OTGV #14 - Mendaki HELP
Broadcast Date: 25/03/2002
Books are window to different worlds known or foreign, real or fantastic.
Most education psychologists agree that if you inculcate a love of reading in a child while young, then the battle to educate him or her is nearly won.
At MENDAKI, under-performing Malay primary school students have been receiving valuable extra-curricula help via its Reading programme.
Welcome to On the Grapevine with me Chong Ching Liang as I look at the latest phase of Mendaki's reading programme.
The Home Enabling Learning Programme or HELP was launched in the second week of March this year.
Incoming Minister in charge of Muslim Affairs, Yaacob Ibrahim on Mendaki's investment.
"It is a very expensive programme. A lot of resources. But we want to build skill sets within the family and the children so that they can be on their own so that when they reached sec one, I don't have to run a tuition programme for them. It is a long term investment in that sense, basically."
The key to the whole operations are the volunteers that drive it.
"My name is Badral bte Abdullah, and I am one of the HELP volunteers. I am delighted and proud to be a HELP volunteer. It gives me a great pleasure to see a child craving to read more and more as he or she discovers a whole new world of experiences through reading. No amount of money can describes this feeling of satisfaction. This is the best reward."
The rewards aren't material and the volunteer aren't restricted to the Malay Muslim community.
Associate Professor Yaacob calls on volunteers from all walks of life.
"The person must be qualified, the person must be able to read, must have a certain attachment for children, understand their sensibilities. If you feed that bill, you are blue, yellow, green, it don't matter, come in!"
Australian expatriate, Georgina Aisyah Scully is also a volunteer and she describes her routine during her home visits.
"We read story books together, and we play lots of games that encouraged oral language, and pre-reading skills and uhm, Quaishril has a number of brothers and sisters so it's fun actually. So it's a fun time. I leave it to them, which activity or games which they like to choose to play. I bring a selection of picture books and they choose whichever one they like to read. And we just have a very informal visit down in the lounge together and have a little session."
Georgina says there's no communication problem with her charge.
"Noi, no problems at all. I think they can understand me and I've pointed out them if they having any problems just to ask me to repeat or I am sure that mom and dad will let me know if I am not clear, if any slang that I am using they are not familiar with and mom and dad speaks wonderful English so we have no problems there!"
Having a non-Malay volunteer has secondary benefits.
Not only the child gets educated, but the adults learn as well.
The adults learn about cross-cultural communications, and tensions or misunderstanding may be scattered when the parents and volunteers are working hand-in-hand to teach the children.
Dr Yaacob again.
"They become role models for the children. And the kind of role model that we can bring may not be from our own cultural base. It can be from the Chinese community, expatriate community and what have you. That's a wonderful opportunity so I don't think integration is our ultimate objective but it's an important by products in the process."
But with expatriate volunteers like Georgina Scully and the use of English books, is there a threat of the Malay students imbibing a foreign culture?
Outgoing Minister for Muslim Affairs doesn't think there's such a threat.
"I am less worried about that one then the ability to read. Because if you are able to read and received knowledge, there'll come a time where you'll be more discerning about what you read. Through books you gain knowledge, you gain depths, you gain all sorts of perception of things. So I would be less worried that you are influenced or imbued with values or attitude which are quite foreign to you, you know. Because if you start from that premise, then you confine your knowledge, you confined your readings to those which don't go at odds with your own traditions then you do not learn beyond the confines of your own culture."
A happy parent, Mdm Noryati, is very happy that she has the services of Georgina Scully.
Mdm Noryati
"I feel very proud having a volunteer like Ms Aisyah because after she come to my house, they started to enjoy reading more you see? Brothers and sisters get along. They enjoy getting together playing games like what Ms Aisyah taught them, yes."
So pick yourself up and volunteer for the Mendaki's reading programme.
Interested, Mendaki's Sharifah provides the information.
"The more we recruit the more we will train. So spread the word, around to your friends, to call us at Mendaki. The number is 245-5728. The main line is 2455766."
Sally forth and spread the word on each of your individual grape vine.
You are not just helping a young child but also yourself in understanding and making friends across communal boundaries.
This is Chong Ching Liang for Newsradio 938.
Related Websites:
Newsradio938
http://newsradio.mediacorpradio.com/
MENDAKI
http://www.mendaki.org.sg
Books are window to different worlds known or foreign, real or fantastic.
