teach you even more. It's the biggest gift that an educator could ever receive, your spirit. I could jabber praises about everyone till the water dries up in the oceans.
Signed,
Coach N
P.s Monsters shall be reduced to dust. We'll grab their horns and bones and eat them up. :)
Ostriches with their heads out of the sand!
Saturday, March 1, 2014
and I did it, all that stubbornness has paid off
The late Jeret Peterson's words say it all in the title and this post.
Those seven magical words I've been yearning to hear. "And the winning team goes to the proposition."
7:15pm, February 28, 2014.
What I've been out there searching for has finally came to pass. One year of darkness and depression. Two months ago, teaching wasn't even in my dictionary. I was popping countless anti depressants, drinking bottles of alcohol, and starving myself for days. Suicide attempts for the past 20 months, and finally, a tinge of sunshine. "This win represents me overcoming everything... it's my gift to myself. And I'm ecstatic. I'm extremely happy with the way things (have turned out yesterday)."quoting Peterson. The road is long, and the bumps can be a killer. I've worked myself crazy, changed jobs in a span of six weeks but it feels all worth it right now. When things aren't working out, keep walking. I have the best small group of students that I could have ever asked for, though I have only been working for three weeks, and once they lose, my contract will be up, and I'll be long gone.
I'd work all night to make sure the students get the best out of me in class, though they might not sound like a perfect speaker, they have made me proud. When your heart and soul is on the line, this is what I live for. I did the same at the previous school, but betrayal and poison slammed the door and I walked out before it got worse. All for the better. "I always had this feeling I was put on this earth to see how much crap somebody could go through and still come out on top," as Peterson said. This speaks volumes to me. Bullied for being different, which sparked rebellion. Nobody expected me to ever graduate from college, or even high school. But I did. I made it through and walked across the stage that very day on July 13, 2012, with my degree in hand. Someone who was never in the best class and who never had a respectable GPA in college and couldn't cut it anywhere. Who would have ever thought that I'd end up working as a debate coach, or rather, make more than the minimum wage? I've made it. The hours I spend drafting cases, editing it till its of standard, all for one cause. If I didn't do it, I'd go to bed at night with full of regret. All the what if's. Writing cases keep me out of the darkness that I do not wish to see again.
"It goes to show that people can make something of second chances," he said. "It's OK to make mistakes as long as you learn from them and as long as you're able to become a better person." Wins do not come very often, as I told the team, but its the learning process that can never be replaced. Talk about a dream, try to make it real, you wake up in the night and it feels so real, sings Bruce Springsteen. One win in the bag, onward to the next one which needs to happen. I told myself the night before the competition that I will have the students win round 2, and I did. That hundred hour work week didn't feel so bad after all.
If my students ever read this, I am so proud of your achievement. It's back to the grind come next class!
Those seven magical words I've been yearning to hear. "And the winning team goes to the proposition."
(The second speaker on my team was mentioned as best speaker too!)
7:15pm, February 28, 2014.
What I've been out there searching for has finally came to pass. One year of darkness and depression. Two months ago, teaching wasn't even in my dictionary. I was popping countless anti depressants, drinking bottles of alcohol, and starving myself for days. Suicide attempts for the past 20 months, and finally, a tinge of sunshine. "This win represents me overcoming everything... it's my gift to myself. And I'm ecstatic. I'm extremely happy with the way things (have turned out yesterday)."quoting Peterson. The road is long, and the bumps can be a killer. I've worked myself crazy, changed jobs in a span of six weeks but it feels all worth it right now. When things aren't working out, keep walking. I have the best small group of students that I could have ever asked for, though I have only been working for three weeks, and once they lose, my contract will be up, and I'll be long gone.
I'd work all night to make sure the students get the best out of me in class, though they might not sound like a perfect speaker, they have made me proud. When your heart and soul is on the line, this is what I live for. I did the same at the previous school, but betrayal and poison slammed the door and I walked out before it got worse. All for the better. "I always had this feeling I was put on this earth to see how much crap somebody could go through and still come out on top," as Peterson said. This speaks volumes to me. Bullied for being different, which sparked rebellion. Nobody expected me to ever graduate from college, or even high school. But I did. I made it through and walked across the stage that very day on July 13, 2012, with my degree in hand. Someone who was never in the best class and who never had a respectable GPA in college and couldn't cut it anywhere. Who would have ever thought that I'd end up working as a debate coach, or rather, make more than the minimum wage? I've made it. The hours I spend drafting cases, editing it till its of standard, all for one cause. If I didn't do it, I'd go to bed at night with full of regret. All the what if's. Writing cases keep me out of the darkness that I do not wish to see again.
