Archive for the ‘Extra-curricular Activities’ Category
10 June 2010
Homeschool Co-op celebrates Teachers’ Day
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Extra-curricular Activities.
FRONTIER LEARNING CENTRE (FLC)- that’s what the homeschool co-op is called. Started by several homeschooling moms, it was set up to help our teens prepare for their O Levels. It’s a simple informal set-up (fee-based) and from what we hear, things are going pretty well.
Although the co-op began as an initiative by homeschooling parents for homeschoolers, half of the enrolment drifted in from elsewhere. Recently, the co-op celebrated Teachers Day with a brunch at Cinta Ria Restaurant in PJ, and you can view the photos on our Facebook page. Enjoy.
17 May 2010
There be SPIES at the Junior Public Speaking Club!
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Extra-curricular Activities.
[HERE'S A PLUG by 15-year old Joshua for the Junior Public Speaking Club, an initiative of homeschoolers in Kuala Lumpur. Although homeschooled kids make up the majority, we're getting quite a number who aren't - and we're so glad for it! ]
———————————————————————————————————————————————-
Dear Parents,
I’m Joshua, from the Junior Public Speaking Club. Just wanted to invite you and kids (aged 12 & above)all to our club meeting this June! The meeting will be held in the EaglePoint Covenant Fellowship building in Puchong, on the 4th next month!
The Junior Public Speaking Club (or JPS Club) was started 6 years ago by Amy Ratos. Basically, it has been about creating a friendly platform to encourage kids in the much-needed skill of public speaking. Parents stay throughout the meeting, and take on roles as mentors and speech evaluators, giving the kids constructive criticism and encouragement. Now, we’ve about 30 members, including parents, and we get together monthly to, well…speak!
Ever since, we’ve gotten busy. We’ve had themed speeches, debates, games, skit days, and on special occasions, even mini mock-trials. If I recall right, the last mock trial involved an accusation about whether Gingerbread Man killed Humpty Dumpty (I’m serious!) Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough evidence, and so Gingerbread Man got away scot-free. 
Our meeting for next month will be themed “SPIES.”
Some of the kids will be giving prepared speeches, jokes, and games this month, so do be there to hear them! Of course, if you’re just visiting, your children don’t have to prepare any speeches – just bring yourselves, your kids, and hands ready to clap.
The meeting, as I mentioned, will be held at EaglePoint Covenant Fellowship, on Friday, the 4th of June, at 2:30-4:30 pm. Our club meetings happen, at the same place and time, every first Friday of the month. Here’s the address to the church building:
No. 2, Jalan Rajawali 3,
Bandar Puchong Jaya,
47100 Puchong
Do feel free to email any of us for more info about the club:
Joshua – joshuakam1996 (at) yahoo.com
Eshan – orcapromethana (at) gmail.com
Elliot – qwertyelliot (at) gmail.com
Cheers,
Joshua Kam
Related posts:
Debate: Facebook is a danger to society
Honing public speaking skills
Homeschoolers day out!
17 November 2009
Camping with Lat
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Extra-curricular Activities.
Waileng & KV Soon report on a fun camp outing for homeschoolers with Malaysia’s beloved cartoonist Dato Lat.
“When Ipoh homeschoolers Intan and Harith revealed that they could get cartoonist Dato Lat to join us at a proposed outdoor camping trip, we were naturally excited! For the record, the REAL people behind this were Intan and Harris – THEY were the ones working hard behind the scene to put everything together for us to enjoy. So a BIG THANK YOU to the both of you! RIBUAN TERIMA KASIH! ” WaiLeng & KV Soon
————————————————————————————————————————–
CAMPING FRIGHT
Most of us were camping for the very first time. Some children expected the place to be wild and untamed (thanks to their fertile imagination!) and came prepared for a rough ride. Sorry for the disappointment. Instead we were greeted by the clean and safe grounds of a holiday resort, with cool activities like biking, kayaking, swimming, treasure hunting and amazing-racing!
Campsite was at the lakeside – a perfect spot except for the noticeably dark and threatening clouds that descended upon us not long after the tents which were strenuously and meticulously set-up by each family. Great job everyone! The storm clouds played hide-and-seek with us. One moment they were hovering menacingly above us, and the next moment, the strong winds blew our tents away. Rain fell by the buckets! But luckily we had the ever efficient and helpful camping guides to do the tough job of shifting the tents for us. THANK YOU CAMPING GUIDES!
