Kedah: Two American teachers currently on holiday in Kedah were thrilled to have the opportunity to take part in a community programme with children from Kampung Keda Malau near here.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Lauren Chow, 32, and Bethany Greenbaum, 31, from Boston said their five-day vacation became especially meaningful after being invited to share their experiences with rural students during the English Camp With Keda Community held in the village. Lauren, who speaks Malay, expressed her delight at returning to Kedah to contribute to a programme aimed at boosting rural children's confidence in using English.
'I taught English at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Bendahara in Kodiang for two years, from 2015 to 2016, and I found that students in rural areas are in fact very hardworking and brave,' she said. Bethany also expressed her joy at seeing the children working hard to build confidence and communicate in a foreign language. 'This is the first programme of its kind that I have participated in. It is very interesting, and I can see the enthusiasm of these children learning in a joyful environment,' she said.
Lauren and Bethany are based in Indonesia, where they teach English tuition classes to school students. Meanwhile, Programme Coordinator Ku Nur Azatul Fatihah Ku Ariffin said the English camp was a local initiative aimed at exposing primary school students to an international language in a fun and engaging way. 'We received no sponsorship and organised this camp for free for the Keda community. The facilitators are volunteers from the village and several university students. We truly hope programmes like this can continue in future, and we warmly welcome any support to help sustain our efforts in improving rural students' academic performance,' she said.
Ku Nur Azatul Fatihah added that in addition to the camp, volunteers also hold night classes for primary school students and that so far, the feedback from parents has been very encouraging, as their children have shown noticeable improvement in school. 'I'm very happy to be part of this camp and excited by how friendly the children are. They're not afraid of outsiders,' said Lauren when met during the programme on Friday.