Through Hans' Eyes - Release Your Creativity

Through Hans' Eyes - A Picure is Worth A Thousand words

Which is pretty much why I will only say one: Enjoy

Through Hazim's eyes : An effort worth applausing

Assalamualaikum WBT

The second day proved to be more productive this time. Al-Hamdulilah. I could see that the students were comfortable to get into discussions with their respective tutors. Earlier, we divided each group of eight students to two; meaning that each group will have a tutor and 4 students in it. I thought it was a really great idea because a smaller group would mean a more intimate relationship between the students and the tutor. And it seemed to work.

We did an activity called Lyrics Study. The students were given two lyrics that have similar theme. The first one was Miley Cyrus' The Climb and the second one was This Is Me by Demi Lovato. The students were required to discuss within their respective teams on their personal opinions and how they really feel about the songs.

Interestingly, not many of the students could relate their past experiences to the songs even though through the discussion, they did precisely mentioned about the many moral values found in the songs such as not giving up when facing life obstacles and be confident to be themselves. They were somehow reluctant to open up and discuss about their lives. I would say that we have to give them a little bit more time to adjust and feel a little more comfortable to open up. Maybe if the tutors were willing enough to share their stories and experiences first, the students might eventually follow suit.

-Hazim, the Conductor :)

Through Hazim's Eyes : First Day of Class in Teknik Ampangan

Assalamualaikum WBT

I was exceptionally nervous days before the class even started. 

Up to the final day, I still haven't confirmed the list of facilitators/tutors that will be joining the program. A lot of people had shown interest on the program but apparently not many among the lots could find time for it. I could have made it a compulsory participation for all the KMS English Tour members which will not be deemed inappropriate at all being the fact that the English in Music program is a side project to the KMS English Tour program. But I wouldn't want to force anyone to do something that they don't believe worth doing for let alone sacrifice something for it.

That's why I am truly glad and appreciate those who had willing to join this program. I really hope that you enjoy helping those kids.

The first day of class wasn't really that bad at all. It wasn't awkward too as I don't really have to spend too much time on the introduction and on the getting-to-know-you-all session since the class was immediately set up a day after the KMS English Tour program ended in that school - the Vocational Ampangan school. The participants also were those of the participants of KMS English Tour program so they would have known me and some of the facilitators by then.

The class started by dividing them into 7 groups in which 2 facilitators were responsible to a group of approximately 8 students. Questionnaires were then distributed to all the students. I wanted to know more about the students and how music influence their lives. Some of the questions inquire on the students' confidence level in speaking English and how people around them particularly family and friends are supporting them to develop their English speaking skills.

 The questionnaires were written in English which I observed the students had found a difficulty to fully understand some of the questions. Though most had consulted their tutors for any clarification but some of them were too shy to ask. The tutors had to translate some of the questions to Malay which proved to be  a difficult task. I also observed that the students have a limit range of vocabulary for a 16 year-old.

Then, the students and their tutors were allowed to discuss for 10 minutes to brainstorm on the name of their newly-founded group. The rule was that the name of each group must be a name of an American/British singer or a band such as Taylor Swifts or Linkin Park. Then, they were to engage into another discussion on why they agreed to use that particular artist or band as the name of their group. The purpose of this activity is to let the students be comfortable with their new group and their tutors in sharing ideas, working out together and in helping to develop the bond between the tutor and the students. The productivity of the discussion for each group varied. I could see some of the tutors had to try real hard to get the students to speak out their mind which I personally believe that it is normal for a first day lesson. The students probably need more time to adjust and to getting to know their tutors better. 

I really hope that the facilitators including me would try harder in gaining the students' trust. I believe that once the students have given us their trust... we could inspire and motivate them to be better in English. Insya Allah!

-Hazim, the Conductor

Introduction: English in Music Program

The Kolej Mara Seremban (KMS) English Tour program is a joint effort between the students of Mara Seremban College and the college itself in facilitating and motivating secondary school students to learn English. Since it was first founded in early April 2010, the program has been to various schools all around Malaysia such as Tunku Abdul Razak Integrated school (InSTAR) in Pahang, MRSM Kepala Batas in Penang, Ampangan Vocational school and Tunku Jaafar Technical High School in Seremban. 

The aims of the program are to increase awareness among Malaysian students on the importance of English and also to motivate them to learn this wonderful language. The KMS English Tour programme focuses on using interactive English-learning activities that emphasises heavily on building up the students' confidence in speaking, creativity in writing as well as nurturing a genuine interest on the language itself.

The English in Music program is another project which could be considered as the side-project that compliments each and every aspect of what KMS English Tour program module is all about which revolves around the 4 main objectives:-

1. To boost up the students' confidence level in using the English language

2. To help the students to be creatively minded in producing ideas and expressing them through writings

3. To guide the students to other alternatives in learning English

4. To motivate the students to learn English

The 2 weeks English in Music program is a class based program basically uses anything related to Music (eg. songs, lyrics, melodies, singers and etc.) as its main teaching tool to bring out the students' interest on the English language. This program could only accommodate not more than 50 students per class and most of the activities in this program are designed specifically to fulfil all the objectives mentioned above. For example, students are highly and often motivated and encouraged by the facilitators to volunteer and share their ideas and opinions to the class whenever a topic is discussed. 

The program as the whole as well as the activities in it are also much more personal in terms of the relationship between the students and the tutor/facilitator. The students who are chosen to be part of this program will be divided to a smaller group comprising 3-4 students in which each group will be assigned to a tutor. The objective here is to provide an environment in which the students being in a smaller team would be able to bond with the tutors and feel comfortable enough to allow the assigned tutor to help and guide them throughout the intensive 2 weeks program. However, the class will be mainly conducted by a facilitator known as the 'Conductor' that has not been assigned to any group. The Conductor helps to guide all the groups as a whole throughout the activities - conducting discussions involving the whole groups, calling out volunteers from each group to share their ideas and opinions and many more that involves the whole class.

Hopefully, this program will be as successful as the KMS English Tour program!

Hazim :)