Pearly Starfish
Quality Education
SK Dato’ Harun 1 is a school situated in Petaling Jaya. There are urban poor learners, some who are orphans, who attend the school amongst the rich PJ community. These students have low confidence, lack English proficiency and communication skills as well as digital 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, even though they have untapped potentials. Thus, Dr Adelina, our head of project, has created Pearl4PJ, a project that aims to help these students 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 to assist with the education of these children. The mosque is Masjid Jumhuriyah, Petaling Jaya. The project was provided with a comfortable hall to conduct lessons. Learners explored the art of English language through readers’ theatre, puppetry, games, plays, storytelling and many more. Nevertheless, post pandemic, the volunteers realized that there is a need to add to the skills that were lacking among these urban poor learners. They were digitally illiterate and while learners around the nation worked on improving digital skills for online and hybrid learning, these poor learners are not able to function with basic digital skills. To add to the necessary skills, the volunteer-teachers started creating activities that marry both English language and digital skills for these poor learners. They often struggle with using the projector that is provided in the mosque. They frequently had to ask the mosque supervisors to set up the projector which is extremely time-consuming and inefficient. In addition, the speaker is non-functional and volunteer-teachers had to use two devices at the same time to ensure the audio is audible. Moreover, when exposing learners to digital literacy, these learners had to share the teachers’ ipad and were unable to fully experience learning at its best. This is where the extended project comes in. Pearly Starfish is an extension of the Pearl4PJ Project, aiming to help these students’ learning needs by exposing them to digital literacy. We believe by helping the students to engage with digital technologies, we are able to provide quality education to the students while increasing their interest in learning English. Thus, having good tools to aid their learning is pertinent to achieve the targeted goals for the students.
Overview of Issue / Background
SK Dato’ Harun 1 is a school situated in Petaling Jaya. There are urban poor learners, some who are orphans, who attend the school amongst the rich PJ community. These students have low confidence, lack English proficiency and communication skills as well as digital 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, even though they have untapped potentials. Thus, Dr Adelina, our head of project, has created Pearl4PJ, a project that aims to help these students 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 to assist with the education of these children. The mosque is Masjid Jumhuriyah, Petaling Jaya. The project was provided with a comfortable hall to conduct lessons. Learners explored the art of English language through readers’ theatre, puppetry, games, plays, storytelling and many more. Nevertheless, post pandemic, the volunteers realized that there is a need to add to the skills that were lacking among these urban poor learners. They were digitally illiterate and while learners around the nation worked on improving digital skills for online and hybrid learning, these poor learners are not able to function with basic digital skills.
To add to the necessary skills, the volunteer-teachers started creating activities that marry both English language and digital skills for these poor learners. They often struggle with using the projector that is provided in the mosque. They frequently had to ask the mosque supervisors to set up the projector which is extremely time-consuming and inefficient. In addition, the speaker is non-functional and volunteer-teachers had to use two devices at the same time to ensure the audio is audible. Moreover, when exposing learners to digital literacy, these learners had to share the teachers’ ipad and were unable to fully experience learning at its best. This is where the extended project comes in.
Pearly Starfish is an extension of the Pearl4PJ Project, aiming to help these students’ learning needs by exposing them to digital literacy. We believe by helping the students to engage with digital technologies, we are able to provide quality education to the students while increasing their interest in learning English. Thus, having good tools to aid their learning is pertinent to achieve the targeted goals for the students.
Project Objectives (Vision & Mission)
Pearly Starfish aims to develop English Language Acquisition among urban poor learners in Petaling Jaya through exposure to digital literacy. It strives to improve learners’ self-confidence, motivation and interest in learning English language within a safe space through game-, story-, and resources that can be attained by engaging with digital technologies.
Project Details (Activities and Tasks)
Supervisor : Associate Professor Dr Adelina Asmawi
No. of Volunteer-Instructor: 3
- Hafizah Nazirah Pirdaus (018-2891084) - Leader
- Naqib Al Hussaini bin Nor Anuar (011-51244977)
- Afif Anaqin bin Farez (019-2929935)
Google Drive Link to our weekly lesson plans and documentations:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11SvQi7_aY875yVXii3BYAE0REtbBgyqO
Physical Lessons
Thisproject will be ongoing until the month of December 2022.
Every Saturday, students will undergo lessons to improve their speaking, listening, writing and reading skills. They will be using the tablets provided to search for resources and use different kinds of apps to expose them to digital literacy. The lessons will be focusing mainly on the students’ interest and communication skills while using technology as a means to improve their acquisition.
Apps such as Pinterest, Canva, Youtube, Google, and Instagram will be downloaded onto each tablet and will be used in every lesson. The students will be sharing the tablets to search for the resources they need together. The volunteers will act as both teachers and facilitators to assist the students.
Alternative: Online Lessons
Online lessons will only be done if the covid 19 cases are too high. The students will attend the lessons via Google Meet platform. Their parents will be alerted to help the students during their lessons. The lessons will be adjusted accordingly to ensure the students will be able to receive quality education despite it being done virtually.
Expected Project Result & Outcomes
Learners are expected to be able to
- Use apps such as Youtube, Google, Canva, Pinterest, Instagram, and Google Drive to search for resources.
- Use digital gadgets for studying purposes.
- Students are able to create digital solutions through the use of information they have received from the internet.
- Produce simple connected online text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest.
- Describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans using apps such as tik tok and reels.
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Hafizah Nazirah2 years agoRM 50.00 -
Akma Syamimi2 years agoRM 2.00
-
Pirdaus Ismail2 years agoRM 1,948.00
-
Izzatul Kamilah2 years agoRM 5.00
103% of RM2,000.00 Goal
Project Information
| University name | : | Universiti Malaya (UM) |
| Project leader name | : | Hafizah Nazirah Pirdaus |
| Instagram link | : | https://www.instagram.com/pearl.project_/ |
| Project implementation date | : | 2022-02-12 |
| Location of project held | : | Dewan Rahmat, Masjid Jumhuriyah, Petaling Jaya, Selangor |
| Beneficiary | : | The urban poor learners and orphans from SK Dato Harun 1, Petaling Jaya. |
| Number of beneficiaries | : | 22 |
Section I
Section I
Project Goals
Pearly Starfish aims to develop English Language Acquisition among urban poor learners in Petaling Jaya through exposure to digital literacy. It strives to improve learners’ self-confidence, motivation and interest in learning English language within a safe space through game-, story-, and resources that can be attained by engaging with digital technologies.
Fundraising support & Other external sponsorship
- Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya
- Masjid Jumhuriyah, Petaling Jaya
Project Implementation
SK Dato’ Harun 1 is a school situated in Petaling Jaya. There are urban poor learners, some who are orphans, who attend the school amongst the rich PJ community. These students have low confidence, lack English proficiency and communication skills as well as digital skills.
Due to these issues, they function a few levels below their peers when asked to engage in English, even though they have untapped potential. Thus, Dr Adelina, our head of project, has created Pearl4PJ, a project that aims to help these students 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 project was provided with a comfortable hall to conduct lessons. Learners explored the art of English language through readers’ theater, puppetry, games, plays, storytelling and many more. Nevertheless, post pandemic, the volunteers realized that there is a need to add to the skills that were lacking among these urban poor learners. They were digitally illiterate and while learners around the nation worked on improving digital skills for online and hybrid learning, these poor learners are not able to function with basic digital skills. To add to the necessary skills, the volunteer-teachers started creating activities that marry both English language and digital skills for these poor learners. With the help of My Starfish Foundation, we were able to secure 10 used laptops along with a projector and speaker for the students to use.
Pearly Starfish is an extension of the Pearl4PJ Project, aiming to help these students’ learning needs by exposing them to digital literacy. We believe by helping the students to engage with digital technologies, we are able to provide quality education to the students while increasing their interest in learning English.
Difficulties
There was a little miscommunication that happened during the process of getting the 10 used laptops. However, after much clarification, we were able to secure the laptops and used them in the lesson. At first, the students were a little awkward as they have never used a laptop before. But after a few weeks, they managed to utilize all the basic features in the laptop for their lesson such as creating emails, using Canva, and searching up for information.
In addition, there were also some issues we are faced to obtain the projector and speaker. The vendor was taking too long to respond and our supervisor had been constantly pushing the department to update us regarding the status of the vendors. Luckily we got it secured after a month.
In terms of difficulties faced by the teachers, they struggled to travel to the mosque as all of them were students with no transportation and there were nearby public transportation. Thus, it was costly as they would have to travel by Grab every Saturday.
Language or cultural barriers
We had a good engagement with the Mosque staffs who provided us a very comfortable hall. There were no language or cultural barriers between the students and teachers as all of the students are from Malay Household, same as the teacher-volunteers. They were able to communicate properly and sometimes used code-switching to ensure the students understood the instructions clearly.
Project Implementation Process
The implementation of the project was successful due to the strong foundation the teacher-volunteers have in assisting the students. Dr Adelina ensured that each teacher-volunteer is equipped with enough knowledge and training when writing the lesson plans for the project. As a result, all of the students thoroughly enjoyed the lesson and improved both their English language acquisition and digital literacy. Due to our role as teachers, we constantly need to revise our lesson plans and make time to discuss how we can improve our ways of teaching. There were some difficulties as we needed to adjust along with our busy schedule at the university. However, the process taught us to be more resilient and patient, and the outcome was worth all the time we spent. We learnt and experienced so many things including on how to negotiate properly with organizations such as My Starfish Foundation, how to organize the meetings to discuss our lesson plans, and learning on how to work as a team. Overall, it helped improve our experience as educators.
Some of the things that did not work well was the time to get the projector and speaker. We had limited resources and everything must go through our university first. Thus, we waited for quite a while to get their responses, even with the help of our supervisor. It was also difficult for us to secure the vendor for our projector and speaker. But fortunately we were able to secure the projector and speaker.
Beneficiaries
Over 30 people benefitted from our project including the students, teachers, mosque staff, the university due to the public exposure we gain throughout the implementation. As a result, our project was scouted by Yayasan Amal, a foundation to help the needy ones. They have decided to sponsor the project so it may continue in 2023.
Long-term impact and sustainability
The project is very sustainable. The Pearl Project has been around since 2018. Pearl4PJ is the third project under the Pearl Project founded by AP Dr Adelina Asmawi. The first Pearl Project was done in Mutiara Damansara and the 2nd one, Pearl 2.0 is still ongoing in Lembah Subang. The project has managed to create a sustainable framework for the professional development of volunteer teachers of urban poor communities that helped build a strong foundation for the next in-line projects such as Pearl4PJ. Pearly Starfish will be an extension under Pearl4PJ that begun in Kampung Dato’ Harun in Petaling Jaya.
Since Pearly Starfish will be focusing mainly on the students’ digital literacy to help their English Acquisition, the laptops, projector and speaker will be sustainable to be used in the long-term as future projects of Pearl will have proper activity plans supervised by our professor. The learning has promising outcomes where learners will be able to utilize the laptops, projector and speaker at its best to fulfill their language learning needs.
Pearl4PJ and Pearly Starfish will be one of the many projects of the Pearl Projects in the future. The sponsored laptops, projector, and speaker will be put into good use for future projects. After Pearl4PJ is done, the laptops, projector and the speaker will be kept by our supervisor, AP Dr Adelina Asmawi in University Malaya.
Section II
Section II (a)
How does or will your project contribute to happiness? Short-term? Long-term?
Pearly Starfish aims to develop English Language Acquisition among urban poor learners in Petaling Jaya through exposure to digital literacy. It strives to improve learners’ self-confidence, motivation and interest in learning English language within a safe space through game-, story-, and resources that can be attained by engaging with digital technologies.
In the short-term, the students are able to require basic English acquisition and digital literacy compared to when they first joined the project. They used to perceive English as a subject that is scary and feels extremely unmotivated to improve their knowledge in the language. However, through learning English with games and other methods they do not usually do in their school, it enables us to nurture their interest in learning and change how they view the subject.
In the long-term, we are able to strengthen our foundation as a team. Pearl Project will reach more communities and with the help of My Starfish Foundation, the laptops, projector and speaker will be used in the years to come by different students, and new teacher-volunteers. The current ones will have their experience as a value to them and will continue to use what they have learnt in other aspects of their future.
Has your project changed the way you think about the world? How has it changed you?
“At first, I had some doubts. Not just for the project but doubts about myself. I was scared especially when Dr Adelina entrusted me to lead the project and guide the volunteers. I was only in my second year at the time. I never practiced any of the lessons I learnt in my course and this project was my first experience. It really changed me. Not just how I view the world, but my personal goals. I enjoyed teaching the students so much and always looked forward to meeting them. It was truly an invaluable experience when you see the students who were once timid and afraid, now so confident and brave, even when they made a mistake. I think my students’ smiles and laughs were my rewards to keep going.” - Teacher Hafizah
“The project is very versatile. I didn’t feel any pressure as I really enjoyed my time with the kids along with Hafizah and Naqib. Since we need to do our own lesson plans, I experienced all the satisfying and frustrating moments of conjuring one. Yes, we had our ups and downs but in the end it was all worth it.” - Teacher Afif
“On a serious note, before I joined the project I was focusing solely on how this would be a long-term commitment and it would be a burden as I have to adjust my time along with all the piling assignments. But after a while, it became a fun experience and I looked forward to see the kids every Saturday. Sounds cliche but they became my reason to wake up on a Saturday morning. We also gained lots of opportunities to connect with people.” - Teacher Naqib
Section II (b)
“I learnt the most important thing is to have patience and stay resilient. This project was valuable because it changed how I am as a teacher and how my students are. Even if it only sparked a tiny part of them to learn, it was more than worth it.” - Teacher Hafizah
Section III
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