The CAS Project is a key part of the IB Diploma and a wonderful celebration of your CAS experiences of the past two years. For my CAS project, I initially wanted to reach out to the male teachers at OSC and my classmates and get their opinion on the sexual abuse of girls and then create a documentary out of it. However, with service sessions conducted online, there were some issues with participation and I couldn’t go forth with the idea. So I decided that doing something that goes could well even under virtual circumstances be the most ideal.

Sinhala is my mother-tongue and has learned it for over 11 years, thus making me very fluent in reading, writing, and also speaking. But since joining OSC, I have never really got the opportunity to use my skills in the Sinhala language. So I thought that this would be a great occasion to use my Sinhala skills and at the same time help younger kids learn it.

I contacted Ms. Dilini, who is in charge of Sinhala for MYP, and proposed my idea of conducting a class with her students. She was more than willing to help me and over the next couple of days, we formulated a rough lesson plan for the grade 5s. The students had different levels of knowledge in the Sinhala language so we had to consider this in planning. It had to be relevant to their coursework and also be under the OSC regulations.

For the online lesson conducted through zoom, I formed a lesson plan with a combination of vehicles, food items, and prepositions. I taught them the new vocabulary and had them engage in interactive games through Kahoot and Quizlet. I think it was an effective way of bringing forth the new lesson. Additionally, it also helped me to get to know them better and understand their strengths and weaknesses in the language.

Photo credits: Author

On the second lesson, which was held at school, we decided to teach them the different provinces in Sri Lanka. The students were taught the English names first followed by the Sinhala name. They marked the nine provinces of Sri Lanka on a map and labeled them using the Sinhala names. Using their special phonetics table, they wrote the names in what we call ‘Singlish’ which is a combination of English and Sinhala. Once it was proofread by either myself or Ms. Dilini, the students were asked to rewrite them in Sinhala letters. The latter part of the assignment was found challenging out of all, as they couldn’t match the English letters with the Sinhala ones. Later on, we tested their memory with some random quizzes.

But overall, I think the lesson was successful, the students enjoyed it and I most definitely learned a lot of things. It was a great experience and I would like to thank Ms. Dilini for giving me the opportunity to coordinate with her class and for the immense support extended.

Learning outcomes:

• Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth.
• Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
• Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.
• Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences.
• Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively.
• Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.
• Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions.

I believe that by completing this CAS project I was able to fulfill all the above learning outcomes. I was able to identify my own strengths when it came to forming a lesson plan, exercising the plan, and also handling students. I worked on the planning process for about two weeks, during which I had to go through all their units and create educational activities and games. Nonetheless, I am happy to say that all the missed breaks and lunches are worth been able to complete this project successfully. I was also grateful to have Ms. Dilini for assistance and help me identify the suitability of the activities. When creating the lesson plan, we had to consider the ethics involved so that no restrictions were broken and students were comfortable discussing them.

I am extremely glad to successfully complete my CAS project and it will definitely be remembered as a highlight of my senior year at OSC.