2021 SASS 3E EL WA1 w Ans

St Andrew’s Sec SchoolWA1 2021 ExemplarsSec 3 Express 1 Describe an outdoor learning experience that taught you some life skills. Why were these life skills important?Exemplar written by Aaron Goh 3SA“Come on Aaron!” You can do it!” My fellow classmate, John shouted in encouragement, as he waited for me to repel down the huge rock. Although the term “Outdoor learning” is not too popular among Singaporeans today, it too can be a place where students can learn important life skills. Today, I would like to share with you how outdoor learning has taught me the importance of perseverance in our lives, and how unity and teamwork help us achieve our goals. Back in 2016, I had the privilege to enter an exchange student program with a school in China. While we were there, we did many activities such as visiting their museums and strolling through their street markets. However, one activity stood out from the rest - the trekking. As part of our trip, we had to spend a night at the top of a hilly mountain top, while preparing the necessary survival equipment such as starting a fire, and pitching the tents. On the way up the mountain, we could see the magnificent rolling hills, and gazed in awe at the spectacular waterfall. As winter was approaching, the once bright orange autumn leaves littered the ground, while trees stood proudly with their naked, bare branches. After reaching the campsite, with the help of my team, we managed to start the fire and got all our tents up. Thanks to John, we also managed to filter out some freshwater from the nearby stream, something which our team desperately needed after doing the back-breaking tasks. Soon after our short water break, we had to repel down a huge mossy rock to reach our objective point. Despite the fear of slipping on the bright green slippery moss which covered the rock’s surface, I found the resilience and determination in John’s words, allowing me to repel down with ease. With our teamwork and perseverance, we managed to reach the goal set for us, instilling in us a sense of pride and teaching us important skills for years to come. Why then are these skills important to our lives now? Firstly, perseverance helps us overcome the challenges in life. Despite the feeling of giving up while setting up our camp, our team did not give in to our fatigue, but pushed through to get the job done. In our school life, when we are faced with adversity, perseverance would help push us to achieve greater goals, going through with them even when the going gets tough. For example, during this WA1 season, perseverance can help one to be more disciplined in studying or revising for one’s work, not giving in to his own desires such as playing video games or resting. This resilient and persevering attitude would allow us to grow stronger as a person, and reach heights we never thought we could reach. Secondly, unity helps us get through tough situations. As an author once said, “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.” Just like at our campsite, we all had our own duties and responsibilities to carry out. By doing our task with diligence, our team could get the job done quickly and efficiently, hence allowing all of us to savour the fruits of our labour together. As situations get tougher through life, unity and teamwork allow us to support one another and share the

St Andrew’s Sec SchoolWA1 2021 ExemplarsSec 3 Express 2 weight of the tasks at hand. By doing so, we stand on each other’s shoulders, allowing not only an individual, but a team to achieve great heights together. In conclusion, I remember a famous quote, “As the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” While we venture through this journey of life, we must remember to never give up on ourselves - having the resilience to not only face challenges, but having the unity to complete the race with others as well. Exemplar written by Pujit Vora Sec 3SA“Come on Jack! You can do it!’ My team members shouted and cheered me on as I played the Tug-of-war game against my opponent. This was during my camp in Primary Five. I believe that outdoor education is very important as it is a holistic method of education. Outdoor education experiences like camps teach you some important life skills which are very helpful for the future. A few skills that you can learn from these experiences are social skills and rational decision making.During my Primary Five camp, we had completed a myriad of activities over the period of three days. One of them was a relay competition where, in groups of five, we had to complete an obstacle course. Much like the popular show ‘Survivor’, this activity was based on communication skills. I learnt a lot about my peers through this activity. An interesting incident also occurred when we were attempting the obstacle course. One of my groupmates had suffered a heatstroke and fell unconscious on the ground. Being a member of my school’s Red Cross Co-Curricular Activity (CCA), I quickly jumped to action and performed First Aid on him with the nearby First Aid kit. Much to our relief, he regained consciousness. It was then that I first realised how important quick decision making is. From the obstacle course challenge, I learnt about the significance of communication.Now that I am in Secondary Three, I experienced many projects that we had to do. In all of them, communication was extremely important to achieve a good grade for the project. Understanding your peers’ opinions and techniques on how to get things done is extremely crucial. Not doing so may result in miscommunication during the process of a project. Learning these social skills at a young age is very beneficial for the future. In a corporate office, one needs to communicate effectively in order to overcome obstacles, improve collegiality and enhance synergy amongst colleagues in order to reach optimal levels of productivity which is essential for any organisation to flourish.From the experience of saving my teammate during the challenge, I realised the importance of learning to make swift and responsible decisions. Sometimes, you can find yourself in a deep pit of trouble and the only way out would be to think on your feet and react quickly and wisely. Quick thinking is necessary in life - especially in life-and-death situations. Failure to do so may lead to wrong choices that result in regret later on. Outdoor education teaches this skill very well when we find ourselves in challenging situations. For example, when my team was one of the last in the race, we had to make some quick choices that resulted in us in clinching the winner’s prize.In activities like investing, clever and fast thinking are very much needed to make good investments.

St Andrew’s Sec SchoolWA1 2021 ExemplarsSec 3 Express 3 In conclusion, outdoor education is a valuable platform for essential life skills to be cultivated. Hands-on experiences beyond the four walls of the classroom can help us apply the concepts and definitions we learn in school. Rudimentary life skills such as efficient communication and coherent decision making are beneficial for the future. As the proverb goes, “Outdoor education is merely a practical experience of the concepts we learn.”Exemplar written by Kendric Chang 3SAOutdoor education in recent years has become more ubiquitous in schools. Educators have found that when students are brought out of the classroom, there are invaluable opportunities to expand their repertoire of skills beyond the rudimentary level of learning done in a regular classroom. Whenever outdoor learning takes place, many life skills are taught. These life skills which include social skills, problem-solving and independence are very important.One outdoor learning experience I vividly remember is my Primary Five Camp. I had just started Primary Five with a new class and new teachers. My experience started off with me communicating with my fellow classmates. We shared anecdotes and learnt more about ea