English Teaching Assistants (ETA) Official School Visit

Date      : 30 th Jan 2012
Venue    : Sri Tasek Hall, SMK Tasek Utara, Johor Bahru, Johor.

Howdy folks! Few weeks ago, my school welcomed 17 English Teaching Assistants (ETA) alongside their mentors and officers from the Ministry of Education, Johor Education Department and Johor Bahru Education Office. The ETAs are from USA and they are Fullbright Scholars. Basically, Fullbright Programme is the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program which have been successfully carried out for 6 years in Malaysia. The ETAs come from various universities in the US and represent a wide variety of major fields. They would be placed in various primary and secondary schools in Johor for 10 months and assist the school in improving the English Language proficiency among the students. Way cool huh? The Johor ETAs visited two schools that day. For primary school, they went to SK Bandar Baru Uda 2 and few hours later, they went to SMK Tasek Utara!

Albeit the lack of time in preparing for the visit, I count my blessing that I could bank on my Student Leaders Board & MPPU to assist me in preparing for the official visit. They took charge of the programme from A-Z, with minimal facilitation from the teachers. My principal, Pn. Hajah Zainab assured us that we can pull this off smoothly and alhamdulillah, we did. My English Language teachers are amazing too as they gave their best in making sure the programme is a success. The delegation were welcomed by the principal, Pn. Hjh. Zainab Ali and later on, I briefed them on the English Language programmes conducted in my school. They were informed on the internationalisation programmes, excursions and projects carried out by the Student Leaders Board & MPPU too. Next, Francis, Mujahid and Ambrose gave their speeches on their experiences being student leaders in SMKTU. Good job boys :) The ETAs went to several classes to check out the English Language lessons conducted by the teachers. They went to Kak Izlin's, Kak Nida's, Hanim's and Wani's and based on the feedbacks, they felt that the lessons were well-executed and the students were attentive...hmm ;)  Gosh, all the hard work paid off!

Before they went back to their hotel, some of the ETAs were given the honour to plant a tree in front of the counselling room. Thanks Ali for his effort in finding the seedling ! We felt this is an apt ceremony as it symbolises the nurturing of friendship and goodwill between two countries. As we inculcate the love towards nature and green living among our students, we believe that the tree would be a good reminder on how we should give back to others, be it via education, social works or environmental conservation.

The Johor's ETAs delegation with SMKTU's reps. I sincerely hope that all of you would enjoy your stay in Johor and have fun in teaching the Malaysian students. Seize the opportunity to visit all the magnificent places in Johor and try out the local delicacies ;) Thank you for putting smiles on my students' face. They really enjoy your visit albeit a brief encounter. Thank you to Mr. Shan, Mr. Rozlan, Ms. Ruzana and Mr. Vijayan for coming to our humble school too. We gave our best and we hope that the ETA programme would be a success, Insya Allah :)