One Last Time

Hello guys ! I'm a guest blogger by the name of Wenjin, who is invited by Choon Guan to add a little 'Read-With-Me' flavour to Clementi's blog. For those who are thinking who Choon Guan is, it's okay, we can skip that part. Anyway, Choon Guan was saying the blog is rather boring and he wishes to inject some 'fun' into this 'serious' blog, so he'll get a 'seriously funny' blog.

In short, he wishes for a humour columnist and he thinks that I should be the one. Unfortunately, the laughs would be directed at his thought that I would make a good humour columnist.

Now that I've mentioned my name, I shall go on with the what. I'm a volunteer in Clementi's Read-With-Me programme for two semesters and probably the longest(self-proclaimed) volunteer in the Read-With-Me programme and I would like to share my experiences in an unfunny way.

Today was the last session of Read-With-Me for the semester and it will only resume in around December/January. With kids graduating from the programme, and volunteers who aren't able to continue their service due to other commitments, it may sound like a sad occasion but that is not the case as every Read-With-Me session is filled with laughter. Laughter from the kids enjoying the programme. Laughter from the volunteers witnessing the innocent actions of the kids. Laughter from other volunteers when they heard a kid called this volunteer a 'Jie Jie' when he is a guy.

So you see, Read-With-Me is actually a laughter-filled programme with volunteers reading to kids and having fun, solving puzzles and playing games with them. Well, there's only one thing about Read-With-Me that is sad - It only last for 10 weeks. So far there aren't any volunteers complaining that the programme is too long, only volunteers complaining that it is too short. Hahaha!

So if you guys would want to join Read-With-Me as a volunteer, just drop us an email(This is going to make me look very bad, but I gotta admit I don't know Clementi SCS has their own email.). I've heard many stories about volunteers being put off by Clementi's 'Interview' policy and I can assure you guys that such interviews are conducted for the staffs to know the volunteers better and probably, also to weed out the Michael Jacksons.

Also, there are those who thought that Read-With-Me is a programme to help kids improve in their reading and linguistic skills. However, this isn't the case. The most is important thing is allowing them to have fun, so that they will enjoy learning and would want to learn more on their own. It's more about creating interest than teaching. And with a helpful mentor Ms Wong, being a volunteer in Read-With-Me can't get easier. Lastly, don't be afraid to volunteer even if you aren't confident of your command of English. The interview doesn't have a Qualifying English Test so there isn't a need to panic. But it does help if you have a melodic voice over a monotonous one !