CAS blog

Welcome to my CAS blog where I share my own ideas or thoughts on the IB CAS activities!!

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A walk around Notre Dame (around the old "quartier" of Paris, Cité)

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Aquaboulevard

CAS journal entry #74

Since the mocks (and of course the real exams) were coming up, instead of going to Aquaboulevard which was an hour away from my house, I decided to continue my routine at home. Because I already owned a yoga ball, a mattress, a volleyball, a muscle contractor, weights of different masses etc. I tried to use whatever I currently have in order to stay healthy during the rest of my IB years.

It is true that there were many distractions (computers, telephones, TV) which didn't let me concentrate on my exercises and hence lowered my efficiency and level of satisfaction. This is when I realized how a gym is facilitated very well and is made to fulfil the visitors' needs. This cannot be replaced by any other place such as a school gym or a house.

Another thing this activity made me realize was how people's standards of health are changing. It seems to me that whenever people say "you've got to be fit or healthy", they imagine what is portrayed on TV or internet sites such as a huge gap between your thighs or a six pack. Now everyone seems to be traumatized by the idea of being unhealthy if they do not own these body structures and starts to lose confidence in themselves. However, I realized that being healthy does not necessarily mean someone who is slim but not too skinny, or has the "ideal" figure. It is mostly about how people feel being under their skin. For example, if a physically healthy person is not confident in their body or feels uncomfortable (not their true self), they are mentally unhealthy. These worries eat themselves up and they are left with nothing but negative thoughts. Even the dictionary states that healthy is a term that describes "possessing or enjoying good health or a sound and vigorous mentality". Are they actually enjoying themselves and do they have a vigorous mentality. Before we judge whether a certain person is living a healthy life or not, we must also take a look into their insides as well. The people I met at Aquaboulevard all seemed happy with what they were achieving, not pressured or stressed to be doing so. 

I hope that after university starts and life becomes more stable, I could visit a gym regularly to keep myself both physically and mentally fit.

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Aquaboulevard

CAS journal entry #73

The second time I visited Aquaboulevard, I tried to make it a habit of working out on the treadmill for about an hour and trying out new equipment such as the cycling machine and the muscle trainer. With the assistance of some French people (probably staffs there), I was able to adjust the strength and speed depending on my needs. It was one of the best work out sessions I have ever had, without taking any long rest and having distractions around me. Of course, I also tried to maintain my physical health by considering my hydration and nutrition as well.

After I arrived home, I lifted some weights and practiced receiving and tossing the volleyball to prepare for the club activities I will probably start when entering university. Since succeeding in sporty clubs requires you to stay fit and high tolerance for vigorous exercises, I will have to make this routine a habit from now on. 

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Aquaboulevard

CAS journal entry #72

Since I received my gym card during the second year of IB, I wasn't able to go there often (school work, exams), however I tried to stay active by going there a few times and exercising at home.

When I was in Japan, I joined the school's volleyball club during the first year of junior high school. I used to and still consider myself a more sporty person rather than a cultural person and so this activity fit me perfectly. My childhood mostly consisted of swimming, golfing, playing tennis, tap dancing, and ballet and all of these were individual sports. I predicted that going to the gym alone was the best way to maintain this environment. Also since IB is a very stressful and tense program, it is often recommended to release all you worries and relax through physical exercise. Although it was a long way to get to the gym itself from school or from home, it was a worthwhile and a valuable experience.

When I first researched the gym, I learned that not only do they have the traditional treadmills and the weight-lifting equipment, they also had a yoga class for medication and a tennis court. However since I wanted to train myself and find the most stress-relieving way, I asked one of the workers there for advice. When she told me that the treadmill was always good when you didn't want to think about anything and run consistently, I decided to do so.

The first time I visited the gym, I already knew the place from the previous years of sports class, and so I did not have any difficulties getting used to the environment. However seeing people who seemed familiar with the machines and sweating a lot, I realized that the French people surrounding me, those who seemed very healthy and strong really were building their physique and burning calories through the use of treadmills. No one seemed to be worried about how they look and they were simply enjoying themselves as well as achieving their goals. I felt confident being in the same room as them, and like them, I was running in my own little world.   

