A GROUP of science students of SMK Teluk Air Tawar in Butterworth were all abuzz when their English language teacher asked them to cut out photographs of their favourite personalities from copies of The Star.
Among the personalities they chose were English football star Steven Gerrard, Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Star Wars character Yoda.
The teacher, Shakirah Md Din, then told them to list down the personalities’ positive and negative qualities, as well as suggestions to improve the negative ones.
“Use the adjectives that you have chosen to write a short essay of 350 words,” she told them during a Newspaper in Education (NiE) lesson at the school on Thursday.
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(From left) Syaidatul Syakina Salleh, Siti Khadijah Leman and Nor Hanisah Muhamad using a dictionary to find suitable adjectives. |
Student Rupan Sundrasegaran said the NiE was fun as he could use newspapers as a learning tool to better understand the language.
Siti Khadijah Leman said she found The Star interesting to read as the language was simple and easy to understand.
Earlier, State Youth, Sports, Women, Family and Community Development Committee chairman Datuk Jahara Hamid said students must not feel shy to converse in English as it would help them improve their proficiency.
“Reading the newspapers is another good way of widening your vocabulary and improving your reading skills,” she said.
Jahara, who is also Teluk Air Tawar assemblyman, is sponsoring 4,500 copies of The Star for the school as well as for SK Permatang Binjai on every Wednesday between July and December.
