ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø

Summer 2012's Intensive English Programme participants posing for a group photo with teachers and camp discipline masters after receiving their certificate of completion.

A study trip to the Terengganu State Museum

Participants pitching their heads together to attempt to answer the quiz on Kampung Cina.

A visit to the Rantau Abang Turtle Information Centre completes the study on environment protection and the urgent need to support conservation.

A beaming Mohammad Ali S Al-Qahtani receiving his certificate of completion from Ms Margaret Soo, Head of ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø English Academy

Kuala Terengganu, 01 August 2012 - Imagine going to a foreign country to learn English and ending up learning more than just the language itself?  Imagine going to a place called Malaysia hoping to visit its well known Twin Towers and experience all the hustles and bustles of city life in Kuala Lumpur but ending up living on a sprawling campus in tranquil Bukit Khor at Marang district?  To the thirty eight Intensive English Programme participants from Saudi Arabia, the six weeks they spent recently in the suburb of Kuala Terengganu opened the door to a unique learning experience they least expected.  They went home remembering more than the classroom rudiment of English grammar and expressions.  On their Facebook postings and in their blogs created while going through the programme, they had mentions of the friendship, love and care shown to them by senior students on campus, teachers and support staff who taught them much about life and how they wish they were back at the pristine waters of the Sekayu Waterfalls, swimming and snorkelling at Pulau Kapas where they were taught new words to describe Mother Nature and her wonders.  It is from reflection they learn that their first trip out of Saudi Arabia has opened their eyes and minds about people and places.  Learning English is but a means to a larger end ¨C that of adapting to new cultures and different ways of life.  "What good is a swift tongue backed up by an empty mind?" - remarks one of the participants who texted from his iPhone to report that he had arrived home safely.

The ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø English Academy adopts the A.R.M approach to teaching English to speakers of other languages. Using Active Learning as a starting point, students are given a broad theme such as in this case "Healthy Environment, Healthy Me" to actively engage themselves in educational visits, guest speaker sessions and group projects on recycling and up-cycling; by ¡®Reflection' they discuss, create blogs and write on how they feel about the issues introduced to them, and by modelling the skills newly acquired they made speech presentations and engaged in choral speaking to demonstrate what they have learned and how to express themselves.  The three rounds of speech presentations and blog writing contests that took place before, during and after the programme clearly demonstrates the students' progress in the six weeks. Needless to say the unique learning experience these students from Saudi Arabia had this summer is everything but dull moments.

The ÎåÒ»³Ô¹Ï¹ÙÍø English Academy expects the arrival of another group of Intensive Language Programme learners from Saudi Arabia in the September semester.