We were fortunate to be placed right next to a huge indoor tennis arena equipped with lighting and most importantly, clean toilets. Perfect venue for unplanned performances by our kids’ which ranged from flying demonstration (of the super hero kind), to rap-singing (can’t really tell which was which), and a yoga demonstration (of the spine-bending kind!).
The kids played a game called Tie the Mummy; each team was given a toilet roll with which they turned a teammate into a scary mummy! It was great fun especially when some kids came all dressed in scary/funny/strange Halloween costumse! (A Batman was seen throwing tennis balls with his Wacky Monster dad!). All hell broke loose when Uncle KV (who hosted the evening show) announced that it was time to play the game that everyone was waiting for: TAG!
And so all creatures great or small, ghosts and humans (and in-betweens) ran helter-skelter around the courts. Everyone had a helluva fun on this halloween night! Another note of thanks to Intan & Harris for providing the party smacks and food gifts in the form of chocolates, biscuits and lots of peanut/raisin cocktails! YUMMY!
The sleepy heads were the first to crawl into their tents to call it a day – first prize goes to the Chan family! For the rest of the night owls, the night was still young! A trophy for Uncle Soon for successfully starting the campfire for the eager kids to barbecue their preciously delicious marshmallows! Seeing it done in books is never the same as doing it yourself!
The more adventurous adults moved their tents outside for a more authentic experience of camping under the star-lit skies. Only thing was, there weren’t any stars that night. But who cared? It was still real camping under the night skies compared to the less adventurous who chose to stay indoors under a concrete ceiling! For the adventurous it must have been an experience to remember for a long time to come, I’m sure. I can only imagine it for I was one of the indoor campers!
ART WITH LAT
Everyone woke up with great excitement – Dato Lat was coming! What a thrill to meet the famed cartoonist Dato Lat, who came unescorted, to give an interesting slide presentation of his childhood. One could see that every child and every adult in the room was rapt in attention, listening to his amusing childhood stories of “naughty adventures”.
He spoke lovingly about his home and life, playing various games with his friends in the kampung. It was a nostalgic stroll even though not many could attest to having lived in a kampung before! But who amongst us hadn’t read Lat’s books? Now our kids get to experience the genius of a humble kampung boy who made it big with his enormous talents.
Dato Lat touched every single kid that day, including those of us who are kids at heart, with his sketches of hope and joy, of possibilities and dreams come true. In fact, he did more than that, as he went down to the level of the children, to sit with them, viewing their sketches and giving them his invaluable advice and encouragement, and personally imprinting on them his trademark Lat signature. His rapport with the children was excellent! And a young lad from Penang came all the way here, to present Dato Lat with a special haiku! Lat was visibly touched!
After going from table to table autograph signing and posing for photos, Dato Lat had a short sketching session with the children. He made sketches of the children on the spot! This created a lot of enthusiasm and excitement amongst the children who were delighted to see their faces on paper! One could tell that Dato Lat was having a good time too! A group photo with Dato Lat was a perfect ending to a perfect event!
We hope those who came had a memorable weekend with us. It was a relatively stress-free event for us and we have Intan and Harris to thank for doing all the hard work for us. We definitely look forward to more future events here in idyllic Batu Gajah! Parents got to network and exchange experiences on homeschooling, and the kids got a chance to make new friends. What more can we ask for?
———————————————————————————————————————–
Waileng & KV Soon lead Malaysian Home Educators Network (MALHEN). You can visit their blog Learning Beyond Schooling or see more photos on their Facebook.
14 July 2009
Debate: Facebook is a danger to society
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Extra-curricular Activities.
26 June 2009 Debate. So what went down at the Facebook face-off between our homeschoolers and the students of a learning centre? Here’s Daniel’s report:
Facebook is ubiquitous – you either are using it or know someone who does.
Recently, two groups of three – the Junior Public Speaking Club (JPS) from Subang and the Grace Resource Centre (GRC) from Petaling Jaya, debated one another on the motion that “Facebook is a danger to society.” For the motion was GRC, and against was JPS.
Held at the Junior Public Speaking club’s homeground, the Subang Jaya Gospel Centre, the debate certainly attracted a sizable crowd, including a contingent from Grace Resource Centre that was present to support their lively debaters with (equally lively) cheers and chants. Group leader, Tetsuo Takahara flanked by Justine and Ryan Tan represented GRC.
