Lauren Chow, 32, and Bethany Greenbaum, 31, who are from Boston, said their five-day vacation became especially meaningful after being invited to share their experiences with primary-age pupils during the English Camp With Keda Community programme held in the village.
“I’m very happy to be part of this camp and excited by how friendly the children are. They’re not afraid of outsiders,” Chow said when met during the programme last Friday.
Chow, who speaks Malay, shared that she has been to Kedah before, and expressed her delight at returning to contribute to a programme aimed at boosting rural children’s confidence in the English language.
“I taught English at SMK Tunku Bendahara in Kodiang for two years, from 2015 to 2016, and found that students in rural areas are indeed very hardworking and brave,” she added.
Greenbaum also expressed her joy at seeing the children working hard to build confidence and communicate in a language other than their mother tongue.
“This is the first programme of its kind that I have participated in. It is very interesting, and I can see the enthusiasm of these children learning in a joyful environment,” she said.
Chow and Greenbaum are currently based in Indonesia, where they teach English tuition classes.
Meanwhile, programme coordinator Ku Nur Azatul Fatihah Ku Ariffin said the camp was a local initiative aimed at exposing primary school pupils to an international language in a fun and engaging way.
“We did not receive any sponsorship; we just organised this camp for free for the Keda community. The facilitators are volunteers from the village, as well as several university students.
“We truly hope programmes like this can continue in future, and we warmly welcome any support to help sustain our efforts in improving rural students’ academic performance,” she said.
Ku Nur Azatul also shared that night classes for pupils are being run by volunteers, and so far, the feedback from parents has been very encouraging as their children have shown noticeable improvement in school.