Teacher's Reflection for Day 2 (by Miss Agnes Mok)

Trackers of the present. They wear clothes nowadays.. Eh this tracker looks suspiciously familiar... Looks like Seshan??!! Hahaha >.<

Trackers of the past. They use their combined physical strength to pull ships and boats up the Yang Tze River. This photo came courtesy from the "accidental buy" by Poh Mun...

A breathtaking view of the dam. We were very lucky to see the releasing of flood waters through the sluice gates as it does not occur everyday.

Who's the real teacher? It's Edwina!!! Hahaha :p (Everyone, I stressed again... I am 19 years old. Please stop asking me about my age ok?)

This is the closest we got to the Three Gorges Dam! Let's take a picture!

Today is the day that I have been waiting for. After the many hours of reading up, searching on the internet, viewing videoclips and preparing teaching materials about the Three Gorges Dam, I am finally bringing the students to the place itself! I really hope that the students would apply what they have learnt over the two weeks of prior training and appreciate what they see today.

We started with a long bus ride from Wuhan to Yichang at 8am. It took about 4 hours and we stopped at "258 Resturant" for lunch. Thereafter, we continue our journey again and finally reached Three Gorges Dam at about 3pm. During the bus journey, I did a short recap on the information about the Three Gorges Dam. I am very proud that the students could answer every single question that I asked. They knew that the Three Gorges are made up of Qutang Gorge, Xiling Gorge and the Wu Gorge. In addition, they could state all the details of the Three Gorges Dam (Shiplocks, Shiplift and Dam) and their functions. They could also describe and explain how electricity is generated from the hydroelectric power station. These lovable students could also state the many reasons for building the dam: Flood control, Clean hydroelectricity, tourism and navigation. They could also appreciate the consequences, such as resttlement of people, that comes along with this big project. In my heart, I knew that this is bound to be a very fruitful trip for all of them.

When we reached our destination, the students were very astonished at the size and structure of the Three Gorges Dam. They were amazed by the difference in water level between the upstream and downstream of the river. All of them were asking many questions related to what they saw, including why the water appears to be dirtier after leaving the sluice gates. I reminded them about the slit buildup in the reservoir upstream and how the Three Gorges Dam is made to remove the slit during the release of the flood waters. We also felt very lucky to be able to witness the releasing of flood waters through the sluice gates as it does not occur daily. The students took many photos and were so excited upon seeing the huge shiplocks, the on-going construction of the shiplift, the dam and the hydroelectric power station from many angles. I am very heartened as I felt that this is learning at its best. An authentic learning experience, which is a very important aspect of the PETALS framework. Seshan highlighted this fact very well: After hearing so much about this mega dam during the preparation lessons, he is seeing it for REAL. He almost cannot believe his own eyes.

Halfway through our journey, we came across stalls that were selling souvenoirs and momentos. Finding it hard to resist the temptation of shopping, Angus brought a pack of Fengdu cards. To an ordinary student, this could be just another pack of cards. However, to all the students in this trip, Fengdu (or "Ghost City"), holds a special meaning as they were introduced to this city during Miss Lee Ting Ruh's cultural preparation session. They were also told that the entire city of Fengdu is submerged due to the flooding caused by the building of the dam. Many others brought other souvenoirs related to the Dam. (Including an accidental purchase by Poh Mun, hahaha)

Finally, we reached our last stop of the viewing of the Three Gorges Dam. This location was a great spot for photo-taking! As we were leaving to take the bus back, we saw a structure of trackers (people who pull boats and ships up the Yang Tze River). Our dear Seshan posed with this structure, allowing us to make some interesting comparisons... See picture above.

Overall, I have to say that this has been a wonderful and enriching day for me. Not only did I get the chance to see the Three Gorges Dam myself, I could engaged students in their learning. All this would not be possible if the preparation work was not done by myself. I am thankful to be given this opportunity to help the students on this learning experience and certainly hope that the students have also learnt a lot from me as well.