Developing PPR kids’ English skills through song and games

Children from Taman Putra Damai PPR participating in the CLASS Programme to improve their English under Sime Darby Property’s volunteer programme.

OVER 80 children of Taman Putra Damai People’s Housing Project (PPR) participated in a Children Learn English and Speaking Skills (CLASS) programme to improve their English.

Loud cheers, singalongs, and shouts of excitement filled the community hall in Lembah Subang 1 during the final installment of the programme.

The four-week event was an educational initiative under the Sime Darby Property Volunteer Programme, which aims to provide free English lessons to underprivileged children of Taman Putra Damai PPR and help them develop the ability and confidence to communicate better in English.

With guidance from non-governmental organisatons (NGOs) Persatuan Pemuda Gema Malaysia and Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia, 12 Sime Darby Property volunteers spent their Saturdays coaching the children aged seven to 12 years, on how to express their feelings and respond to basic greetings and questions in English.

Sime Darby Property acting group chief executive officer Datuk Wan Hashimi Albakri Wan Ahmad Amin Jaffri said he was proud to see employees do their part to give back to the community, and praised efforts by the NGOs to adopt fun ways to teach English to the children.

“There is a saying that goes, ‘if a child cannot learn in the way we teach, we must teach in a way the child can learn’.

“By using songs and games, we can engage with them and make learning English fun.

“It is a widely spoken language but learning it may not be easy to people whose mother tongue is not English.

“That is why it is important that children are taught how to speak, read and write in English from young, so they can use the language confidently in their daily lives, ” he added.

He thanked the NGOs for allowing Sime Darby Property volunteers to experience and learn for themselves how to interact with and educate children, and hoped that more volunteers would continue to take part in community programmes, especially those within Sime Darby Property townships.

To show appreciation to the

children, two participants from each group were given the Best Student award, and one deserving group was awarded the Best Group title.

Before ending the session, the children were also engaged in a conversation on safe touching and understanding feelings, led by Salwa Mustafa Din from non-profit organisation Malaysians Against Pornography.