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Charity Club

CAS journal entry #71

I have participated in the charity club for over 2 years during my IB diploma programme. Although our initial plan was to go to an economically poor country and to join a volunteering program, I realized that even when we don’t directly support the people in need, it is still going to make a huge difference by raising awareness about its reality. Due to the lack of time and of the flexibility of the organization, we were not able to use our vacation period to actually visit another country that needs help. However, with the management of the team leaders, we have successfully initiated the breast cancer awareness week, the aids week, etc. and made a school presentation or worked on a charity activity.

The breast cancer awareness week was one of the activities I was able to devote more time into since I volunteered to make a presentation in front of the grade 9 students who take biology. Although they were already familiar with the idea of the human body mechanism, it seemed as if they did not specifically learn this issue in class. Ryan and I were both able to assign ourselves the parts we were going to explain, and of course with eye contact, we were able to cover the important information on breast cancer. Our objective through this presentation was to let the students know what kind of disease it is, what kind of difficulties the patients have to overcome, and to encourage them to participate in charity. When explaining to them how there is a fixed idea that only women can get it but men could also suffer from it, many of them seemed very surprised. It felt as if I have fulfilled my task since I taught them something they didn’t know about which they interpreted incorrectly in the past. Although many of us sometimes use words or phrases from the internet when giving a presentation, since we learned about plagiarism as a part of our IB courses, we tried to paraphrase key phrases and found information that is not easily obtained on Wikipedia. I hope their interest to know more about this disease and why it is common today was triggered by our presentation, and I am glad some people took the time to join the charity. Since the managers have made the pink ribbons which show our support for those suffering from breast cancer, we also introduced them to purchase these (for which the profit goes to the organization).

For the aids awareness week, although we were told the day before to present it in front of the class, we have successfully managed to give them the main points of aids without having any difficulty. Our aim as a charity club was to again to motivate them to learn more about the disease and to encourage them to purchase red ribbons which are signs of support. Since the managers were busy and couldn’t finish making all the ribbons, I helped out as well.

What I have learned from these 2 projects is that it is not how much we raise or whether we are succeeding financially that is the most important about charity, but is the idea of spreading knowledge to people who are unaware of a certain reality and allowing them to deepen their understanding about the current world. Like the video I have presented in my previous CAS reflection, the more the people watch it, the more they would want to share it with their friends and family, creating another cycle. An extending branch of awareness-raising will soon lead to people standing up and establishing an organization, creating more followers who devote their time into their charity projects. The more the fundraising happens, the more the people will invest in technology and medical equipment or research, treating those in need. This is I why even raising a voice, and explaining to one person will change the outcome of the patients’ future.

These things I have learnt over the 2 years made me want to personally pursue this type of profession and university clubs in the near future and I am thankful to all the members who were there to make this happen.

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Volunteering at the Japanese School of Paris

CAS journal entry #70 Last year I went to the Japanese school of Paris with my Japanese colleague in order to prepare for their big event, the Japanese festival. Since I've been there last year, it didn't take a lot of time to get used to the atmosphere. But this time, I was responsible for making a poster that will promote this event to all French neighbors and Japanese citizens. After being given a list of information I had to include in my poster, I decided to choose a theme that will best represent this event. I drew kimonos and the traditional street festival scenery so that it will give an impression of its culture. On the actual day of the event, since the IB1s were also present, I gave advice on how to write reflections and what to do next year for CAS. Whilst answering their questions, I collaborated with them in order to set up game stalls and to take turns playing a role. There was the fishing game where you have to catch fish using stick with magnets on the edges, and the shooting game where you shoot down enemies with a fake gun. Although these games look really simple and dull, these were what the Japanese kids used to play in the past and so it was important to teach the students this tradition. In a world where smart phones and technology take up our time and dominate our brains, it is crucial that we teach them how other types of entertainment also exist. When setting up the stalls, my notetaking skills came in handy since, the IB1s and the IB2s took turns playing a specific role. There were the roles of giving prizes to students who won in the game, teaching the students how to win the game, or handing out small gifts. Compared to last year I think we were more productive and efficient, as last year we were responsible for the magic show which didn't turn out the way we were expecting. Not a lot of students came to watch it, and some were being disrespectful to the magician. However this time, although the magician came, she managed well on her own which made me doubt my role last year. This year, I'm glad that a lot of people actually enjoyed our games. One of the memorable moments there was when a French-Japanese family came to one of our stalls and I, who happen to speak a little bit of French had to explain to them what the games were and why they are famous in Japan. Of course since my French wasn't as good as the native speakers, I was unsure whether I would have been able to explain to them clearly and properly. However they seemed to understand what I was trying to convey, and I was glad that the kids enjoyed the game. It's sad that this is going to be our last time visiting a Japanese school in a foreign country, and also to help them out. But I hope this will be the type of ritual for the next IB1s/IB2s who could replace us.

