Preamble
On the 5th of March, thirteen students from the School of Education, UNMC visited the English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC), Ministry of Education and Epsom College in Malaysia (ECiM) which are both located in Bandar Enstek, Negeri Sembilan. The educational visit was organised by the TESOL Methodology module convener, Dr R. Sivabala Naidu with the hope that the trip will serve to bridge the theories learnt in class with actual practice in the real world. More specifically, the objectives of the trip were to provide us with information and knowledge on in-service professional development courses offered at ELTC and gain an insider’s view on the working culture and the approaches used by language teachers in ECiM.
Experience @ ELTC
As soon as we arrived at ELTC, we were given a comprehensive overview of the various programmes in the centre by five lecturers at the ELTC gallery. We also had the opportunity to experiment with some technology that enhances the teaching of English such as the use of Kinect to play language games and Apple TV to improve listening and speaking skills. We also visited the ELTC library which is a treasure trove of English language teaching and learning resources – from newspaper clippings on English language education to an extensive collection of ELT-related thesis and dissertations. We were also invited to become members of the library which will provide us with access to the myriad of resources available here. The climax of the trip was a talk by Dr S. Jayanti who gave us an inspiring lecture on how we can incorporate Information and Communication Technology in the English language classroom. Part of the interactive lecture included tips on how we can use blogs, wikis, podcasts, hyperlinks, and so on in language lessons. Overall, the visit to ELTC was an apt reminder to us on the importance constantly evolving to adapt to changes. More importantly, it served as an eye-opener on how different forms of technology can be used creatively in the language classroom.
Experience @ ECiM
After out visit to ELTC, we headed to ECiM, a state-of-the-art international school that was established in September 2014, the first Epsom College’s branch outside the United Kingdom. Epsom offers both boarding and day school opportunities and utilises the British National Curriculum, giving importance to the holistic development of the students. Other than going on a tour around the school which features excellent learning facilities, we had the golden opportunity to observe French language lessons which was basically intended to serve as a reflection on the TESOL methodologies that we had learnt in our own classes. More importantly, the observation gave us some inkling on actual classroom practices on the teaching of a foreign language to learners. Overall, the visit to ECiM exposed us to a new-kind of teaching environment. In essence, the visit to the college gave us the opportunity to observe how a prestigious international school operates, as well as how the teachers approach language lessons. On the whole, we were extremely impressed by the various facilities available and the working culture of the teachers who were visibly passionate about their mission to create a conducive learning environment for the holistic development of their students. This will definitely shape our own teaching philosophy and beliefs in the future.
Reported by: Phoebe Yong Suyi and How Wei Ping
Posted on 24th March 2015