It had been a long time since I last gave a talk to a big group of primary school students. I love kids and used to be a temporary primary school teacher before I went to university. Years later, I am now interning with Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia (TCS), and I am given a chance to give a turtle talk to the students in S.K. Seri Jaya, Kemaman, in one of the “Turtle Awareness Programmes” or “Turtle Camps” that TCS carries out.
In the first school that we visited, the Turtle Camp was run by my field supervisor, Miss Chen Pelf Nyok. Cabita (fellow intern), Fasihah and Xiang (student volunteers) and I assisted in the programme and learned to conduct our own Turtle Camp.
In the second school that we went to, S. K. Seri Jaya, I was given the chance to give a talk on turtles to the students.
Lin Wei presenting tokens of encouragement to students who would answer some quiz questions.
Prior to the Turtle Camp, a lot of preparation was done to ensure that the programme would run smoothly. For my part, I believed that practice makes perfect and boosts our confidence. At times, I practiced the talk several times and improved on my presentation skills, after all, I’d be talking to a group of 11-year-old students! I was excited and nervous at the same time!
“Yeah! I am going to meet with kids again and give a talk on turtles to them!”
“But, I am afraid that I would make mistakes.”
The students promised not to eat turtle eggs! Yay!
The angel and devil were fighting in my mind, but finally, the angel won! I was confident that I would rock the Turtle Camp. Once the Turtle Camp was over, the students came to me, thanked me and told me that they had enjoyed the camp. Even my Supervisor thought I did a great job!
