Ice Skating Christmas Show Update #2

Today was the day of the shows and I was feeling excited but nervous as this was the first ever ice skating show I had done in my life :')

The Peter Pan segment was on first but the whole show was delayed for half an hour meaning we were left freezing on the ice before being told to go back to the changing rooms. (the costumes were really thin and didn't conserve much warmth :/ ).

Finally when the show did start, I was ready and all my nerves left me as soon as I had gone through the curtain. I managed to do the whole routine without falling and without looking like too much of an idiot (yay!) :D

By the second and last performance, I was confident I wouldn't do anything stupid but a bit nervous as my family and friends had come to watch this show.

After the finale of the last show, I felt really sad that it was over but happy that we had put on a good show that was sold out for both of the performances :) (well done everyone!!!!)

I had had a fantastic time and made a few new friends along the way :)

Team Pirate! :D

Til the next time :)

Charity Ice Skate Update #2

I have been told that the total money raised from doing the charity skate is nearing the £5000 mark that we set out to achieve :)

Also there has been an article about it in 'The Advertiser'. Tis all very exciting

http://menmedia.co.uk/trafford/news/s/1467941_skate-tribute-for-cancer-girl-imogen

Til the next time :)

Charity Skate Update

Today at the charity skate for Cancer Research and the Neuroblastoma Society, I completed 110 laps out of the 120 recommended and managed to raise a total of £101 :)

The skate was not as difficult and boring as I thought it would be as there was a DJ playing Christmassy and songs in the charts so it was quite fun :)

At the end I wasn't tired at all but, my feet were a bit sore from such an intense workout.

Overall it was a good experience and I hope to do more charity skates in the future :P

Til the next time :)

Geography Assistant Update #3

Today I started my role as a lesson assisstant and my old teacher told me that I would be helping out in a geography lesson AND a geology lesson which really pleased me because I had just thought that I would be helping out in just geography lessons.

In the geography lesson they were doing about China's economy and how it was rapidly growing. This was interesting as I had a little bit of knowledge about this and it was nice to look at this current affair in a lesson-based manner. The geology lesson was an introduction to minerals which was very good for me as I was really good at mineral identification.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to do much as there wasn't anything they didn't understand so I was just sat around.. :/

Hopefully, next time I should be doing a little bit more (yn)

Til the next time :)

Charity Ice Skate

Today I have been invited by my skating coach Jake to take part in a charity skate for Cancer Research and the Neuroblastoma Society in the name of Imogen Bates who passed away in March this year (coincidentally on my birthday :/ ) aged just 4.

The aim is to complete 12,000 laps of the rink within an hour on December 2nd to raise money towards researching this rare and aggressive childhood cancer.

Each participant is expected to do around 120 each which isn't as easy as it sounds! It will take a lot of effort and concentration due to the fact you are actually thinking about doing this and not skating around absent-mindedly doing your own thing.

Hopefully I should get many sponsors and complete my goal of 120 laps in good time :)

Til the next time :)

Geology* Lesson Assistant Update #2

*Geography lesson assistant

After a long period of arrangements and trying to find a good time that coincides with a lesson and me being free, I have finally managed to secure a date in which to go back to my high school and start helping in geography classes! :D I know it isn't geology as I hoped it would be, but geography is close enough!

I am to start on Nov 21st and will be helping out once a fortnight. I think this opportunity is very valuable because it is giving me an insight into teaching and also it will test my knowledge of the subject and my communication skills, which in turn will improve me overall as a generally rounded person.

So, til the next time :)

Ice Skating Christmas Show Update

I had the first rehearsal today and in my opinion it went pretty well. We started on our routine and we also dealt with the finale for our segment of the show. The whole thing is starting to take shape and the costumes have been revealed :3

This is the costume that was suggested that we get for the priates but I don't know whether or not I will get this one as the top looks odd and the skirt is a bit long which could potentially trip me up during the show. I don't know.. I'll decide later haha :')

Next rehearsal is scheduled in for October 8th so I look forward to that :)

Til the next time :)

Sign Language Level 1

After completing the basic sign language course in Options Xtra last year, I decided that this year I would fully complete the course by attending the sign language level 1 classes run by college for the adult community.

My teacher was Heather again and she seemed rather pleased to see me carrying on from last year :P The class seemed pretty popular and there was a mix of mainly adults and a few students (me and my friend included).
This might seem a bit much for my already full timetable but you never know when I will need sign language in a situation! :P

Til the next time :)

Ice Skating Christmas Show

At ice skating, I have been asked by my coach Jake, to take part in the Christmas show of Fantasia!