The home team’s members, on the other hand, were demure and seemingly relaxed. Helmed by Eshan Jayatilaka along with Joshua Bester and Kevin Tan – all dressed as though at a job interview – the JPS debaters studied their notes and remained generally unexcited, in stark contrast to the opposing team
Once the formalities were done, the debate started off promptly enough, with both teams cutting to the chase. Grace Resource Centre began, with Tetsuo leading the charge, taking issue with several problems with Facebook – such as the negative social and physical effects of spending too much time on Facebook (and less in the real world), inappropriate content that can be found on Facebook, as well as its privacy and security issues.
The Junior Public Speakers countered with their main thesis – that there is nothing inherently dangerous about Facebook itself; that it is a tool that can be used for both good and irresponsible ways. In an especially eloquent speech, Kevin Tan noted that many things can be used for bad, or “hijacked, but does that mean we do away with airplanes?”
They went on to cite many useful features of Facebook, such as its ability to connect and mobilize people (drawing examples from Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign) as well as noting that Facebook is constantly improving its service to help filter out harmful content and safeguard the privacy of its users.
In response, the proposing team acknowledged the few benefits of Facebook, but maintained that the bad far outweighed the good – Facebook in its present form was dangerous and harmful for the reasons mentioned above. The opposing team, in rebuttal, likewise maintained their position that Facebook had no inherent harm, and that it was a useful tool for good that has benefited many of its users.
With the speeches over, the judges left the hall to deliberate and the floor was opened for questions. A few audience members stood up to ask questions of the debaters, but the sparks really started to fly when the proposing team seized the chance to continue the debate, which led to a lengthy exchange between Ryan and Eshan on Facebook’s security flaws.
The judges returned and if there was any nervousness and excitement for the results, everyone certainly did well to conceal it.
The head judge, Mr. Chong, came up to deliver a short speech praising the debaters for their effort and courage. And the result was announced – the Junior Public Speaking team were declared the winners, with the best speaker award going to member Kevin Tan.
On a parting note, Eshan asked all the debaters to reveal their true position on the matter. With a tinge of irony, the debaters from Grace revealed that they were regular Facebook users and didn’t see much of a problem with it while the JPS debaters either did not have a Facebook account or thought that Facebook was a waste of time.
With the prizes handed out and the judges looking on bemused at this revelation, the debate adjourned with both teams going out in cheerful spirits congratulating one another. The writer, who was also the debate moderator, found the debate enjoyable enough and hopes that the ones to follow will be even more spirited, perhaps this time by ensuring that the teams are actually on the right side in the debate!
Photos: (Top to bottom) JPS speakers against the motion; Grace Center speaker Tetsuo at the mike; Grace Center speakers for the motion; the three honourable judges, Mr Daljit Singh, Mr Chong Phow Yew, Ms Diana Dawson; a view of the audience; group photo (minus one judge) with the writer standing in front left.
—————————————————————————————————————————
This report was submitted by homeschooler and ex-JPS president Daniel Dusanjh. (Read the 23 June post for details about the JPS Club, also writtern by Daniel)
23 June 2009
Honing public speaking skills
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Extra-curricular Activities.
Note: One of the longest running activities involving homeschoolers in Kuala Lumpur/Petaling Jaya is the Junior Public Speaking Club. Here’s a post by homeschooler Daniel Dusanjh about the fun the kids (and their parents) have had through the years:
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
By homeschoolers, for homeschoolers would best describe the Junior Public Speaking Club (JPS for short). And while the club is young in more ways than one, that does not quite hold true for some of the things we speak.
Fancy a topic about terrorists? Or how about a roundtable discussion on issues affecting Malaysia, with some inevitably heavy political commentary? Coming up next will be a debate on the dangers of Facebook to society. All this with a core group of members mostly no older than 18 years of age. (Click on NOTICES for JPS Debate info).
Every once a month JPS meets. Step by step and sometimes unwillingly, its members conquer the fear that has been described by grown men as “worse than dying”. Some of us take to it like fish in the water while others have to be very gently persuaded to stand up and speak.
Of course, we juniors are wisely guided by our mentors- the mums and maybe a few dads as well. This is where JPS gets its homeschool flavour – parental involvement. Which helps, a little.
Even then, as the club gets older, a group has formed known as the “seniors” – veteran members who have been with the club since its early years. Of course, still not much older than 18.
So we have our speaking aspect, usually involving table topics followed by prepared speeches. But much more than that, JPS is where its members get to speak up in as comfortable an environment as possible – under the watchful eyes of their parents.
It is not all about speaking of course, food and games being the staple extra activities. But there’s more here, for example leadership. Now, JPS is perhaps the only place where you get to be a leader – like it or not.
