English language camp enriches 500

Raiza (right) and Nishaleeny (third from right) leading students from different schools for ice breaking

As the most useful language in learning, English is the most common second language studied in the world today.   To promote the language, UTAR Centre for Extension Education (CEE) held an English Language Camp for 500 secondary school students at UTAR Petaling Jaya Campus on 29 June 2013.

The 500 students that participated in the camp came from 20 schools.  They were SMK Bandar Baru Sungai Buloh, SMK Taman Maluri, SMK Petaling, Methodist Girls School KL, SMK (P) Kapar, SMK Putri Wilayah, SMK Shahbandaraya, SMK Jinjang, SMK Tengku Idris Shah, SMK Bandar Tasik Selatan, SMK Convent Jalan Peel, SMK Batu Unjur, SMK Padang Tembak, SMK Bandar Baru Sentul, SMK Maxwell, SMK Sains Selangor, SMK Pulau Indah, SMK Sri Serdang, SMK Taman Desa, and SMK Sri Damai.

Besides creating greater awareness among the students on the importance of mastering the English language, especially fluency in speaking, the English language camp also aimed to promote inter-school interaction and leadership skills.

After registration, the participating students randomly went into 15 groups to interact with students from other schools.  To break the ice, students were asked to introduce themselves and some were invited to perform a little on stage. Then the lessons began at about 9.00am with six CEE English instructors in different classes.

"Always add in adjectives to make a sentence more interesting," said instructor Raiza Azni before a class of mainly SMK Jinjang students.  She added, "There are five types of adverbs which involve time, place, degree, manner, and sentence."

The other instructors were Nishaleeny Nainar, Mohanambikay Pandian, Parkash Mathivanan, Tulasi Subramaniam and Tan Guang Pin.

"There are two forms of communication and they are verbal and non-verbal,"said Parkash to students from SMK Pulau Indah and SMK Taman Maluri.  He added, "Non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, gestures, touching, personal appearances, and the use of time and space."

Participants receiving briefing before the treasure hunt

After the lesson, the students went into groups before going for a treasure hunt.  They scrambled around the campus to find the designated checkpoints where they were required to perform various challenges.

 

Participants playing a game of charades at a checkpoint

"I am really looking forward for the treasure hunt, and I hope that my group can win a prize," said student Abdul Maajid from SMK Bandar Baru Sungai Buloh just before the treasure hunt began.

Participants leading their blindfolded team-mate through an obstacle course

CEE Director Lim Guat Yen presenting hampers to representatives of winning teams