Most education psychologists agree that if you inculcate a love of reading in a child while young, then the battle to educate him or her is nearly won.
At MENDAKI, under-performing Malay primary school students have been receiving valuable extra-curricula help via its Reading programme.
Welcome to On the Grapevine with me Chong Ching Liang as I look at the latest phase of Mendaki's reading programme.
The Home Enabling Learning Programme or HELP was launched in the second week of March this year.
Incoming Minister in charge of Muslim Affairs, Yaacob Ibrahim on Mendaki's investment.
"It is a very expensive programme. A lot of resources. But we want to build skill sets within the family and the children so that they can be on their own so that when they reached sec one, I don't have to run a tuition programme for them. It is a long term investment in that sense, basically."
The key to the whole operations are the volunteers that drive it.
"My name is Badral bte Abdullah, and I am one of the HELP volunteers. I am delighted and proud to be a HELP volunteer. It gives me a great pleasure to see a child craving to read more and more as he or she discovers a whole new world of experiences through reading. No amount of money can describes this feeling of satisfaction. This is the best reward."
The rewards aren't material and the volunteer aren't restricted to the Malay Muslim community.
Associate Professor Yaacob calls on volunteers from all walks of life.
"The person must be qualified, the person must be able to read, must have a certain attachment for children, understand their sensibilities. If you feed that bill, you are blue, yellow, green, it don't matter, come in!"
Australian expatriate, Georgina Aisyah Scully is also a volunteer and she describes her routine during her home visits.
"We read story books together, and we play lots of games that encouraged oral language, and pre-reading skills and uhm, Quaishril has a number of brothers and sisters so it's fun actually. So it's a fun time. I leave it to them, which activity or games which they like to choose to play. I bring a selection of picture books and they choose whichever one they like to read. And we just have a very informal visit down in the lounge together and have a little session."
Georgina says there's no communication problem with her charge.
"Noi, no problems at all. I think they can understand me and I've pointed out them if they having any problems just to ask me to repeat or I am sure that mom and dad will let me know if I am not clear, if any slang that I am using they are not familiar with and mom and dad speaks wonderful English so we have no problems there!"
Having a non-Malay volunteer has secondary benefits.
Not only the child gets educated, but the adults learn as well.
The adults learn about cross-cultural communications, and tensions or misunderstanding may be scattered when the parents and volunteers are working hand-in-hand to teach the children.
Dr Yaacob again.
"They become role models for the children. And the kind of role model that we can bring may not be from our own cultural base. It can be from the Chinese community, expatriate community and what have you. That's a wonderful opportunity so I don't think integration is our ultimate objective but it's an important by products in the process."
But with expatriate volunteers like Georgina Scully and the use of English books, is there a threat of the Malay students imbibing a foreign culture?
Outgoing Minister for Muslim Affairs doesn't think there's such a threat.
"I am less worried about that one then the ability to read. Because if you are able to read and received knowledge, there'll come a time where you'll be more discerning about what you read. Through books you gain knowledge, you gain depths, you gain all sorts of perception of things. So I would be less worried that you are influenced or imbued with values or attitude which are quite foreign to you, you know. Because if you start from that premise, then you confine your knowledge, you confined your readings to those which don't go at odds with your own traditions then you do not learn beyond the confines of your own culture."
A happy parent, Mdm Noryati, is very happy that she has the services of Georgina Scully.
Mdm Noryati
"I feel very proud having a volunteer like Ms Aisyah because after she come to my house, they started to enjoy reading more you see? Brothers and sisters get along. They enjoy getting together playing games like what Ms Aisyah taught them, yes."
So pick yourself up and volunteer for the Mendaki's reading programme.
Interested, Mendaki's Sharifah provides the information.
"The more we recruit the more we will train. So spread the word, around to your friends, to call us at Mendaki. The number is 245-5728. The main line is 2455766."
Sally forth and spread the word on each of your individual grape vine.
You are not just helping a young child but also yourself in understanding and making friends across communal boundaries.
This is Chong Ching Liang for Newsradio 938.
Related Websites:
Newsradio938
http://newsradio.mediacorpradio.com/
MENDAKI
http://www.mendaki.org.sg
posted by CHONG Ching-liang | 5:52 PM
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