Shaq Koyok

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.