Blog: Walid

DAY 1

First day of work experience. In front of me stood a large white building that dominated the surrounding areas with its snowy walls. As I waited in front of the glass door for a response my eyes were darting from window to window trying to make out whatever was waiting for me inside. “Come on in” a welcoming voice said, and as I went up the stairs I was met by Lydia and Androulla who were both part of the Creative Learning team. For the first task I was told to fill up a form and then Lydia gave me a tour of the building. On one hand I was quite scared by the number of rooms and corridors: the basement felt like a maze! On the other hand, some areas grabbed my attention in a positive manner, for example the green room looked very peaceful and the dimmer room in the basement made me curious on how the audio and lighting could be arranged to affect the audience and enhance the atmosphere. When the tour finished, I had to complete a document about Online Safety, which they might use for upcoming projects directed at young people that are not so experienced online.

Finally, lunch time. I wasn’t tired, but the green room managed to give me extra comfort regardless.

After my break, I helped Lydia get props from the basement for a group called Solar (a specialist group for teenagers with disabilities) and prepared some things on stage as I was waiting for their arrival. When they arrived, I was pretty anxious, it was my first time doing anything like this, but they were very friendly which helped me get out of my comfort zone and join in some of the activities. They were doing a rehearsal for a play about friends lost at sea: it included mermaids, sea horses, jelly fish, princesses and it had many hilarious moments that I’m sure will make the audience laugh.

Overall, it was a good first day as it wasn’t too overwhelming, the staff were always nice to me and the information I was given was always clear.

DAY 2

Day 2 started with me finishing my blog about Day 1, after typing everything that I could remember about the previous day Androulla told me to watch a play called Daytime Deewane. It took me one hour to watch all of it, but I didn’t regret it as I enjoyed every second. Androulla told me that I was going to write a review about it but by the end of the video another group came for a rehearsal.

They were called Eclipse, a group of 20-30 children from Y4 to Y6 all participating in a play about a murder mystery. I really enjoyed the way situations were dealt with, the way the tasks were set up and the order in which the tasks were given. All these things contributed to the excellent group behaviour and how they conducted themselves throughout the whole session by rarely showing any negative emotions. Furthermore, I wanted to say that I didn’t feel like I did much during the actual play as I didn’t have any role but for other activities, like the games that took place at the beginning, I didn’t hesitate to help some of the kids and even join in at times.

The day concluded with me interviewing a few kids about what they enjoyed, what they are proud of and what they’ve learned. In my opinion I think that I enjoyed Day 2 way more than Day 1 just because I was more confident and less awkward with what I had to do.

DAY 3

I began the day by adding to my blog; I then wrote my review about Daytime Deewane. It was an amazing play, and since I hardly found any issues with it, my review was mainly positive.

After completing a few more tasks I had my break. This time I went outside, the fresh air helping me relax a bit as I took a walk to the nearest park.

Finally, the third group this week, Equinox came. It was a similar group to the one I had yesterday in terms of age, but their behaviour was totally different. With this group I felt like I contributed more: I played all the games, I helped a group with their lines, and I even gave my opinion in the story. Partly it was ’cause of the children, they were more serious although a bit shy, but it was mainly because the members were far more organised than any other previous group I dealt with. In conclusion I believe that I learned many new skills today because of this session and I also think that they’ll be useful for when I am older.

After the session I finished the day by typing a report about the group and I also left a bit early since I didn’t have anything else to do.

DAY 4

Today was the most relaxing day, I added to my blog and finalised my review on Daytime Deewane.

After doing a bit of writing I did something a bit different: I went downstairs to cut out shapes from a large piece of paper for a primary school group. It was a bit different from the usual computer stuff, so I didn’t complain. I continued doing this for the rest of the day.

In between the cutting I had my break, and I went outside to meet a few friends that worked close to my area and had a similar schedule.

DAY 5

The final day felt both scary and exciting. I was nervous but the play that I watched, Alfie’s First Fight, first thing in the morning helped calm me a little bit.

The play is about a shy twelve-year-old Alfie who decides to go in search of his missing older brother, Jacob, who has disappeared moments before an important boxing match. Can he safely return his brother to the ring in time?

I really liked the play as the main actor managed to make everyone involved and feel like they were part of the play, also the lighting was pretty good, and the characters were amazing.

After the play I had completed everything that I left out the previous day, things like forms, reports and questionnaires. It took me a good one hour but it was totally worth it.

12.30 this is my last break before I leave so I used my time to read and look at pictures about the story of this place.

To conclude this blog, I want to thank:

Lydia for taking her time to explain tasks to me,

Androulla for always helping me,

Jackie for always checking on me,

Rebecca, Beccy and Martha for being nice no matter what.