Hello all,
It’s Dee quipping in this week.
It’s been a calm but also chaotic couple of weeks at Avinya. Following the success of the Dansala, it’s been a rainy and windy few days. Despite the weather, our student worker bees have been attending classes with enthusiasm. In today’s edition of the Avinya Scoop, I’d like to take our readers the “inside scoop” on what our students have been working on, as well as capture some reflective thoughts from the educators and students themselves.
Zooming into the classrooms
Short Term Course
We are in week 12 of our 19 week course and it is starting to hit the educators as well as the students. The past few weeks have forced the students to level up their financial literacy as we explored budgeting, shopping, taxation and e-commerce. They have also been learning about how to make an inquiry about a job or educational course in English. In ICT, our students having previously explored Microsoft apps online have now moved onto exploring Google apps, because we truly believe in equipping them with both platforms for whatever their next step is.
Vocational – IT
The students looked both excited and nervous when I walked in to find that there were practicing their presentation skills after having created their slide decks over the past week. This module took a deep dive into creating master slides, research, structure of a slide deck and fun stuff like animations and transitions. It was so heartwarming to see the students supporting the person presenting at the front with words of encouragement when they got stuck or technical support when the slides got stuck! Either way, it’s a class that will help their teammates when they are stuck!
Vocational – CS
The classroom was buzzing with energy when I walked in and I found out its actually because they were getting ready to create a video on the “Do’s and Don’ts in Customer Services”. They were in teams brainstorming their scripts, shot lists, timelines and editing responsibilities. Over the next few days the students were found in every corner turn you took, shooting footage for their video. It’s always fun to see our students take on the roles of actors, directors and editors.
Reflective thoughts
It’s been heartwarming to walk around and see the educators at Avinya in action, they are the true magic makers at the academy. Right now, we have four fearless educators teaching three different classes so I asked them what their biggest challenge and best part of the day was.
Mechatronic engineer turned Educator, Vihan
Biggest challenge : used to be walking into class because it was unknown territory for me,
Best part about being an educator : walking into class now, and seeing the beaming faces of my students, they make my day.
Bubbly and enthusiastic, Isuru : The most unexpected challenge in being an educator at Avinya was creating the bespoke curriculum not once but twice to cater to the unique student needs, we created a curriculum to fit the students instead of the other way around, that was challenging but so worth it
Best part about being an educator : observing how the students improve, every. single. day. No matter how minor, I notice it as an educator. Knowing we are helping these students in some way, gives me so much to wake up to!
Tiny but mighty, Anuki :
Biggest challenge : for me was to familiarise myself with all the important topics like taxations, financial planning and the nitty gritty of using technology because I was never taught these in school. I love that my students are eager to learn more about these topics, it keeps me on my toes and makes me want to educate myself more so I can help my students.
Best part about being an educator : the morning chats we have as a class, before we start our classwork. It’s heartwarming to see students see their educators as approachable, the Educator/Student relationship at Avinya, is quite unique.
Steadfast and fiery, Roshani :
Biggest challenge :When we had a pink eye outbreak and had to move lessons online for a short period. It was only then we realized how difficult their lives at home are when it comes to access to devices and the internet.
Best part about being an educator : When you hear students using what you taught in their conversations and when students tell me what they learnt during the end of day recap session.
It’s been quite the journey for our students AND the educators over the past few months, with only a few more weeks to go to the end of the program. Creating a love for learning can only be inspired, and I truly believe the wonderful educators at Avinya do just that.! Here’s hoping and wishing everyone a memorable few more weeks to go with lots of learning and memories in the making!
Cheers, Dee.