Lesson 6
This lesson we developed the pictures we took at El Angel, but we did not develop them as we did before. This time we had to make test strips for the photographic paper, this enables us to see how much light should be exposed to the paper. The more light exposed the darker the picture. It is just a more professional way of developing pictures, to get a better quality picture.
The lesson was not as exciting because we did not really learn anything new, and we were not left alone, to develop our pictures, making it feel more like a lesson than an activity. Although it was not exciting it was interesting, because we found out how to improve the quality of our pictures.
Lesson 7
In this lesson we went to the golf course next to our school. This was a more practical CAS lesson, because we were taking pictures, and that was the preferred part of the subject. Here we had fun because we were taking pictures of moving things, in this case golf players taking shots.
It is harder to take these types of pictures, because you have to move the camera at the same speed and direction the golf player is taking his shot. If this is not achieved then your picture will come out blurred.
We enjoyed ourselves a great deal because there was a lot of interaction between us and the golf players, because we had to ask them if they did not mind us taking pictures of them. If they agreed then they would have to sort of pose for us. This was a lot of fun because it was not an easy task and mistakes were made by both parties.
Lesson 8
This lesson was a completely independent one because we knew everything we had to know in order to develop our pictures. We enjoyed this lesson a great deal, because we were all comparing our pictures. The reason that it was so much fun, was that due to the pictures been taken of moving objects. Most of the pictures were blurred, this was because it was a first for most of us, and the first time you do something it will not be very good.
Lesson 9
This lesson consisted of making our displays for everybody to see what we had been up to in our photography lesson. Lots of jokes were made because we had the pictures starting from our first set to last set, and there were some terrible pictures, which were really funny.
Lesson 10
In this lesson we had a sort of test, practical and theoretical. We had to take one picture, develop it and see how good it was. If the picture recognizable then it meant that the past nine lessons have been a good use to us.
The theoretical test was quite simple; it mainly consisted in naming parts of the camera and describing what they were for.
Service: Year 2
Lesson time: 1h
Lesson 1
In this lesson I was introduced to all of the students that I would be teaching through out the term. After meeting them all, the lesson started. The children were having mathematics lessons. They were learning how to add numbers, and they were using counting blocks to learn the method. My job was to go around and make sure the children had no queries. It was a fun and simple task, but patience is needed to make them understand how to calculate the questions.
Lesson 2
They now knew more or less how to add, and they were working through their text as quickly as possible to beet their acquaintances. A few of the students had difficulties with some of the questions, so I explained to them how to work out the answer, and then they were able to figure out the answers.
Lesson 3
This was a lesson where the teacher was showing them on the board how to subtract numbers. For some reason they found it more challenging than adding numbers. Once the teacher finished explaining, they all went back to their tables and started using blocks to answer the few questions set by the teacher. Once again, and difficulties the students found helped them and explained them how to work out the answer, without telling them the answers, and they were then able to work out the answers.
Lesson 4
This was another text book lesson. The children had to carry on working through their books and answering the questions. As before there was still competition between the children. There were more cases this time of not understanding the questions, so I gathered those children and explained in more detail how to work the answers out, and fortunately it all went well
Lesson 5
They were now on to multiplication. One of the hardest methods of calculation, for the children, seeing as it was there first time coming across them. Due to there being a large class, the teacher and I decided to split the class in to two and teach them. It was an experience I have never come across, but it was a good one. I was teaching children multiplication for the first time in their lives, and all went well. There were some children that had difficulties, but due to mathematical experiences there was nothing I could not achieve.
After the explaining I set them some questions and they complete them with no problems.
Lesson 6
In the beginning of this lesson they finished off questions that they had missed out from the last lesson. After they finished the questions, we started on division of numbers. Seen as this is also a hard mathematical method for beginners such as them, the teacher and I split them up in to two groups. I then taught my group how to do division, I used the counting blocks. For example, if I had to divide 6 by 2, I would make them stick 6 blocks together and break it in half and count one of the halves, and that was their answer.
