Clickers in the New Straits Times

All Clicked At This Camp
2010/11/16
By M. Hamzah Jamaludin
The New Straits Times

KUANTAN: Learning English should not be limited to classrooms as some 200 secondary school students discovered in Cherating, near here.

Through a special programme, known as "Click! Camp", the students participated in various community projects that had also helped them improve their grasp of the language. The four-day programme, which ended on Sunday, focused on English language enrichment apart from developing the students' leadership skills and sense of social responsibility.

"It's cool as we were only allowed to communicate in English throughout the programme," said Muhammad Zaim Khairudin from Petaling Jaya.

The Form Three student of SMK La Salle said he was now more confident with his English after partcipating in the programme.

"We are lucky as the facilitators for this programme are the alumni of various exchange programmes between Malaysia and the United States. They understand our problems and know how to make things easier for us," said Zaim, who is the eldest of five siblings.

Some 60 alumni of the US Embassy-sponsored exchange programmes acted as the facilitators in the programme, which was jointly organised by Warisan Global Sdn Bhd and the US Embassy.

The camp also included a training programme for 35 English teachers which was conducted by American English language specialist, Mindy Vesser from Idaho, US.

Muhamad Azri Amir Mazlan of SMK Datuk Ahmad Maher, Kota Baru, Kelantan said it was fun to do all the community services while communicating in English.

"Sometimes we laughed at each other when we used inaccurate words to express our thoughts. But the facilitators were always there to help us find the most appropriate words," said the Form Three student.

The students were also honoured when the US ambassador to Malaysia Paul W. Jones travelled all the way from Kuala Lumpur to join them yesterday.

"I can feel the energy and enthusiasm of all those involved and we will continue with similar programmes in future," said Jones who joined the awareness programme at Cherating turtle sanctuary, English language enrichment event at Chendor kindergarten and repainting of the surau in Kampung Cherating Lama.

Jones said the US Embassy would also assist the Federal and State Governments to organise English learning programmes after it had successfully implemented such a project with the Terengganu state government.

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/22lish/Article#ixzz15Plbz4yP