Reflection on Reading Facilitation Course

To be honest, I was rather disappointed with this course.

The instructor was able to take the stage and catch everyone's attention. Although he was a very entertaining person, I felt that he lingered too long on his personal experiences and as a result focused more on 'the lessons of life' rather than how to facilitate a book club discussion.

The group discussion, however, was another story. We broke up into groups and were supposed to discuss a given story. The story was about how a man spent his life waiting to feel love. Even when his bride was bitten by a snake and died on the day of their wedding reception, he was disappointed that his first thought was how ruined his wedding would be. Even after going down to hell and rescuing his wife, he feels more and more distant from her.

To me, this was a very beautifully crafted story and the use of queer characters such as the sympathetic God of Hell greatly contributed to the irony of the situation. This was not to be said of the rest of the participants. The discussion was rather unfocused and shallow; within 5 minutes the rest of the group were discussing the latest games. Other groups missed the point, saying that ,"Perhaps the snake in the grass was not poisonous," or,"It's rubbish! How can a person go to hell and back?" A few groups caught on though, discussing the matter of choosing 'the right one' to marry.

NLB Book Club facilitation course

I did not attend the NLB Book Club Facilitation course due to Squash Training. I heard from my friends who attended the facilitation course that it was quite disappointing. The facilitator spent most of the time talking things irrelevant to the topic, many of which were his personal life experiences. They were only given a short story to read and a short video to watch.

There was also a discussion about the short story that was very poorly executed. Pupils spent most of the time talking about things irrelevant to the topic and often sidetracked.

I hope that there will be another facilitation course so that I will be able to experience what it would be like but this time much better than the last.

Cheers,
Shaun Yan

NLB Book Club facilitation course

I was quite disappointed with the facilitation course.
Firstly, the facilitator spent most of the time talking about the importance of reading and shared many of his life experiences which are irrelevant to the topic and he only started on the facilitation skills towards the end of the course. In the end, we only had a short story to read and a short video to watch.

Secondly, the short story discussion was not very productive. We were separated into groups, which consisted of students from both IP and neighbourhood schools. Then, we had to read a short story about a man who went to hell to bring her dead wife back to life. The discussion was at the basic level and there was no in depth insights. Some even commented that the short story was unrealistic and there was no such thing as bringing people from hell back to the surface of the earth. Some students cannot appreciate short stories, which are meant to be written creatively, out of the real world. What was most shocking was that the facilitator and even some IP school students applauded for that point!

This facilitation would have been better if more time was used on the skills of facilitation rather than introduction to reading.