Week 8 & 9 : Alia's Korea-Malaysia Teacher Exchange Programme 2018

Last week,I was observed by APCEIU. I taught the students about ‘Kompang’, a Malay hand drum and how to play it. The students enjoyed the lesson. After that, they learned the song ‘lagu 3kupang’ and sang with my partner.Then,we played the kompang and the guitar whilst the student sing the song. It was a good lesson. Then, twostudents,my partner and I were interviewed by APCEIU.I was asked how did I find teaching in Hong Cheon and what do I want to bring back to Malaysia. Thisprogramme has broaden my horizon in terms of education system, especially how Hong Cheon had shown efficiency in working,not wasting time as well as team work among teachers, parents and students. They have shown me the significance of having a supportive school that allows more programme to be able to carry out smoothly and successfully. I also realise as a teacher, this programme has encouraged me to keep on bringing the world to the students in the classroom, either in HongCheon Middle school or SMK Taman Daya 2, Malaysian school. I would like to keep on exposing to the students about differences and similarities within various culture,religion and values that the world’s nation hold on to. This will provide students with bird’s eye view of the world and teaching them about understanding, appreciating and respect each other, showing to them potential and opportunities what’s out there.Besides,last week, I joined School festival and at the same time, my partner and I organized “Hong Cheon Malaysian Day”. The poster and pamphlet were prepared by Hong Cheon Middle School beautifully and professionally. Each department such as Mathematics department, Science department, technology exhibit students’ beautiful work. Parents’ Teacher Association also had a booth, selling tteoboki and other Korean snacks. There was also art booth where they paint students’ cheeks. There was also traditional games going on. We also had our 6 Malaysian friends came to Hong Cheon. Together, we set up a Malaysian booth, exhibiting a banner, Malaysian flag, banner, information on comparison between Malaysian and Korea, booklets,pamphlets,kompang,tiger,tampin, traditional clothes and Malaysian food, roti jala and Malaysian curry. I taught the students and teacher how to make roti jala and they tried to make it and eat it. Students and teachers also tried Bajumelayu and hijab. We hoped that our booth had given interesting input and view about how wonderful Malaysia is. Then, in the afternoon, we performed traditional dance, kpopdance,sanga Malay song and Kpop song whilst playing instruments. It was an amazing day to introduce our culture. We also enjoyed Korean culture by watching the students, teachers, principal and parents perform on stage. Students were playing orchestra, playing the Beethoven with the piano, singing rap song,ballade song and perform Kpop dance. At the backstage, students, parents, teachers and other performers encouraged each other and said "fighting" and congratulated each other after their performance. I also saw students performing. The orchestra was majestic. They played avengers music with avengers video on thescreen. Then there was a student who played piano beethoven perfectly. He was skillful. Then there was Korean drum performance. It was amazing. Then, there were group of students performing singing and rap song. Then there were 2 students and teacher perform kpop dance. The principal performed using sexophone and showed our pictures in the background. Then,teachers and parents also played sexaphone.It was amazing to see all of them working together, giving a great performance. From everyone’s feedback, everyone enjoyed the festival and the performance. They get to learn about Malaysian culture from our performance and booth.Seeing students’ professional performance was unbelievable. It felt like the teachers treat students like professionals and produce professional product. After the festival, the schoolhad a sports’ day. The sports were soccer ,futsaland foot volleyball. The tournaments are among classes.I also had a chance to visit Special Education class. They explained that the teacher attends to the student one at a time. A class only consists of 6 students. If the students are more, then they will create another classroom. In their timetable, they will study in special education class as well as enter normal class. They are encouraging the special students to mix witty other people. They also have their own textbook for Hangeul, English and mathematics, but the level is lower than actual grade. After that, we had a sharing session with the principal. The principal is interested in saxophone. So he created sexaphone club and invited teachers and parents into the club. They performed at school festival! The principal explained that organizing school festival, sports day and school excursion is to helpstudents to relax and explore their interest besidestudying. Next day, it is the school trip day. All classes went out for school trip base on the venue they choose with their homeroom teacher.This is an interesting programme as it widens the students’ experience as well as bonding with each other. Besides, carrying out my project plan is harder than I imagine as students were a little passive and reluctant to come out to the front and perform drama. However, I the project plan hasencouraged them to learn new vocabulary and practice reading aloud when they were practicing their lines. Some were inferior, saying they are not good in English, but encourage them to try. I had 2 presentation. I hope I will get more drama presentation next week.Based on my conversation with a teacher about the school system, I learned that it is free to enter Elementary and Middle school but students have to pay a little to enter high school. Textbooks are given free to the students, but if they lose it, they need to write a letter to get a new one. Students starts semester in March and ends in July. Then they will have summer vacation. After that, they start their second semester in August and ends in January. That will be the beginning the winter vacation. Teachers are evaluated by other teachers and students. I hope to learn more about the school system to comprehend the school culture better. Lastly, I am also grateful that I get to experience in organizing Malaysia Day in other school, that are Daeso Elementary and Seoul Technical High School and we carried out various activities such as dancing, cooking,playing instrument, trying out Malaysian outfit and accesories. I got to experience communicating with elementary and high school students and observe their school environment and culture.It was great!

Week 8

Week 9