TEN-year-old Anasthasia Yam Victor slowly wove and flipped the palm
leaves in her hand to make Tali Dendan, an origami-like traditional
Temuan headgear.
The Year Four pupil of SK Putra in Simpang Durian, Negeri Sembilan is
unfamiliar with the craft, and what’s more the instructions were in
English.
“English is quite difficult for me to learn. The best way is to
practise, so I try to speak the language when I’m with friends during
(English) lessons,” she says.
Anasthasia was one of 192 Temuan pupils who participated in The Art of
Mastering English Language workshop organised by Brighton Education
Group recently.
The activity was part of the education group’s Teaching English and
Language Literacy programme, a three-year initiative to improve English
language proficiency through in-service teacher training for 120 English
language mentors.
These mentors will, in turn, impart their knowledge to some 4,000
Malaysian primary English teachers across 600 schools in Pahang,
Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor, Malacca and Negri Sembilan.
English language consultant Steven John Curtis says: “The workshop
hopes to give pupils the confidence to express English through art.”
Designed by Curtis and Temuan artist Shaq Koyok, the workshop
comprised two parts — a presentation and three 45-minute art-cum-English
language projects.
Shaq talked about his life and work during the presentation.
Besides weaving Tali Dendan, pupils drew self-portraits and made
collages detailing things that are important to their lives.
“I had a very clear idea for the (workshop) structure and activities,
and together we formulated the presentation (Shaq) delivered. Of course,
we involved the school. The headmaster and teachers were keen to do
it,” says Curtis of the collaboration.
Shaq chose the three exercises as he believed they would help the
children to “reflect on themselves and who they are through
self-portrait, their culture and roots (through Tali Dendan weaving) and
the community or environment around them (through the collage)”.
Pupils were able to enhance their vocabulary, foster interactions and sharpen their listening skills during the event.
For example, Curtis asked the pupils to identify and label parts of the
face such as the nose, teeth and mouth after they had drawn their
self-portraits.
While weaving the headgears, the children learned to follow
instructions in English such as “Take two palm leaves and hold them
together in a cross formation. Then, fold them at an angle... .”
The challenge of completing the task within the stipulated time
encouraged the youngsters to work in groups and help each other out.
The workshop was conducted according to the Language Art component of
the English Language subject in primary schools under the new Kurikulum
Standard Sekolah Rendah (KSSR).
Language Arts is a new KSSR element which is designed to inspire
appreciation and enjoyment in pupils as they learn a language.
“For the Temuan, the activities celebrate their culture and show that a
traditional Temuan man can be successful. The Orang Asli community has
as many opportunities as anybody else to be outstanding,” says Curtis,
alluding to Shaq.
Shaq, who grew up in a traditional Temuan village in Banting, Selangor showed interest in art at an early age.
He won several inter-school art contests in secondary school before
graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) degree from Universiti
Teknologi Mara Shah Alam in 2009.
He also owed part of his success to his fluency in English, which he
started to take seriously after listening to songs on the radio during
his early school years.
Shaq had also recently completed his first solo international art exhibition entitled First Step in Melbourne, Australia.
Shaq seemed as thrilled as the youngsters at the workshop as it
reminded him that his accomplishments as an artist are due to holding on
to his roots and having enough passion to master the English language.
“I think Brighton’s approach is a good and fun way to learn English. A
lot of English teachers (in the school) are not from English-speaking
backgrounds. Some have problems teaching because they rely on
translations,” says Shaq.
He hopes that the pupils will see him as a role model.
“The aim of the workshop is to encourage them to do better and to
give them self-assurance. If they say that they want to be an artist
that would be a great achievement for me as well,” he adds.
English teacher Firdaus Sahak, who took part in the creative session,
says the majority of pupils in the school are not fluent in English due
to high absenteeism and a lack of practise.
Only 55 per cent of pupils who sat the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah
at the school last year passed their English paper despite scoring
highly in other subjects such as Science (82 per cent pass rates) and
Mathematics (full pass rates).
“The workshop is excellent because the language component is embedded
in engaging activities, which make for effective learning,” says
Firdaus.
Science teacher Suhana Awang says that the event gave disadvantaged students a chance to try something new.
“Most of their parents work minimum-wage jobs as rubber tappers and
small scale farmers. At home, they speak either the Temuan dialect or
Bahasa Malaysia, and English is a foreign language that is hard to
grasp. At the workshop, they learned English in an exciting way
especially when most of them can’t afford tuition,” says Suhana, who is
also the school’s hostel warden.
As for Anasthasia, learning English may be a struggle now but she
realises that it is a ticket to better grades and opportunities.
“I’m not very good in English, but I know it’s important. I want to be a
doctor some day and make my family proud so I need to do well including
in English,” says Anasthasia.
A bemused pupil looks on as Shaq Koyok identifies a part of his face in English
Read more:
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: Art of mastering English - Learning Curve - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/channels/learning-curve/language-proficiency-art-of-mastering-english-1.179642#ixzz2aQi3yXMc