The ABCs of Life

It has been a really hectic week … or rather month! Due to Raya celebration and SMS’ launch, I had time off from school for every Saturday in October. But I’m teaching at home twice a week now and I’m trying to prepare materials for teaching my babies at home and at SMS and that made very little difference in having my normal Saturdays back. Fatigue; that’s what I’m feeling and time-management; that’s what I really need.

Anyway, we had an official launch of the school last Saturday, officiated by Datuk Shafie Apdal who was kind enough to lend us a hand with a great sum of monetary support. It came out in the news; in Utusan and also about a minute or so clip on national news and that’s on Malaysian tele of course! It’s great to know that there are people concerned about what we’re doing here in Southampton or in the UK, for the Malaysians, but it’s disappointing to also understand that help won’t just come without any compensation. Tit for tat.

I’m always proud to be a part of SMS but not any movie filmed for the purpose of highlighting others on the effort of others. Whether we’ve misunderstood the facts or some people just made some twist, trying to make it faketual. Real, but not true.

Well, enough said about those unpleasant things. What’s done can’t never be undone. The students did a good job performing for that day though we had very little practice due to a really short notice. All of them sang Negaraku and Jalur Gemilang with the audience and later Iffa and Fatin performed Pantun. The double Haziqs, Aisyah and Emira recited two Malay poems and Aimi played a nice tune with her recorder. I didn’t get to see all the performance then, but I was happy seeing them do so during rehearsal.

For your information, Sekolah Malaysia Southampton (Malaysian School Southampton) has been operating since June 2007 with 42 students coming from Malaysian families currently living in Southampton (parents might be students and also workers). It was a great effort founded by Prof. Madya Dr. Abd Samad Nawi whom recently graduated (PhD) from Southampton University, supported and funded by Southampton’s City Council and all Malaysian families here. SMS’ main objective is to educate the younger generation about their roots; religion and culture by stressing on the knowledge of Fardhu ‘Ain and also teaching Malay language as a complementary subject. Teachers and administrators of the school are mostly postgraduate students studying for Masters or PhD. And of course some of them are just like me; a housewife or a househusband whom most people think has the least to do in life … huhuhu.

I should be off to sleep now, we need to leave early for London tomorrow to get Fidaa’s passport done. That’s all folks, sleep tight fi hifzillah :).

Subhanallah walhamdulillah, it has been three weeks since the 1st class started. We had three classes so far and I’ll say students’ attendance and parents’ support have been great! As promised, I’d jot down some of the lessons I’ve taught for Group 1 (aged 4-6) in two weeks time.

p/s: I didn’t handle Group 1 last Saturday because I needed to substitute Wan teaching Malay Language for Group 2 and 3 and Kak Yati is back in Soton to “look after” those energetic beings. It was a good “change”, a short relief. It was easier in the sense that I needed less energy to teach the older kids. With Group 1, you need all the energy and voice you have, with the correct tone and “pitching” and also attractive activities to “keep” them learning. If you’re not really prepared, you’ll be surprised to see them “everywhere” at a blink of an eye!

Week 1:
Objective - Ice Breaking (Introducing school, friends and Malay language), Etiquettes of a Muslim

Methodology : Circle Time & Activities (30 mins)
- Begins with “Bismillah”. Teacher greets students, welcome them to class. Ask them about their activities before coming to school; did they brush their teeth in morning, had breakfast, etc.
- Introducing oneself. Begins with “Assalamu’alaikum”, “My name is …”, “I am _ year old”. Teacher introduce herself and ask each and every student to do the same.
- Teacher tells how and when to give Salam and reply, the importance of starting a job with bismillah and ending them with alhamdulillah.
- Chat about school, remind them about next class. End with du’a.

Activities:
- Story telling
- Songs: Pok amai-amai, Alif Ba Taa
- Labelling folders with students’ names

Week 2:
[Islam] Objective - Revision & Knowing Allah

Methodology:
Circle Time and Evaluation (30 mins) - Ask students about their day before school and what they remembered from the previous class. Remind them about lessons of week 1. Introduce “Allah the Creator”, ALlah makes everything. Relate the etiquettes learnt as obedience towards the Creator.

Evaluation & Activities (30 mins):
- Teach the song “Bismillah” to help remembering last week’s lesson
- Ask children to think of what Allah creates around them, draw them. Each of them will need to show their friends and teacher what they’ve drawn.
- Teacher marks the drawing and reward stars. Return to students, teaching them to thank people upon receiving things by saying “Terima Kasih” (thank you)

[Malay] Objective - Revision & Identifying Objects

Methodology:
Circle Time - Revise how to introduce oneself in Malay. Ask them to tell stories and how do they feel about school so far.

Games & Activities :
- Teacher draws an object on the whiteboard and students will need to guess what it is in Malay.
- Sing Pok amai-amai
- Show children how to make a paper butterfly, and ask them to colour their own butterflies. Paste in notebooks.

My version of Pok Amai2
“Pok amai-amai, belalang kupu-kupu,
Belajar pandai-pandai, jadi orang berilmu”

Ok, that’s what I did. I hope I’ll make time to write on some assessment and observations for month numer uno. What do you think friends? Comments please …

Notes: All classes are conducted in Malay Language.

