SK Dato’ Harun 1 is a school situated in Petaling Jaya. Learners who attend the school are mostly urban poor learners, orphans, and also from the M40s in general. These learners have low confidence, lack English proficiency and communication skills. Based on our interview with their teacher, Ustaz Faizul Razali, they struggle to share their opinions and thoughts due to their surroundings that do not provide them a safe space to speak English. They feel unmotivated and shy to speak when among their friends who are more eloquent. 

Due to these issues, they function a few levels below their peers when asked to engage in English. Thus, Dr Adelina, our head of project, has created PEARL, a project that aims to help these learners improve their second language acquisition, self confidence, and love for language by providing a safe space for them to acquire the language skills. The volunteers for the project are three B Ed TESL students of Universiti Malaya who are pedagogically trained in teaching and assisting second language learners. 

Nearby, is a mosque with a nazir who is interested in assisting with the education of these children. The mosque is Masjid Jumhuriyah, Petaling Jaya. The mosque provided a comfortable hall to conduct all the lessons. Learners explore the art of the English language through readers’ theatre, puppetry, games, plays, storytelling and many more. 

Nevertheless, post-pandemic, the volunteers realised that there is a need to add to the skills that were lacking among these urban poor learners. They were financially illiterate and surrounded by adults who are equally financially illiterate as well. They lack an understanding of many financial aspects. This comprises elements such as saving, investing, budget planning, and many more. They are not able to tell the difference between needs and wants, spending and saving, and investment and wastage. Furthermore, these poor learners are also raised in households which do not emphasise the importance of spending money wisely. For instance, we discovered that the parents of these children often use their money on unnecessary things which they can barely afford. When given an imaginary budget for the learners to make choices on things they would spend on, our team found  that they would rather spend their money on things that they do not need. This further emphasised the importance of teaching financial literacy skills to young learners. This is a concern as in general more cases on youth bankruptcy have been recorded in Malaysia over the past years.

Auction-a-Pearl is an extension of the Pearl4PJ Project (MBPJ, 2021) focusing on communicative English through play, drama, poetry etc and Pearly Starfish (My Starfish Foundation, 2022), focusing on English language acquisition through digital literacy.  Auction-a-Pearl aims to help these learners understand their learning needs by exposing them to financial literacy whilst using communicative English. We believe that by helping the learners pragmatically engage with topics related to financial literacy, we are able to provide quality education to the learners while enhancing their knowledge of the English language. As delivery will be through English and using ICT, financial literacy could be potentially developed among the urban poor learners in a 21st Century setting. 
 

This project will be ongoing until the month of December 2023.

Every Saturday, learners will undergo lessons to improve their speaking, listening, writing and reading skills while also actively participating in lessons regarding financial literacy. They will be using in-class currency called Pearl Ringgit to simulate the use of money and a sense of responsibility. For instance, the Pearl Ringgit will be given to learners who participate in class activities, and those who correctly answer questions. The Ringgit can later be used to join the auctions conducted by the teachers. This helps us to observe the learners' understanding of saving and spending money wisely. The lessons will mainly focus on the learners’ interests and communication skills as well as embedding technology as a means to improve their acquisition of financial literacy.
 

Auction-a-Pearl aims to develop English language acquisition among urban poor learners in Petaling Jaya through exposure to digital and financial literacy. The triple-edged sword plan focuses on Communicative English, Digital Literacy and Financial Literacy. It is important to give the learners a solid foundation in communicative English language and digital literacy. For example, they would need to develop their vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, speaking, and listening skills to an age-appropriate level through the use of ICT. The project also embeds within the activities, fundamentals of financial literacy which are made interesting and approachable for these learners. This could entail educating them about money, setting up a budget, saving money, and making basic financial decisions.
Moreover, in the context of financial literacy, the project would place a firm emphasis on the development of money management and financial awareness. Learners would be encouraged to employ their English language abilities and digital skills to analyse financial circumstances, create basic financial plans, and address financial difficulties. Consequently, this initiative can establish sound financial values and behaviours in young children. Learners would gain knowledge about the value of saving, how to make wise financial decisions, and how to tell needs from wants. At the end of the lessons, an auction would be conducted for these learners to critically evaluate the need to purchase, how much they can use for purchase, appropriateness of the purchase, and whether it is an investment or financial risk worth taking. They would use their language skills to communicate their need for purchase too, at this auction.

Learners are expected to be able to:
Use in practice financial literacy terms in their daily life such as savings, spendings, investing, credit scores and money responsibility
Identify ways to earn and spend their money.
Produce ideas on how to protect and save their money
Identify the needs and wants in their household
Participate in auctions wisely based on their learning of wants and needs.