Lesson 7
This was my last lesson of the term, and they were making sure they had everything done. My job was to go around and check their books; if they had things missing they had to fill them in. There were not many people who had work missing from their books.
Active: 6th Form Walk
5h
Our coach was scheduled to leave school at 9:30, and our destiny was the mountains of Marbella. When we arrived we all descended off the coach, and as soon as everybody was off the coach the walk started. The first bit was forested area with large trees surrounding the walk ways. We had a portable stereo, which was a good motivation machine, because it helped our stamina and made our walk more fun. My friends and I walked at a steady pace near to the front of the group. When we got to the end of the path we sat and had a rest. While we were resting, a small group of the 6th form walked up a cliff side.
After we walked to a place on the cliff, and we could see the sea, and the whole valley and the other mountains. Lots of the other students took pictures of the amazing sites. We then started making our way down the mountain. One of my friends and I ran the whole way down to the finish of the walk.
When we got to the end my friend and I realized we were right next to his house. So we quickly ran to his house and had something to drink and we brought bottles of water back to the group so that they could quench their thirst.
The walk was very good because it allowed me to get know the people from sixth form, and there was not one person who I thought bad of.
Active: Interschool Basketball
4h
Service: Christmas Bazaar
5h
For the first two hours of the Bazaar I was the doorman, my job was to charge all of the people visiting the bazaar.
For the next two hours I helped out on some stalls, I was looking after the children on the bouncy castle stall. My job was to collect the tickets from the people that were going on to the attraction and make sure the children did not have any accidents. After that I helped out at the food stalls, helping to serve the food and drinks to people. My last stall was the Santa’s grotto, I was making sure everything was in control and that none of the kids started to mess around.
I spent the last hour clearing everything away in all different stalls and in general helping people out. It was a fun experience and I met a lot of interesting people. It is an event I will never forget.
Service: Year 2 Party
3h
I was in a group with three other students from my year to organize a party for the Year 2 students. It was a Christmas and end of term party, so we had to come up with children’s games and pick a few. The we chose were musical statues, musical chairs and a game that the objection was to roll an orange across the room using your nose. There were three teams. Half of each team were at one end of the room and the other half at the other end of the room.
There were also two breaks in between the fun and games, for the children to drink and have some crisps and sweets and so on.
The children seemed to have great fun playing the games and were not excited about the party ending. Once again it was an event I shall never forget.
Total hours: Service: 15h
Active: 9h
Creative: 20h
Term 2
Creative: Mechanics
Lesson time: 2h
Lesson 1
In this lesson we were discussing in a group what we should do that involves mechanics. The idea was for there to be two groups and we would each have to build a motored cart and at the end of the term we would race against the other team to see who’s cart was better.
Once the groups were split ideas started being put on paper. They were mainly drawings of what the cart should look like. The design was just a simple four wheeled cart with a central steering column. It was planned that it would be powered by a 49cc scooter engine.
We needed a scaffold pole for the frame of our cart, so my friend and I went over to a construction site to see if we could get one off of them. Luck was not on our side seeing as the Spanish laborers did not want to give us one. After coming back from the site it was already the end of the lesson.
Lesson 2
This was my second lesson but it was the third lesson. I was not able to go to the second lesson due to me being in another part of the country.
Anyway, the plan of cart had been scrapped and we were going to try and fix a golf buggy that one of the members from our group had managed to get off a nearby golf club. The cart was destroyed and our aim was to clean the whole engine, and put it back together properly, and try and replace the pieces missing.
We took the body off the frame of the cart and we were left with the engine. Our supervisor who had knowledge about engines explained to us how an engine functioned. After the explanation it was the end of the lesson so we placed the body on to the frame without tightening anything on to it.
