Category: Learning Centers

On Nov 7-10, for the first time since Goducate launched its Sing Your English (SYE) program in 2012 in Indonesia, we brought it abroad, to Sabah in East Malaysia. There, an SYE team from Indonesia held 4 SYE camps on 4 days, one day each for pre-school students, primary 1-3 students, primary 4-6 students, and high-school students.

We had been told to expect, at most, about 50 students per camp and maybe a few more for the high- schoolers. To our surprise, we were greeted by almost 100 participants per camp from villages nearby and even from villages an hour away from the camp venue.

At first the campers were timid and shy, but it wasn’t too long before they all got the feel of an SYE camp and had the time of their lives. Even the parents and guardians were enjoying the fun.

The primary level campers went through the “It’s All About Me” SYE camp theme, shouting their cheers and yells, singing the camp theme song, playing games that made them learn English words that related to themselves, and participating in active fun-filled games.

The teens were led through the “Express Yourself” theme that reminded them to be themselves because they are unique individuals, and that encouraged them that they can do whatever it is they dream to do —all the while learning English through these activities.

The SYE team that went to Sabah found it a very fulfilling experience to bring smiles to people of a different country and hope for opportunities to return there in the near future.

*Our guest writer is Myrel Herrrera, who leads the SYE program.

Goducate Sabah celebrated its 7th anniversary in Sabah last month. The work there is a good example of how Goducate fulfils its mission of helping the needy to help themselves. The population served consists mostly of undocumented aliens who are not entitled to state education. It has meant that children used to loiter around, sometimes getting into trouble. What Goducate does there is to train the mothers to teach the children. Goducate trainers go over periodically to upgrade the teachers.

The people live in remote primitive villages, and the environment has been made particularly difficult in the past couple of years because of the intensified security searches. So the anniversary celebration was an opportunity to thank all those teachers who have perservered in giving the children a chance at some form of schooling. Most of the schoolrooms are makeshift ones, in people’s homes.

For the teachers the anniversary was a chance for them to testify how they have been inspired by the challenges they have had to face, and how they have discovered their own potentials. From being housewives or menial laborers in markets, they have learnt to teach literacy and numeracy, to help children build their characters, to build relationships with others in the village, and to cope with the difficult environment they face. One young teacher said, “Goducate did not teach us to learn but they teach us hope”.

The anniversary program was enlivened by various presentations by students and teachers—ranging from declamations, recitation of poems, to song and dance performances.

Many of the students who have been through the Goducate learning centers in Sabah have found jobs, some as assistant teachers in our learning centers, and one is now a university student (see blog Oct 2, 2015). Goducate is hoping to give many others from this community the opportunity to get a tertiary education.

*Our guest writer is Joy de Pallo