English-learning stint for Taiwanese pupils

STUDY time need not be boring or stressful but fun and exciting. In other words, learning can be both educational and enjoyable.

Imagine the benefits of travelling to another country, getting to know the people there, learning about their cultures, seeing their towns and cities, and, above all, practising English with fellow pupils in that country whose mother tongue is not English.

That was what the 25 pupils from Taiwan got to experience and benefit from during their recent stay at the campus of Batu Lintang Teachers’ Education Institute (BLTEI) in Kuching.

The pupils – 15 from Sinshan Elementary School and 10 from Sindong High School in Tainan, Taiwan — were here from July 15 – 21 and led by Mark Hsia, principal of Sinshan Elementary School, Sandy Chen, principal of Sindong Junior High School and Susie Lin, co-ordinator of the International English and Cross-Cultural Programme 2017. Four other teachers from Taiwan also came along.

The academic ties between the BLTEI and the Tainan Education Bureau were forged in 2015 and further strengthened a year later by the participation of English language lecturers and student teachers from the Institute in an International Voluntary Teaching Programme in Taiwan.

The BLTEI group travelled to Tainan on the southwest coast of Taiwan to teach English, conduct English language games, present dramas and storytelling as well as perform poetry recitations and songs at the participating schools.

Timely opportunity

For the 25 visiting Taiwanese pupils, their stay at the BLTEI campus was a timely opportunity to learn about a new culture as well as use English in a foreign setting. Their principals and teachers also familiarised themselves with the teaching methods and school management practices used here.

A video presentation was conducted at the campus by Anis Alisya Abdullah, acting director of BLTEI, on July 16.

During their week-long stay, the pupils visited tourist spots in and around Kuching such as the Semenggok Wild Life Centre, Sarawak Cultural Village and the Bako National Park. They also demonstrated their yo-yo and acrobatic skills at Sekolah Seni Sarawak and met with pupils their age at St Joseph’s Private School.

To improve their English proficiency, the pupils participated in language games and activities in the evenings, organised by TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) student teachers from BLTEI to consolidate the pupils’ language learning and acquisition.

According to So Suez Pink, coordinator of the International English and Cross-Cultural Programme 2017, the evening sessions were for honing listening and speaking skills, incorporating the use of gestures, sign language and miming.

The BLTEI student teachers who planned and led the sessions, demonstrated that learning English could fun and enjoyable, and this had the effect of making the learning process ‘dynamic and powerful’.

Despite their short visit, the pupils said they had a whale of a time, adding that it was a very wonderful and meaningful episode of their lives. They were especially thankful for the care and warmth of their hosts.

The visit had forged a strong bond of friendship and the visitors returned home with fond memories of their stay at the campus.

The group leader Mark Siah called for continued collaboration between the Tainan Education Bureau and the Batu Lintang Teachers’ Education Institute. He hoped the academic and social relationships between the two organisations would lead to greater future collaborations.

The pupils’ visit was under the International English and Cross-Cultural Programme 2017 — a collaboration between the BLTEI campus and Sinshan Elementary and Sindong Junior High Schools of Taiwan.