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Math tutor

CAS journal entry #69

Over the summer vacation last year, I had in total of 5 math sessions with the student. Again, since she was preparing to go back to her home country, Korea, I tried as much as I could to use my past math knowledge as my guide to help her out with her difficulties. Surprisingly though, she needed help with trigonometry which was one of the topics I have difficulties with even now.

Using our math books, from Korea, Japan, and the ones we use at school, I tried as best as I could to explain clearly. Since I was taught by a tutor myself, I tried to make my explanation understandable by using the same technique and skill of talking. Before studying, we start off by talking about our daily life, and most importantly ourselves. Then I will be able to get to know her better and would help me build a better relationship with her, and will also soothe the atmosphere.

One of the things I realized over time is that, although Japan and Korea are considered two of the "strongest countries with math", what we learn is completely the same as what we would do in other countries. It is only how we learn it, and to what extent we deepen our understanding that make it distinctive. Even Korea and Japan are different as well although we come from the same continent. In Korea, it is important to take a lot of time on one topic whereas in Japan, we learn a variety of topics in a short time. This time, since we adapted to the Korean style, I was able to concentrate on each question and did not rush myself.

I have never thought that these classes would teach me a lot about our cultural differences and also would allow me to obtain new knowledge on math which might be helpful for my IB exams. Since she has already departed for Korea, I wish her the best of luck for her studies and I hope to keep in touch with her so that I could help her out in any way.

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Water Representatives

CAS journal entry #68

Over the second year of IB, I volunteered to become a house representative for water. Since we were all very busy this year, we were not able to take the time to have a special event for the houses, however by joining meetings with other representatives and giving speeches in front of the water team, I think we were able to raise the school spirit more than the past years. In the past, when I was in grade 9 to 11, it was always the 12th graders who had to look out for the other students and so we all relied on them. However actually taking their baton and being in charge as the highest grade, it was pretty difficult to prepare speeches and assemblies.

Firstly it was because it felt as if no one (except the primary students) were actually interested in our project. During our assemblies, they would chit chat with their friends or come in the room late causing more chaos, and it honestly felt like we were not respected. However ironically, this might have been how we acted to the 12th graders in the past (without knowing it) and so I cannot blame them for their actions. This made me realize however, that we all should treat each other the way we want to be treated. Although this sounds very easy, it actually is challenging when you have friends around who distract you. Despite all this, I was glad to see some students in the corridors asking me which team was winning. That reassured me that my message about working hard for one goal and strengthening our bond as a team was conveyed to some people.

Secondly, there was a major problem with the organization itself. Not only the communication but also the structure of the representative team was very unstable. There were times when even the representatives didn't know what was going on and when the assemblies were planned. Also, some representatives weren't even sure whether they were remaining in their roles or not. It is true that it was the students' task to organize the meetings themselves without being told to do so, and I regret not taking the initiative to find a way to get all of us together. However I also believe that it's not simply one person's job to be doing this. We are all in this together, and we all have equal roles. If even one person doesn't have the commitment to participate in this project, it will never work. This was what I felt slightly irritated about over the past months. I knew that as a grade 12 student, it is my job to support the other managers. However no matter how I tried contacting some of them, there was no reply or I got the feeling that they just wanted to push their jobs to the ones who were working. But this did not stop me from continuing my work. For those who really helped me out, I tried to offer them what they wished and I am glad I wasn't the only one left with motivation. These situations will definitely appear in the future (in universities, or working places) but since I am learning now how to cope with them without expressing too much of my emotions, I hope that over time that day when I master how to deal with these would come.   

