Finally, I am in Vietnam with the students

31 Oct 2023

My heart has been so fulfilled to see the outcome of the whole program design process over 5 months coming into its shape, alive with young human beings, in my home country.

I had the privilege to work with teachers from Stamford American International School Singapore, who truly care about student learning goals and the quality of the Field Studies Curriculum. I am grateful that I am able to take different roles at the JUMP! Foundation, and for superwoman Shannon for trusting me. This time has been a rewarding journey. (OMG need another blog to narrate my learnings in this learning design process?!)

In this blog, I'll reflect on my work in Mai Chau, a beautiful northern town in Vietnam and see how I've improved, what I need to learn more, and how it has been aligned with my life purpose.

“It's so great to check in with ourselves and be honest about where we are at and where we want to be heading!” Pine

If I have to describe my whole program in a tin foil, I will create something that exudes love, care and authenticity. I have been a trip mommy because of the power to make spending decisions. I love to take care of those who are important. So I am happy to eat last and run errands first. The priority is to make the team happy and full of energy to work with students! All of the activity design work had been nicely done before meeting these people. When I finally met them, I felt empowered to be in the best mental state! Excluding the unexpected flu!

Gorgeous Mai Chau town!!!!

I am grateful to have opportunities to participate in different activities run in very different styles of facilitation. I was like a hybrid learner and supporter. Now that I have adjusted the activity flow and reflected, I want to run this program again as a facilitator! Want to have my own student group. :D 

Observing how the people blew their soul and knowledge in the activities, I was in awe!

Many activities happened out of spontaneous feelings, but indeed born from previous observations of students and their intention to do something relevant for the next day. Then the instant moment of activity led to serendipity, the emergence of surprises and flow of ideas and connections. It's called "Flow".

Seems that my people have "reviberated" their love for this job, for MSSD work. (Only Mai Chau team got this). I am inspired by their recognition. I am inspired that I am part of this wholesome team. 

they've become part of me

Favorite Activity I've learned:

"Meditation Guide in Chieu Cave *Give credit to Jessica and Pine 

Imagine yourself are like the water flow and limestone that throughout time, it will leave behind shapes of stalagmites, stalactites. It takes millions of years to create such patterns of rocks. And every moment of time passing by matters. Every small movement of water matters. In the same analogy to your life journey, you can make lots of influences from small actions that you might not know. But your impacts will become clearer overtime, as you grow up and experience more. So, what kind of shape do you want to create or leave behind? 

	Have students meditate for 10 minutes. 

	Follow up questions: think about your personal interests, passion, career thoughts, skills, strengths, which one do you want to develop in order to make the world a better place? 

	Split them into small groups and share their stories.

follow you students!

----

How has the job been in line with my life purpose? 

My life purpose is to contribute to the betterment of education and nature. To allow people who have been limited by social norms and low self-esteem, childhood trauma to lift up their sense of self and push through the boundaries. I love to inspire these people to gain belief in themselves and do things incredibly. Every individual is stronger than what they think. So, I will have conversations with them when they reach me, they want to interact with me, I am more than happy to be an active listener. 

Essentially, I love to create things that can be turned into actions which in one way or another, add values to the living creatures and humans.

New self-learnings: 

My strength:

To make people HAPPY HAHA. My team loves me and I feel the love too. The service providers also love me. Just that I got less love from the students, my main target group, or the main group that keeps my heart warm. I am good at managing time to process multiple things happening at the moment and in the future. I have to sort out my personal and work stuff and make sure that both sides are smoothly arranged. 

My weakness/ Pet-peeves: 

Last minute change can give me an outburst of frowning face and anger. I can still deal with it but I need some time to process. I don’t like people of a fixed mindset who are not willing to change, such as the staff, who lacked empathy and a serving attitude. 

What I’ve learnt: 

This is a stepping stone for my adult learning job also where I’ve trained myself to work with people having different perspectives, especially those who have their annoying inner child. 

I've improved how to managed my energy~ I spent time feeding my soul at night and anytime I felt the need. Recognizing the need of my mind and body helped me decide the right things and then get back in full force. 

In the past 1 year, I’ve met new JUMP facilitators that joined JUMP for the first time. Honestly, I haven’t found anyone that broke down like me in their first JUMP! Program. It is not right to make such a comparison. I feel honored to be someone who could share my experience with some with my humble experience.

I was happy to hear a few times that I am calm. From Shannon, and Cruz, an experienced and new JUMPer. Kai even told me that I am somehow stoic?! Wellllll, I would say I have become mindful in JUMP programs that 4 programs in a role doesn’t make me burned out. Even in a hectic program, I could find a way to make time for myself to wind down, recharge and then perform my role at best. 

appreciation time!

I will start Sasin to upskill new aspects of the thought process, and relate to my on-the-ground work with JUMP Foundation. I promise that I will never give up on my legacy of experiential education. I will still be someone who loves sunlight, who loves hearing stories, telling stories, valuing genuine connection, valuing learning, valuing those who truly want to learn, and value the impacts of my work. In a new workplace, I will continue embracing the values I believe in, the belief in humanity, the belief in myself, the hope that education is the key to inspire others and better the world. 

To keep practicing and contemplating on Facilitation:

I think facilitation is a skill that has to be time-relevant and human-centered. For every group of students or adults we work with, facilitation comes out differently. Not to mention the relevance to the theme of the program, new culture of the schools where students are from, and the learning goals that we hope to support students to achieve. So, I want to improve this skill over time, as well as getting to know more stories of different individuals, how they approach experiential learning, what kind of stories they tell students and engage them.

Pre-program training is to experience what students will experience, in order to facilitate activities for them at the best of our understanding and personal styles. Safety is one of the biggest concerns for experience programs, thus facilitators have to know how to take care of younger people in the outdoor, foreseeing potential risks and mitigation plans.

I recognize that an effective way of preping my facilitation skill is to practice it with the team at anytime convenient. I learned about risk management system that allow me to be more ready to confront the worst scenario. Designing learning content also necessitates various options that can serve different groups of students with abilities and certain needs. It is a lifelong skill, and it is powerful to create teachable moments to any individuals.

-----

Curiosity

I need to improve my facilitation and storytelling skills. I am SO curious to know about my student group, grade 12 of Bangkok Prep School, soon. I love this mature age, feeling that I could build a deep connection with them. Being able to talk to them about simple and important topics... Forever curiosity :)

Thank you for bringing international people to my home country, and my home. I find myself small and big at the same time.

What will everything be like without me? I am an important piece of a big picture. I see myself as a dot in the landscape of humans and nature of Vietnam and the world. I hope in every adventure they embark on later on, the Mai Chau program will be somewhere in their mind, decision making or inspiration in their heart. Thank you so much, students.

#grateful

#lovetoserve

#experientialearning

#improudofVietnam

P/s. Finally published this piece on 27 May 24

posting an instagram post and publishing a blog = 2 different effort-counting tasks!!!!