In January this year a Goducate friend started an informal English class in Batam, Indonesia. The class was held at the house of another friend, and it taught conversational English to 8-12 year olds.
During the course of these classes, some of the parents suggested that they would like a kindergarten. They belong to a poor community, many of whom came from other parts of Indonesia to seek work in Batam, and are unable to afford to send their children to kindergartens. Hence Goducate agreed to set up a kindergarten that would provide quality but affordable education for their children. The kindergarten was opened in July, and before we knew it, the class was full, and we had to turn away applicants.
A kindergarten class in sessionThe area in which the kindergarten students live
Students in Indonesia learn English from their kindergarten years right up to university level, but end up unable to speak fluently because the language is not used outside of the classroom. Batam is an Indonesian island that has become an industrial zone, with many foreign companies operating there, and a reasonable command of English is important for job prospects there. We have been helping children in some schools in Batam with extracurricular English lessons, to give them a chance of competing for jobs at the same level as students from better schools or those who can afford tuition in the language.
We have found that teaching through singing is a promising method. At first, songs were used to break the children’s inhibition, to get them out of their shell, and to set a fun mood for the class. Later, songs became more than just a mood-setter; it was used to convey the lesson and the words to be used for the day. We found that the children learned the English songs very fast even without understanding them at first. They enjoyed singing and could remember all the words of the song better than all lessons taught conventionally. So this gave birth to the plan to develop a curriculum to help Indonesian students learn English through songs and other activities. That is how we began started working on Sing Your English.
Having fun singing English songsStudents working on a writing activity
The lyrics to complement first-level lessons have been written and the music for these 24 songs has been commissioned. Sing Your English should be a complete extra-curricular English program that can be used in any Indonesian school to complement their English program.
Together with 17 other Singapore Management University undergraduates I have just spent 2 weeks at the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia for our Overseas Community Service Project (OCSP), called Project Sokh Saan, meaning Blessed, So We Bless. Our aim was to equip the children at the home with basic information technology (IT) skills such as creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
Our program consisted of reading, computer, music and sports classes. The plan was to spend the mornings conducting reading classes, and in between, to bring the children in turns to the computer room to try out the typing game, TypeFaster, as well as to teach them how to use LibreOffice, a free software very similar to Microsoft Office. However, although the children were able to communicate well with us, most had difficulty understanding what they were reading. Hence we placed more emphasis on reading and comprehension for the majority of the children and limited the computer training to the older children. The idea is that the older children would be able to pass on what they have learnt to the younger children, especially since they would be able to explain in Khmer as well.
Reading sessionComputer training
The afternoons were spent in various activities. The first four afternoons were a continuation of reading and computer classes, then there were two afternoons dedicated to music theory and practical lessons with the recorder. There were also two sports classes during which we taught the children how to play soccer and games with the frisbee, and one afternoon was taken up by an art class on shading and lighting. The manuals we made for all our activities have been left at the Home for the children to refer to, along with the 11 laptops that we brought over.
On our last day, the children entertained us with their recorder playing, while we put up a short dance item and sang two songs for them.
It was a joy teaching the children, and we hope to return there one day. We thank the staff of the Home for their hospitality and cooperation, and for helping us to maintain discipline.
