I have done much outdoor education stuff in my life and I believe that I can say that it is one of my teaching sub-specialities -- the other being a Robotics teacher (I'm very well-versed with the concepts. Do you know how many books I have on robotics?).

Anyway, back to OE. Here's my experience...

• Cadet Scout in primary school, where we did height elements with no safety, flying fox, camping, hiking, camp cooking, orienteering, etc.
  
• YLTC in JC, where we did 8 days of the standard stuff -- abseiling, sea ex, land ex, obstacle course, ropes course, solo night, etc.
  
• 21-day OBS in university, where we did everything, including cutter sailing (crew of 10), Round Island Kayaking (4 days) and solo exercise (4 days).
  
• Twin Peaks Challenge as a teacher in VJC, where we climed Mt Trusmadi and Mt Kinabalu.
  
• Expedition leader course as a teacher in Damai Sec, where we did everything in Australia, including whitewater kayaking and a 44 km 3-day exercise in the real wilderness in winter.
  
• Climbed Mt Ophir twice as an NCC teacher in Damai Sec.
  
• Kayaking 2-star personal skill
  
• Attended powerboat course and Topper sailing course (I did not take any exams though.)
  

I just came back from my 2-week Infantry reservist with ITI -- ATEC Phase 2. We managed to get good enough results to qualify for the incentive -- 6-day high-key training only in Mar 2009.

4 days in the field with two attacks and an ASO. With TES-BFI set and 9 kg of medical load. I was itching all over by the 4th day. In fact, I'm still itching...

I really despise those slackers who don't do combat reservist like us... Reservist is like a holiday to them, free leave by the SAF, stay out or night's off every day. For us, we have to work hard during ICT.

The problem with the students is that they always don't want to study Physics! They do so much math! And they also don't want to study English!

The school is Value-Added this year - Bronze, with a star. And another star for the Arts performances - SYF Central Judging. We are the best in Bedok - we appeared on the Express charts this year.

I don't know how the current batch is going to fill such big shoes.

One of my 064E1 students in MJC managed to go to the Perimeter Institute's Modern Physics summer school in Canada. One of my 054E1 students was also successful last year. 50 places were reserved for Canadians and 50 for the rest of the world. 3 were from Singapore, I think.

This reminds me of one of my students who just came back from Imperial College on an A*STAR scholarship doing Physics.

This holiday is not shaping up as one... This is Week 2 and I still have marking and admin. I have a course on Monday and Tuesday. I need to be ready for Term 3 by next Tuesday, or I will have no holiday at all. This calls for a lot of work over this weekend. I have another course from 18 to 20 June.

I went for the NCC Specialists' Course today. Many teacher officers view taking students to such activities as just a formality and a chore. Although they are there, they do not follow the students. As a result, they learn nothing. They just spend their time at the canteen, or read a book, or do work.

Worse, some teachers don't even come!

For me, I ensure that I always learn something when I take students out to HQ activities. The activities themselves, the content. The organization of the activity. Talking to the other officers and learning something from them.

But I'm glad that there are some teachers who actually function as officers when they are at HQ activities. They lead and teach the cadets, function as safety officers, etc. And they are enthusiastic.