Saturday, 16th June 2007 was the first day of operation for Sekolah Malaysia Southampton (Malaysian School Southampton). I had butterflies in my stomach, waking up that morning for it was my first day in school and like any other kids, this first time tutor was soooo excited! I’ve been wanting to post about our 1st day at SMS since the day itself, but we were busy all weekend and the kids were not well. They’re recovering now alhamdulillah. I’m trying to make this short but InshaALlah interesting enough with some photos. Enjoy reading!

We started with a simple registration process for the children. Collecting all the forms and registration fees, checking the attendance sheet and distributing ’starter-packs’ for the lovely kids. Each and every one of them got their own Snopake folder containing the most essential tool for school; a notebook and a pencil. Alhamdulillah, many of the parents turned up with their children for our first ever debut in SMS. There about 30 students that day other than a group of concerned parents, teachers and the school’s administrative board.

Ustaz Lizam gave a short briefing for the students, reminding them about their extra day in school, a new addition to their schedule while moms and dads had tea and some titbits with the guests. He also introduced the teachers and
administrative members of the school to the children. Later, the parents joined the assembly to hear speeches from Mr. Samad (the advisor), Mr. Halim (the principal) and the guests - Dr. Sarwar Jamil, The Manager of Community Languages Services and Mr. Draper, Swaythling Primary School’s Headteacher.

(Pic 1: Registration table)

(Pic 2: Hear ye! Hear ye! Calling out names of students for class 1, aged 4-6)

(Pic 3: Getting the kids to line up properly is not as easy as it sounds :))

(Pic 4: Ustaz Lizam introducing us to the students)

After the short assembly, we went to the designated classrooms along with the children. Since there’s an event organised by Malaysian Students’ Association in the afternoon, we decided to end the class at 11.30am. I had to handle the kids aged 4-6 this week and it was a challenging one!

(Pic 5: From left; Dr. Jamil, Mr. Draper, Mr. Samad and the Principal)

(Pic 6: Do you think I’ll leave my mommy on her first day at school, alone?!! That’ll definitely be boring, people need babies for amusement! :D)

What did we do for the class last week? Till the next post says hi, ciao!

On Monday we went to the Centre of Language Services to meet Dr. Jamil, Manager of the Community Language Services in Mount Pleasant Junior School, Southampton. We were there to register ourselves and hand in our CRB (crime record bureau) forms which I do need to re-submit because I didn’t have enough proofs of address then! They should have at least stated clearly the requirements so that we’ll know what to bring. Anyway, the technical stuff didn’t take much time and fuss. The excitement came later when we sat with Dr. Jamil for what we thought was going to be a short meeting yet became a really long one.

We requested some teaching materials for the students and teachers from the centre, hence Dr. Jamil had to check the list before giving his approval and gave us a few useful tips on handling the tightly-budgeted resources. He also clarified about the training sessions that we’ll undergo later this year InshaAllah. At the moment, as he stated, we are considered ‘untrained’ until we complete the teacher’s training. One of us asked whether our MAs and PhDs will be put into consideration (most of us are tutors and lecturers studying for a further degree) and with a big smile he answered, “You can use those if you’re teaching in the university but in this country if you’re going to teach children you’ll need a special training and those degrees do not count” (to be considered trained) hehehe. We had a great laugh at that. Well it’s true. Teaching children and adults or even teens are different. They communicate differently, perceive differently and they are even naughty in really different senses huhuhu. I’m looking forward to join the training sessions as I’ve put my registration for the childcare courses on hold.

We brought back some materials from the centre. Coloured pencils and papers, scissors, tapes, exercise books, cards and so many other things. We even got a teacher’s pack each. It feels like going back to kindergarten seeing all those things, only this time we’re no longer those little cuties singing ABC hehehe.

I’m surprised to learn that the centre will be providing us with materials and help in preparing lessons. Well, that’s why we’ve been registered under the centre. We can come to the centre for advice and preparation and use the facilities there. Doesn’t that sounds nice?

A little bit of update - forgot to emphasize we’re teaching MALAY LANGUAGE.
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I’m glad I wrote about the new ‘teaching’ thing in my previous entry. Thanks to my dearest friends and family for being so supportive.

Sekolah Malaysia Southampton will begin it’s journey InshaALlah on Saturday, 16th June 2007. There will be three classes for three different age groups and I’ll be handling those aged 9-12 yrs old and 13-17 yrs old. For the first class this week, I’ll be handling the little darlings aged 4-8 yrs old, only for registration and a short introduction. But there’s a big task of preparing the syllabus and appropriate teaching materials for these little beings. Any ideas on what and how? If you have any interesting materials/suggestions on teaching kids this age (4-8yrs old), especially on Malay language and the basics of Islam and being a Muslim, please help me out. I would very much appreciate your kind advice and attention.

For your information, Sekolah Malaysia Southampton (Southampton Malaysian School) is managed by a group of parents and postgraduate students of the Malaysian community here. We’ll surely need a lot of help to materialize it’s mission and vision. So, let me hear your kind thoughts and please remember us in your prayers. May Allah help us all