We will be performing in the Peter Pan segment, playing to role of pirates and our routine is quite complex; with jumps, spins, spirals and other technical elements. Our costumes are still to be revealed but I'm hoping that they will look brilliant :)

Rehearsals will be happening frequently between now and the show so fingers crossed by Christmas the show will be amazing :) (yn)

Til the next time :)

Geology Lesson Assistant Update

After a well deserved summer break, returning to college and receiving my timetable, I contacted my high school geology teacher and unfortunately the times in which geology lessons were on their timetable did not match the the free slots I had on my timetable. :( Therefore I have asked whether or not I could help out in geography lessons.

Another update is on my AS Geology results. I managed to achieve an overall grade B :) Lets hope this continues throughout my A2 studies (yn)

Til the next time :)

Japan Relief Concert

To contribute to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami fund, the college decided to hold a concert and in my theatre group we decided to perform a short improvised piece.

After weeks of preparation we finally managed to have a performable piece which we named '14:46' as that was when the tsunami hit Japanese shores.

Our main aim was to raise awareness to the devastation that the occurance of these natural disaters had caused without making it too 'heavy'. 

Firstly we used the colour of red to sybolise the red circle on the Japanese flag, which we recreated using long strips of red cloth to form our performance space. We then used a projection to represent a clock flashing into the time that the tsunami hit, which aided the audience to think back to what they were doing at the time and also to help us to set the scene. We represented different situations and ages in life, such as in one scene, Natasha played a house wife who hears about the disaster from a friend on the phone, in another scene Natasha, Mel and Rachel played students in a school whilst I was the teacher. This scene helped to lighten the mood as we added in a bit of comedy with the line 'Who's Sue Narmi'. We also played the roles of daily commuters reading their newspapers to show the different reactions people had when they heard about the disaster. 

At the end of our piece we played a slideshow showing pictures of the devastation and destruction that had been caused. This really hit home what had happened.

Overall I thought the piece was a success and it has helped my performance skills and also my team wrok and organisational skills.

For the concert I also sang a piece called 'Only Exception' by Paramore. It was going well until I missed a cue and the song completely went out the window. Luckily I was able to scrape it back without embarrassing myself too much.

At the end a presenter announced that we had raised over £200 for the fund :) This was a big achievment and I was glad I took part.

Til the next time :)

Pond Digging! :D

The IB coordinators have decided that for our group 4 project in IB fortnight, we are to build a pond from scratch. We had a budget of £150 and we had to work together as a form to make it happen in a day and a half.

The physics people (me, Erika and Dave) designed the pond to be a hexagon, because it was near circular with straight sides so it would be easier to dig. Also it was a big coincidence that the IB subject breakdown is represented in a hexagon. 

Digging was really hard work but in the end it all worked out really well. We even managed to have fun and it has definately brought everyone a bit closer. we all even decided to put a small grave stone saying 'R.I.P IB 09-12' as a comical memoir and so anyone who visited the pond will know who made it :D

 

In the future I hope that wildlife would come to our pond and make it their home :) it would be awesome to know that we've got our own population or colony :P

Til the next time :)

Geology Lesson Assistant

After a long wait and much chasing up, I may finally have the chance to help out at my old high school in geology lessons and fulfill the service part of CAS. :)


Why geology? Well, ever since I was at the end of year 9 and deciding on what GCSEs I wanted to take, I had a fascination with geology as it wasn't a common subject in high schools and also the fact that it would have been something pretty new to me. I had done geography before but this seemed different.
At the moment in college, I am doing geology at AS level alongside the IB and it has been difficult; both academically and lesson-wise. At GCSE I came out with a very high grade A with one mark off an A*, and in college I hope to finish AS with at least a B. Looking back in hindsight, it has been a good choice as its taking me a step further towards taking geology in uni :D and as the saying goes 'no pain, no gain'.


Til the next time :)

Ice Skating Competition Update

Well, today is the day of competition and I have to admit that I was really nervous about it. I have never done anything like this before.

I was so shakey in the 2 minute warm up that I nearly fell :/ but in the actual thing I guess it was the adrenaline rush that got me through.

