A day in SMJK Yoke Kuan Sekinchan on 10 April 2015

A Motivation Talk 

On the first day in Sekinchan, we woke up early in the morning to get prepared to give a motivation talk in SMJK Yoke Kuan. All of us wore the same T-shirt so that we looked uniform and at the same time to show the bonding between Mechanical Engineering students. We departed from one of our members’ house at 8.30 am so that we had enough time to discuss with the Headmaster of SMJK Yoke Kuan about the talk we were going to give. We had prepared a slide show on the day before we went to SMJK Yoke Kuan.

We arrived at the school at around 8.45am. We were led by a teacher to a meeting room where we were going to give our talk. Two Form 5 classes were selected to involve in this talk. 

After setting up all the laptop, we began our talk. The topic of our talk is “Which way to go after SPM”. We started our talk by questioning the Form 5 students about their thought of their future and also their ambitions. We found out that most of the students never think about what to do in their future just like what we did before. However, we know how important it is for secondary school students to have the knowledge on the pathway to higher educational institutes. Hence, we were there to provide them some information on it and hope that they can start planning for their future from now.

We had introduced and explained to them some ways to go after SPM such as A-levels, STPM, Matriculation and others. Since our group members were from both STPM and Matriculation, we also talked about how we went through our foundation studies. Besides, some of the members who are from Matriculations shared their experiences in the one year of Matriculation which is very different from the life at home to give those who are interested to go for Matriculation a preview. Of course, we talked about how to apply for Matriculation as well as university to give them a vision about that.

After that, we also shared our method to study and also gave them some advices for the preparation for their coming SPM papers. The students enjoyed this talk and some of them had jotted down what we had spoken. Then, they had given chance to ask us questions about university stuff as well as matriculation and STPM lives. We can see how interested they were when they questioned about university life. We were relieved as our talk was not boring to them. The talk ended at 1.00pm and we took some group photos with the students to mark the end of our talk.

Decoration for 21^st century learning classroom

We had a simple lunch at a restaurant and the food was nice.

After our lunch, we went back to SMJK Yoke Kuan as we were assigned to help one of the Form 2 classes to decorate their classroom. According to our interview with one of the deputy headmaster, the class chosen is actually one of the classes that involved in the project PPD Sabak Bernam. This concept of this project is “21^st century learning classroom” and the teaching & learning progress is fully focused on the students. Through this project, the teaching & learning process will be conducted in group work, which means that the students will study in a group, brainstorm and discuss about the topic given by the teacher while the teachers will only assist them at a side. The questions given by the teacher have no correct answers and this can help the students to think outside the box and unleash their creativities. This project also emphasizes the high level thinking skill (KBAT-Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi) and the students are encouraged to present their idea through iThink mind map. After that, the students are required to present their topic in the class.

 Besides that, E-learning also introduced in SMJK Yoke Kuan through this project. This is to help the students to have a better understanding by the help of the IT devices. Although the government had provided 82 netbooks to the school, but there are still lack of some devices such as LCD, projector and speakers to set up the e-learning. Hence, the netbooks provided only can use in the computer laboratory but no in the classroom. As a consequences, the effectiveness of the e-learning will drop down. Hence, the school authorities were tried to request for more sponsors of IT devices from the government to reach the objectives of the e-learning.

Furthermore, the environment of the classroom also one of the important issues in this project PPD to make a successful changes from the old teaching and learning style. The environment of the classroom should be joyful and conducive for study. Hence, the teacher requested us to help the Form 2 class to decorate their classroom.

The materials had prepared by the teacher and we had been told about the concept and what to do for the decoration of the classroom. First, we helped and taught the students to decorate their table by using the colourful wrapping papers and also the transparent plastic to cover the graffiti on the table. We had communicated with the students while helping them to understand more about their and also their thought about this program. We realized that most of them can enjoy their learning process more in this program.

Besides, we also decorated the walls of the classroom as well as the notice boards. The walls were decorated by using the colour papers and a quote was written on the paper to inspire and motivate those students.

“Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.”

The notice board also decorated by our creativities. The notice board was then pasted with the notes of their subject and also the guides to do the iThink mind map. A study corner was prepared for them to read book during their free time so that they can gain extra knowledge besides from the learning process in classroom. The students can exchange their books among each other so that everyone can have the chance to read more and learn more.

Since this class is chosen to run under the Project PPD, the students from this class are comprised of 3 different races and their academic performances are at moderate level so that they can see their improvement through this program. Despite their different mother tongues, beliefs and religions, they are able to mix well with each other as a family. This is indeed a very important element in our multiracial country.

According to the interview with the deputy headmaster, the positive feedback was achieved from the previous Form 1 class which is currently the Form 2 class. The students of the class had changed from a passive behavior to a more active one and they have the courage to ask question during class. Besides, the overall result of the class also had improved. The school authorities hope that can run this project in more classes in the future.

At 5.30pm, we had done our decoration and the class is now more conducive for study and also with a joyful environment.

We had an interview session with the deputy headmaster after that. She told us more information about this project. Besides, we also exchanged experience on our university life and the deputy headmaster gave us some advices in studies. We enjoyed this interview session very much as we gained a lot from it.

Spending time in Yoke Kuan Secondary School recalls all the memories we had in our own secondary schools. Although all of us are from different places, but because of one same goal, we are all here in University of Malaya and are able to work in a team to engage to the society. How blessed are we. Helping in decorating the classroom to provide a joyful and conducive environment for the students is something that cannot be done without the love and care for our juniors. We really do hope that with this project can help these students to excel not only in academics but also their cognitive development.

Seeing all the students reminds us of ourselves in our secondary schools. We were once ignorant and had no idea what to do after our SPM too. However, we are now standing in front of these students giving them advises on their way after SPM and sharing our experiences with them. How nostalgic. What we did might seem effortless to the others but we do believe that someday, these students will grow up as the future of our country.