Global Classroom Programme

As a BSP scholar, I would say that the most impactful opportunity that the scholarship has granted me would be to go overseas to China for 5 weeks to experience life there and learn about their culture.

While I thought that things wouldn’t be too different, there were several culture shocks - including the fact that some toilet cubicles didn’t have doors, and I had the shock of my life walking in on someone doing their business.

These small, but eye-opening cultural differences reminded me to be sensitive to others’ cultures, and to never make assumptions that may come off as imposing or rude. Keeping an open-mind to explore China’s culture really helped me to experience it to the fullest, and I found myself reluctant to head home after 5 whole weeks of exploring what we could.

Something else that was refreshing was going to school with our China buddies. While I thought that Singapore’s education system was quite rigorous, I felt truly humbled when experiencing China’s education system (notably, their education system is very diverse, and I refer to the small number of schools that we managed to visit). However, what struck me was how although the students complained about the stress, none of them wanted to give up studying, but instead, put their all into the schoolwork. While conversing with some of them, I realised what spurred them on was the realisation that to achieve what they want in life, they have to first study hard and get the basics right for a basis to get what they want in life. I will never forget how inspired I felt when I saw their drive to work hard, not for anyone else, but for themselves.

Another pretty meaningful experience I had during the GCP experience was planning a CIP activity with my friends for the Ningbo School of the Deaf. We were split into 4 teams, and my team was in charge of teaching the children how to make Chapteh, and to hold a Chapteh-kicking competition afterwards. It was certainly difficult to teach them how to do things since we couldn’t directly communicate with them, but somehow we worked out something and they managed to make beautiful final products. The sense of accomplishment I felt after seeing their bright smiles at their products and seeing them happily play against each other is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget.