KUALA BERANG: Students in the rural district of Hulu Terengganu will have a fun time learning English, with the setting up of an English theme park here.

The third such interactive learning centre in Terengganu, the Kuala Berang English Theme Park is located within the compound of SK Kuala Berang and is meant to serve 63 primary and secondary schools in Hulu Terengganu.

“It is important to make sure our students are competitive internationally,” said Mohd Zawawi Ismail, state deputy chairman of the executive committee for education after opening the theme park yesterday.

With thematic learning features such as a mini-theatre for drama activities, mini-library, a story-telling corner and an educational giant snakes and ladders game, the learning centre aims to provide an entertaining environment for the teaching of English.

The English Theme Park project is a collaboration between Exxon Mobil Subsidiaries in Malaysia and the Terengganu education department.

The first English Theme Park was built in Kemaman in 2003, and its success led to the construction of a second one in Tok Jiring, Kuala Terengganu, in 2009.

Exxon Mobil Subsidiaries in Malaysia chairman J. Hunter Farris said the more practice students have speaking English outside of the classroom or reading textbooks, the better they will become in understanding and expressing themselves in the language.

He said the facilities at the Theme Park could make a difference as they are designed to make learning and teaching of English more fun through activities like word games, reading, writing, singing, acting and story-telling.

Farris said contributing towards education in the state was one of the company's ways to give back to the Terengganu community.

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