From these situations it may seem as if I only had tragic experiences, but it definitely made me feel mentally stronger than before and taught me a huge lesson about failure leading to personal success. I am also proud of myself to face these challenges without quitting.

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Big Sister Project

CAS journal entry #67

The big sister project was one of the projects I initiated during my second year of IB. At first I was afraid of losing my time to study for the exams and since there was the mocks coming up, I knew that committing myself to tutor the first graders was just going to disappoint them, considering I might not have been able to make it. However, after receiving an offer from one of the primary teachers, those feelings blew away immediately. I am still really thankful to Ms. Dempsey who has specifically chosen me to take this huge responsibility. It was such an honor.

I would also like to thank the grade 1 students who helped me achieve the learning outcomes of CAS and made me grow into a responsible adult. In the past, I had many experiences with children such as the Green Day, the Recycling Club Day, and the International Food Day, but nothing was as worthwhile as this activity. Here, it was only the teacher and I who had to support the children and it was a challenging task for me to help the ones who had difficulties specifically with math. Although multiplication, division, symmetry were all topics we have mastered and covered as grade 12 students, of course it was something new to them. Teaching the students, I realized how hard it must have been for teachers to teach us whilst improving our discipline. Sometimes images of my past would pop out, a paper in front of me with “10 x 3” and having difficulties understanding them. However after my teachers explained in an easy way, I was able to master these over time. Communicating with the students is a special skill we obtain after years and years of training and although in the past activities I have mentioned how I was able to achieve this, it was obviously not easy this time. Sometimes I accidently used difficult words such as “observe”, “remaining” etc. and I saw their confused faces. These made me realize how I am not ready to become a teacher or mentor yet.

However it was fun to help them with whatever they needed and it gave me huge confidence and satisfaction after knowing they understood my explanation. This experience was also a reassurance of how international my school was since all the students mixed well and did not segregate depending on their background culture. Although some had minor problems with discipline and communication, I hope they are able to overcome those with the help of the teachers and friends they meet in the future. When teaching them, my urge to give them advice about life being in first grade and how it changed me a lot grew. On my last day of this activity, I would like to hand them small treats to thank them for the opportunity and give a little talk about their future and what awaits them (of course in a fun way). 

Overall I only had 4 chances to attend the classes since CAS is over soon, however if I have the opportunity I would love to accompany the students again. I am going to miss all of them very much.

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Big Sister Project

CAS journal entry #66

Today was my third day to teach maths to the grade 1 students.

Like I have mentioned before, it felt as if the bond the students and I have started to become stronger and that they were more open towards me compared to the first class. It seemed as if everyone recognized my name and felt confident enough to come up to me to say “hi”. This trust/free relationship we have is necessary when it comes to tutoring the students, and I am glad I was able to establish this over the 3 days of classes we had.  

Since they were learning a new topic which was directions (right, left, along…steps), I helped those who were having problems filling in their practice handouts. The first 30 minutes were the teacher’s lecture on maze problems and the time to show the students some examples. During this period, my responsibility was to check if everyone understood what the teacher was explaining. However most of the time, it felt as if I were observing specific students who were distracted and couldn’t concentrate on the lecture. Sometimes they would look back at me to see my reaction and I honestly didn’t know what to do. Although I pointed the board so that they would look in the same direction, a few moments later they would look at me or even talk to me to show me something. I didn’t want to scold them or of course tell on them because I didn’t want to lose their trust, but I knew that they are the ones who were going to suffer when doing the practice handouts since they weren’t listening. This was one thing I was very frustrated about.

For the next 20 minutes, they were told to work on the questions. This time, what I did was similar to the first class, so I thought I got the hang of it. The children would raise their hands if there were any misunderstandings or questions and I would help them answer them by giving specific examples. I was actually glad when a boy who was a bit nervous and shy on the first day, ran up to me to show me the work he has done. He had a huge smile on his face which really did reassure me.

Although I have the mocks coming up soon, I hope I will be able to visit them as much as I can!