Here is a video of my entry. Enjoy :)

Ignore the commentry as it was just my friend and brother talking :')

At the end of the competition I didn't win any medals as I had 9 points and came joint 4th. I had just missed out by one point to tie in 3rd place. :(

I am competitor number 5

Oh wells, I will get it in the next comps ;) 

Til the next time :)

Options Xtra Update

Well, today it was the last lesson of the course and we had to take a test to pass level 1 component 1. All we had to do was to sign a simple dualogue and we would be marked out of 18. In my test I got full marks :D

Next year I hopefully want to go to night classes to take on the full sign language course and not just the basics :)

Til the next time :)

Ice Skating Competition

Hello all,

Recently I have been asked by my ice skating coach to participate in a skills competition on the 21st of May. Basically, all I have to do is to perform 3 skills and get a score out of 6 for each element.

The skills I have to perform are a spin, spiral and a jump. If you don't know what the hell they are then a spin is just well, a spin. I plan to do a one foot spin with hopefully at least 4 revolutions and full entrance and exit. The spiral is just where you stand on one foot with the other leg extended behind you. Balance is required :P

At the moment my spiral isn't as high as that but I'm getting there :D

And for my jump I plan to do a 'three-jump' or 'waltz jump'. It's hard to explain so I got you a diagram instead :)

I hope this helped you to understand what I have to do for this competition :) I also am required to wear a full skating dress which would be a very new experience for me :3

Wish me luck *fingers crossed*

Til the next time :)

Take Me Out for Comic Relief

For Comic Relief 2011 we decided to do a thing similar to the 'Take Me Out' TV series. 

The planning was fairly well thought out but the organising could've resulted in disaster. Luckily for us, the form managed to pull together 36 hours before the show. 

The show went really well and we had to start turning people away as the theatre space was packed! :O We managed to raise over £300 for Comic Relief which is absolutely fantastic. Thank you to everyone who participated and helped out :D

Til the next time :)   

Options Xtra

For my Options Xtra I have decided to take up sign language. I have always been fascinated by it ever since I went to the Royal School for the Blind and Death for a day in highschool. I was a bit worried about it clashing with one of my classes but they have arranged it so that it doesn't clash with any of my classes which is good :)

My teacher is Heather and there are 4 other students in the group. It's all girls with Luke the only boy and they all do AS/A levels.

Anything else..? No, so til the next time :)

Model United Nations

On Friday 4th March I went to the Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College in Birmingham to be part of the first ever sixth form college Model United Nations conference. The country we were representing was Poland and the Cheadle delegation was representing Australia.

As soon as we arrived preliminary lobbying began between the different delegations. As I was only part of the support team I could only sit around and do nothing..

The second day was only slightly better as I got to do a bit more than just sitting around. I was able to assist in 'secretary' style jobs such as printing and researching resolutions which made me want to be a delegate in the next Model United Nations conference. Later I was allowed to join in with one of the debates. The debate I joined was about the further insurance of rights regarding disabled persons in the human rights category. Even though I was only a support team I sneakily joined in with debating hehe :) The Polish delegate Rozzy sucessfully got her resolution approved which was brilliant as nearly everyones resolutions from both delegations were approved to go onto the general debate stage.

On the third and last day, it was the final stage of the conference. This was the general debate stage where approved resolutions from the second stage were debated. There was nothing we could do so we just sat and obsevered. The only exciting thing was that Lyle's resolution from the Polish delegation about disarmament in the Korean Penninsula resulted in a tie but was passed by the commitee. :)

At the end of the weekend, I did feel a bit upset that I had done nothing much but it was a good experience and I got a logo'd mug :)

Til the next time :)

Completion of Skating Programmes :D

I have been reguarly ice skating for just over 2 years and I have finally completed both the Skate UK Learn to Skate and Skate UK Star Programme skating courses (singles skating and ice dance) :D

The Learn to Skate programme consists of 10 levels, each with 4 different basic components/skills to learn and practice. At the end of the 6-week course there is a test to see whether or not you have passed the level.

After completing the Learn to Skate programme, you then can move onto the Skate UK Star Programme. This programme is to further and use the basic skills that you have acquired in the Learn to Skate programme. It is assessed in different catagories with single skating, ice dance, synchronised team skating and speed skating, all with bronze, silver and gold levels. The only catagories that were available were the singles ice skating and ice dance.



Singles Skating requirements

 

Ice Dance level requirements



So, now after completing the Skate UK programmes, I am now taking private coaching lessons woo! :D

Til the next time :)