Students discussing among themselves at the workshop.
MIRI: Students of SMK Subis in Batu Niah about 80 kilometres from here got an opportunity to learn modern teaching methods when academics from Curtin University Sarawak gave them a half-day educational and information sharing workshop
The activity which was recently held was part of the university’s ongoing community outreach programme to support education and student development in local schools. The workshop introduced to the students the new teaching methods that are being used at Curtin Sarawak.
Curtin held a similar workshop at SMK Luar Bandar some 50 kilometres from here last year.
Facilitators of the workshop included English lecturers Anita Jimmie, Serina Ann Doss and David Patenaude from the Department of Culture and Language Studies in the Faculty of Business and Humanities, and information technology lecturer Kamaroizan Mohamad from the Faculty of Engineering and Science.
Anita delivered a short session on ‘Your Body Speaks – Body Language and Effective Presentations’. She shared tips on giving impactful presentations such as the effective use of gestures, appropriate postures, eye contact, and voice.
Students were asked to choose a number of items from a bag and with their imagination use the items to create ‘products’ which they would ‘sell’ to a group of ‘consumers’.
Anita helped them to brainstorm for ideas after which they were asked to talk on the merits of their ‘products’.
This was followed by an interactive lecture by Serina on ‘Writing Winning Essays’ where students were taught how to gather different viewpoints for an argumentative topic.
Patenaude gave a presentation on ‘American English Pronunciation’ which comprised a combination of lecture and interesting activities like a Syllables Pyramid Game, Pronunciation Maze, Homophone Card Match, and Pronunciation Bingo.
Kamaroizan gave a talk on ‘Introduction to Tertiary Education’ which outlined various pathways SPM school leavers can take to enter Curtin Sarawak. He also spoke on Intensive English Programme (IEP) designed to improve proficiency of the language.
Students and school staff said they enjoyed the workshop and they would look forward to more of such programme in future.