Lesson 3
The school had air compressor for pumping up balls, so we used it to pump up the tires because they were flat. We were then able to move the cart with no difficulty, so we tested the stirring and the braking system. The steering worked and just needed some DW40 (an oil lubricant). Once we had completely softened the steering system we moved on to the breaks. The break system did not work, due to it being rusty. It was not a hard task because the body kit was not there, so we could get to the mechanics of the break easily with our hands and spray DW 40 onto it and force it back and forth until it started to move freely. We spent the rest of the lesson trying to fix it 100%, but the problem was there was a locking system on the brakes if you pushed the brake pedal too far. If you did do that then the only way to unblock it is to hit it out of place, so we had to be gentle with the brake pedal when using it.
Lesson 4
The air compressor had a connection that was a gun with a nozzle with a needle hole in the end. This made the air come out in a thin line and really fast and powerful. This allowed us to clean parts of the motor, such as the carburetor which were hard to get into the piece and the air, obviously could get there and due to the force it had, it cleaned the whole thing.
After cleaning the carburetor we had to get all the bits on it were ok and that it was functioning properly. Once that was done, we looked at the battery, and it was obvious that it was completely dead, and never to work again. That was a big problem because there was not function on the cart to kick start it, and it was also automatic. So we went on the internet and looked for the price of a new battery, and it was too expensive. At this stage we knew the cart was not going to ever start.
Lesson 5
In this lesson we concentrated on the electrical starter which was broken and we were trying to fix. After trying continuously, different methods to fix it, we did not manage to fix it so we left it. We then checked out the ventilator for the engine, it was working but needed a belt. After taking off quite a few heavy bits we decided to test drive the cart in the car park but by three people pushing and one driving, and we changed driver after every lap.
Lesson 6
I helped paint the body of the cart for half of the lesson. The body was being painted blue. For two reasons, one it was the only paint the school had and two because it was the school colour. This was quite a lot of fun because we had a bit of a paint fight, but nothing out of hand.
For the second part of the lesson I carried on cleaning the engine. I mainly concentrated around the cylinder and, where the spark plug is placed also had to be cleaned.
Lesson 7
In this lesson I went to the internet with some other people from my group and we searched for how much it would cost to buy all the missing pieces. It was a high cost and the school did not want to finance are group to fix the buggy. The reason to get it fixed was that so it could be sold on, or be used on the Astroturf to spread the sand around, with a device attached to the back of the buggy.
Lesson 8
In this lesson we prepared the cart for the race in the next lesson. We concentrated on getting all of the heavy parts of the frame so that we could lose as much weight as possible. This would allow us to push the cart a lot faster around the track. We then made sure all the painting was okay and we attached the body on to the frame of the cart. The rest of the lesson was spent testing the cart, pushing it around and getting used to steering it.
Lesson 9
This was the race. We were going to race a bicycle that had been made about three meters long. This was good because there were a lot of corners and we can go quicker around them.
First race I was driving and we had three teams of three in our group, that would push the cart and they would swap after every lap. I was driving because I was the lightest.
As soon as the race started the long bicycle got into the lead, but there was a corner straight away and we came really fast into the back of it and there bicycle had been damaged.
We restarted the race and we won. Then we had to swap machines. I was not driving so I do not know how intense it must have been to drive the long bicycle. Unfortunately we lost the race.
We then had a timed race, both teams with the cart only. We won that race. I was pushing this time and it was quite tiring but it was still a lot of fun.
Active: Sports Day
3h
This was the schools sports day, and I volunteered to race in the 6th Form races. I entered myself for the 200m and the 100x4 relay. There are three houses, Granada, Sevilla and Cordoba, my house was Cordoba.
We arrived at the Marbella stadium at around 09:30 and the events did not start until 10:00. My first race was after all of the races starting from1200m then descending in meters and rising in grades. So I had a long way to wait, and the relays were last.
My race was next, so I went to my starting point, I was quite nervous and anxious for the race to start so that it would be finished. The gun went off, and I ran with all my force and I came third.
The relays were last. I was running third. When the race started we did not start off to well and I got the baton third after the teachers and one other house team. As soon as I got the baton I ran and I over took both the runners ahead of me.
When the races had all finished we went back to school, and the certificates were given out. There were only certificates for first places.
Service: Year 2
Lesson time: 1h
Lesson 1