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Big Sister Project

CAS journal entry #65

This Tuesday, I visited the grade 1 classroom to teach math to the students. Since it was the second time this month, everyone was able to recognize my face and name which was very reassuring. The students had a math test that day consisting of questions based on symmetry (drawing the left-side of the diagram), time (telling the time the arrows are pointing), multiplication, word questions (ex: Adam had 19 apples. Liona takes 5. How many apples does Adam have?), mass (telling the mass the arrows indicate) etc. Since they were in exam or test conditions, each table had 2 students seated and were told to be silent at all times. However, when the teacher noticed how everyone didn’t stop talking, she asked me to tell everyone what happens if we talk during an exam in high school. I mentioned how we will no longer be able to take it and that our past work will simply become trash. When they realized how serious I looked and how strict the conditions were, they managed to keep silent. As a grade 12 student and knowing the exam policies, I realized how we were warned by teachers since the age of 5 the importance of following these simple-looking rules.

During the test, my job was to help out students who didn’t understand questions or how to approach it. Since they were still in grade 1, it was inevitable that they couldn’t answer it without an example or some kind of aid. Here, I realized how from grade 1, the way everyone interprets the questions differently and that they have different needs. One boy asked me to read the question for him since he couldn’t read, or another girl was wondering which question relates to what answer box. However, there were moments when the students asked me how to answer a certain question which were actually difficult to face since I didn’t want to give out the answers but instead wanted to deepen their understanding. I used gestures and again, easy and simple language when explaining how to start or simple steps to approach it.

However, in the middle of the test, the teacher suddenly yelled “… what are you doing? Go back to your seat!” At first, it was a surprise since I didn’t what was going on. However seeing two boys staring at each other’s papers, I finally understood what happened. Although it wasn’t my role to warn them again about what would happen if they do the same thing in high school, I knew that these repetition of mistakes and the teacher’s expressions would definitely change the way they turn out to be in the future. Therefore this experience made me realize how the right education and the right support they are given would affect their future to the highest degree.

I hope nothing like this would happen to them again and that over time would realize how these rules are applicable to any age.  

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CAS IB2 Yearly Reflection

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Big sister project

CAS journal entry #64 Yesterday, during my 2nd free period, I went to a grade 1 classroom to teach kids who are having problems with math. Although at first I was expecting one student to teach, it turns out I was going to help out the math teacher's entire class. Since everyone had different levels and understanding of math, I realized how it would have been difficult for one teacher to give a lesson to everyone during the same hour. It was a pleasure to get to know a lot of the students in the class (considering that they will take our batons when we retire and they have to work for the society - maybe I think too much). Some of them I recognized from last year's green day kindergarten project, and I was glad they remembered who I was the second I entered the classroom. That day, the students were learning about symmetry and multiplication with one digit numbers. I was given an important role, as they have a test next week and the teacher wanted everyone to understand the concept. Not a lot of students seemed to have a problem with symmetry since they were told it was like a mirror image and was more visual. However one student who couldn't speak English had some difficulties and it was challenging to explain whilst overcoming the language barrier. I did my best to use hand gestures and simple words such as "ok", "no", or "good". In the end, he finished the worksheet he was given on his own and I was glad to be able to help him during the process. For the other topic which was multiplication with one digit numbers, it was difficult to explain clearly the logic behind the connection between different numbers. In Japan there was one easy way to get the answer for every equation as there was a song or a certain rhythm you get to follow. However in English using numbers repeatedly in the same phrase is actually a complicated style for first graders. For example when explaining 3×6 = 18 saying three sixes would make it even more difficult to understand from their perspective. Since we only had one hour of class it was really disappointing for me personally to not be able to explain fully the math behind multiplication, however I was glad that they enjoyed my talk. Although there might be more difficulties coming up I am very excited for the next class.

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Secret Elf Week IB2

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Secret Elf Week IB2

CAS journal entry #63

For the last day of the secret elf week, I decided to get Angka Bayu a list of animes/mangas that he would probably enjoy watching/reading. From the fact that he brings a manga to school, possibly to read in the train or during break time, I deduced that he was very interested in the Japanese modern culture and art. Also, he would ask me frequently what life is like in Japan (living conditions, food, prices of goods and services etc.) and that made me assume that he would like to visit there someday.

