KUCHING: iM Sarawak hosted a workshop for teachers and parents from Padawan District at the Riverside Majestic Hotel in Kuching recently.
The workshop, a pilot project that complements iM Sarawak’s School Adoption Programme, aims to help teachers and parents cultivate the reading habit amongst their students and children more effectively.
“The iM Sarawak School Adoption Programme is one of our cornerstone projects and is conducted in collaboration with the State Education Department,” said 1Malaysia Sarawak Advisory Council chairman Datuk Joseph Salang in a press release.
“We hope that teachers who attended the workshop will be able to better utilise the resources we have provided to their libraries and that parents will feel more comfortable in encouraging their children to read at home,” said Salang.
To date, iM Sarawak has adopted over 1,000 schools throughout the state, including schools in Padawan. Under this programme it has improved the schools’ libraries by providing story books, revision books and educational literature.
The workshop which was conducted by Dr Justina Tan, a lecturer at the National Institute of Education Singapore, was attended by 30 teachers and 30 parents including several staff of Padawan District Education Office.
“This workshop was very beneficial as it gave us a new perspective on conducting reading activities in class,” said Padawan Deputy District Education officer Chong Choi Ling.
“I hope the teachers who have participated will realise that through reading they are bringing a bigger world and a wider horizon to their students,” she said.
Teachers were shown how to use teaching tools, teaching aids and various teaching strategies such as lesson plans, games and pre and post reading activities.
“This was a very good workshop for us as educators,” said SK St Paul Bunuk teacher Jula Naseh.
“One of the things we really focused on was critical thinking. Dr Justina showed us how to plan lessons that would help students read critically instead of just reading for comprehension,” she concluded.
The parents who attended the workshop also felt that they had benefited.
“Through this workshop I was able to learn many ways of teaching my children to read. I have also learnt how to choose books that are suitable for their age. This should help my kids to enjoy reading a lot more from now on,” said Pirin Decem Sipen, one of the parents who attended the workshop.
- Borneo Post Online
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