"It goes to show that people can make something of second chances," he said. "It's OK to make mistakes as long as you learn from them and as long as you're able to become a better person." Wins do not come very often, as I told the team, but its the learning process that can never be replaced. Talk about a dream, try to make it real, you wake up in the night and it feels so real, sings Bruce Springsteen. One win in the bag, onward to the next one which needs to happen. I told myself the night before the competition that I will have the students win round 2, and I did. That hundred hour work week didn't feel so bad after all.
If my students ever read this, I am so proud of your achievement. It's back to the grind come next class!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
A Yankee fan's nightmare
Three World Series appearances in this millennium.
Two rings in the past decade.
Those champagne celebrations in late October, outnumbering the World's Greatest Team of the 1900s.
Take me back to the grand old days of the late 90's,
It's been a long time.
The home grown drafted players,
All gone bust and flopped.
The biggest rival,
After two years of the "titanic sinking", Bobby Valentine,
Cellar dwellers in 2012 and the epic fried chicken-video gaming-beer drinking shenanigans,
A long lost memory in time for the Red Sox.
The postseason ghosts haunting,
Derek Jeter's nasty injury last October,
Nothing gone right for the Yankees.
Here I go,
Scream my heart out,
Rooting for Detroit to win the AL pennant,
Fielder is as big as Ortiz,
Both can't run bases,
One got thrown out in a crucial inning running to third.
Never saw it coming,
Should have never started running,
A good twelve hours ago.
So I lay my head back down,
And I pray to the baseball gods,
May the Cardinals beat the Red Sox.
They are my only hope.
Two rings in the past decade.
Those champagne celebrations in late October, outnumbering the World's Greatest Team of the 1900s.
Take me back to the grand old days of the late 90's,
It's been a long time.
The home grown drafted players,
All gone bust and flopped.
The biggest rival,
After two years of the "titanic sinking", Bobby Valentine,
Cellar dwellers in 2012 and the epic fried chicken-video gaming-beer drinking shenanigans,
A long lost memory in time for the Red Sox.
The postseason ghosts haunting,
Derek Jeter's nasty injury last October,
Nothing gone right for the Yankees.
Here I go,
Scream my heart out,
Rooting for Detroit to win the AL pennant,
Fielder is as big as Ortiz,
Both can't run bases,
One got thrown out in a crucial inning running to third.
Never saw it coming,
Should have never started running,
A good twelve hours ago.
So I lay my head back down,
And I pray to the baseball gods,
May the Cardinals beat the Red Sox.
They are my only hope.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Raffles Institution Invitationals 2013
Busy has been taken to a whole new level. It was an exciting and fulfilling learning experience for me, not just passing on my skill to the students; albeit information overload for a few students as it was their first time on the panel, as a fifteen year old. Although at 10pm on a Sunday night, I am still reeling from the adrenaline rush and amount of work done, I am contented. Simply: the fact that I cannot stop talking about how proud I am of the team of students I guided and mentored.
From the simplest of all things at eight in the morning that I did: taking attendance of all the judges present, and briefing them on the scoring range I implemented for consistency to moderating and calculating scores (for consistency issues), doing power matching for the second and third round under a very tight schedule and re-allocating judges multiple times, this sure taught me to multitask even further. In addition, I gave one of the students the autonomy to make logistical decisions, rather than be the one have a say in every single issue.
I probably listed out most of what I had done yesterday in the span of ten hours, not including judging three rounds, giving the verdict and oral feedback to the teams, what a whirlwind day indeed.
Special thanks to Kelvin for letting me play a part in running the tournament. Much appreciated for giving me more experience!
Not forgetting Samuel, Malcolm and Deon. The past 3, 4 weeks of non stop emailing with information, thanks for the swift replies and great suggestions and productive day. It was a pleasure working with all of you.
From the simplest of all things at eight in the morning that I did: taking attendance of all the judges present, and briefing them on the scoring range I implemented for consistency to moderating and calculating scores (for consistency issues), doing power matching for the second and third round under a very tight schedule and re-allocating judges multiple times, this sure taught me to multitask even further. In addition, I gave one of the students the autonomy to make logistical decisions, rather than be the one have a say in every single issue.
I probably listed out most of what I had done yesterday in the span of ten hours, not including judging three rounds, giving the verdict and oral feedback to the teams, what a whirlwind day indeed.
Special thanks to Kelvin for letting me play a part in running the tournament. Much appreciated for giving me more experience!
Not forgetting Samuel, Malcolm and Deon. The past 3, 4 weeks of non stop emailing with information, thanks for the swift replies and great suggestions and productive day. It was a pleasure working with all of you.
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