The famous Japanese manga series including “The Attack of the Titans”, “Detective Conan”, and “Naruto” have already been read by him and I realized that as a Japanese national it is important to teach him works not many foreigners know. For example, “Liar Game” which is a manga/drama series and was a major hit within the Japanese society is considered a psychologically/sociologically manipulative form of art. Although it might seem almost impossible for drawings to trick the readers, the main aim of the artist or the writer was to use different language tools and hidden messages in order to give hints to the readers (so that they could solve the problems themselves). I personally found this work very inspiring as it was unique and hence I decided to add it in the list. Also although I already acknowledged my lack of art skills, I decided to draw the main characters or logos of some the books he has read. (My personal favourite was the picture of Gorgo, a manly character who is pretty famous in Japan)

Although my last gift wasn’t as festive as the ones I gave him before, I think I accomplished my role as a secret elf better than last year and I am satisfied with all the gifts I’ve made. This week tested my understanding of the students in my class who I have studied with for almost 4 years and I believe this became one of my final year memories. 

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Secret Elf Week IB2

CAS journal entry #62

For the 2nd day of the secret elf week, I decided to make a festive card with a message inside which might be a hint for him to find out who his secret elf is. To be honest, it took me ages to find a new present idea. Considering ethical issues, there was a limited range of ideas. However I used applications such as Pinterest to get some inspiration and found an interesting craft which was a Christmas tree pop-up card.

Since I couldn't mention the word "Christmas", I attempted to use alternative terms such as "festive" and "holidays". When working on the tree however, due to the differences in the length/width ratio of each part of the tree (upper, middle, and lower), it was difficult to make the card open perfectly. No matter how you open it, it didn't look like a tree in the first place. Having to face difficulties when finding ideas and now this, it was very disappointing that I had to redo my entire project. But I realized that it would be Angka Bayu who is going to be disappointed even more, and so I tried to find a better (especially simpler) way I could make another card.

That's when I encountered a page showing a card with a Christmas tree on the cover page using scraps of newspaper. When I saw it firstly, it was really inspiring as the card itself or its style wasn't that complex, but its simplicity was what made it smart-looking and chic. The red star on the top made the card look stylish as well. The use of old newspapers was again eco-friendly and since we were both in the eco club, I thought it would be a great idea to give him a gift like that. In terms of ethics, I thought it was nice that the Christmas tree wasn't green like a typical one, instead using white and black. Creating a sense that it's not an ordinary Christmas card would be more appropriate to those who don't celebrate this event.

Overall, although there were a few ups and downs during the process, I was very satisfied with what I gave him and I hope he felt the same way receiving it.

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Cooking Club

CAS journal entry #59

The cooking club was very organized as well as an entertaining club for all of us. Using social media sites, we contacted each other 2 days or a day before the actual cooking day to remind each other to bring a certain ingredient or supply. All the managers did an amazing job getting all the members involved in every single dish and teaching us how to make specific dishes. Although I have mentioned in my previous reflections, it was a chance for all of us to taste food from different countries and to become more international and accepting of other cultures than we already are. For example, there was one class where we taught Asian-style (more Korean) dumplings. Although I was imagining the same ingredients and steps everywhere around Asia, it was revealed that some put carrots in it and wrap it differently than how we do in Japan. Not only that we also learned several table manners and necessities around the world when it comes to cooking. Some wash the meat before cooking it, some don't, and some remove the "eyes" or the small dots in potatoes because they are considered poisonous and again some don't. Without criticizing each other's way of doing it, we all tried to accept that that's what is considered a ritual in some countries and a taboo in another.

By tasting some of the foods, it became more clear the authenticity of foods all around the world. The dish I could never forget was a finger food from Yemen which was close to a tuna casserole. Although the ingredients were very familiar to those used in French recipes, tasting it made me realize that it had actually quite an exotic flavour. The combination of spices used in the sauce was very different from that of other cuisines and created this tasty dish.

Not only did this experience motivated me to cook at home, it also made me more interested in doing DIYs and making things by hand. The joy it gives others is a sign that what you're creating has a great value in their lives. And so it is important that we do not fill only our own stomachs but also others as well.

Although cooking is something we will have to do everyday in the future after we start university, I hope I will be able to use the knowledge gained from this experience and try to make more international foods if I have the chance.