Everyone older than 14 (age, as always, flexible) has to stand up for the position of vice-president where they have to tell the members why they deserve to be appointed to that position. If appointed, expect to serve a full one and a half years of six-month terms – from vice-president, president to ex-president.
Yes, you do learn a lot here, much more than you would expect. It may sometimes be a scary and tiring experience for some, but it is invariably rewarding.
As its members are young (and must be young!), turnover among members tends to be high. A couple of years back, JPS was aging and losing members to college and relocations. Now, it is best described as teeming with new young members – very young, in fact.
Being a regular at JPS for a little over two years, I can certainly say that the club has had its fair share of ups and downs. But with the fantastic leadership it’s had over the years (by the brave and willing presidents – not to mention the mums who are the backbone of JPS!), expect the club to continue for a few more years to come.
The writer is an ex-President at JPS. The Junior Public Speaking club meets every last Friday of the month, 2:30-5 P.M. at Subang Jaya Gospel Centre. Young ones and their parents are most welcome to join or observe.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Photos: Upper three – table topics; mid two – JPS in the park; bottom three – National Unity Roundtable, Daniel Dusanj with special guest Tricia Yeoh
3 August 2006
Raft play
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Extra-curricular Activities.
While other kids were mugging away in arid classrooms homeschoolers had themselves an adventure of sorts at the Lentang Recreational Forest off Karak Highway. It was a nice and breezy day and we had the river all to ourselves. That would have been impossible if it were the weekend where day trippers and gawkers would have put paid our little experiment. A ranger did stop by to ask what we were doing seeing the amount of bamboo trunks we hauled up to the riverbank.
The object of the excursion was a raft-building expedition that was part of the group’s project. Nothing fancy you know, just get the bamboo raft to float, and that’s it, they told me. Taking care of the project logistics was part of their project as well, and I thought they pretty much acquitted themselves. Lots of bamboo, lots of tools, lots of bread and dogs – marshmallow even!- way too much food too, lots of spunk. The kids were supposed to do all the work but some of us couldn’t help but lend a hand, or more than just a hand – you know moms and dads. Me, I put on my best imitation of the invisible man. Nevertheless we all had a really good time. Now, the kids will have to figure out if they did good.
10 August 2005
Zoo benefit
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Extra-curricular Activities.
A bunch of homeschoolers held a Great Artists Exhibition/Carnival/Zoo Benefit recently. It wasn’t a smooth ride; kids and parents were near exhausted at the end of the day. Still, it was all for a worthy cause. And for those whose works were on display, who manned the games stalls, and took part auctioning stuff off for the National Zoo, what can I say? Good work!
8 June 2005
Homeschoolers’ day out
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Extra-curricular Activities.
So, the homeschoolers’ Junior Public Speaking (JPS) outing at FRIM (Forest Research Institute Malaysia) went well although a good number were absent. Over a dozen homeschoolers (8 to 16 years) and their family members spent the day in the cool, green grounds of the tropical forest reserve on the outskirts of KL, possibly one of the last pockets of nature near the city.
The JPS is a year-long programme geared at improving public speaking skills of our homeschoolers and they usually meet once a month. Modeled after Toastmasters, the kids have had a lot of fun since facilitator Amy Ratos got the programme going for the first time last year.The kids got spunk, and the best thing about JPS is the way they’re showing greater confidence speaking without notes in front of peers and adults.
Sure, it’s only a 2-minute speech, but everyone’s got to make sure they’re on topic, start with an interesting opening, have a worthy middle, and close on time. We had an Invocator who kicked things off with a motivational piece about humanity’s ability to laugh at jokes (!) and someone’s the ‘Ah Counter’ tracking umms and ahs that normally show up in unprepared speeches or nervous speakers. Elliot our 13-year old was grammar and language evaluator, spotting howlers like “I like to watch people cook and I love to cook myself” (which came from 13-year old Joel who claimed to love cooking).
I love the idea of homeschooling, and times like this when a bunch of parents and kids come together remind me that there’s nothing we can’t do when we put our minds to it. Many of us have become friends through the years, developed out of a common desire to give our children what conventional schools take away. That morning, I also learned that 16-year old Sara wants to be a dancer, and Ii-Shan wants to be a psychiatrist so he can “understand the mind of a teenager.” On being asked what animal he would like to be, Ron didn’t hesitate to say he wouldn’t mind being a rat. Another boy – was it Kevin? – talked about helping the poor because everyone’s only interested in taking instead of giving, and I thought the ability to tell them apart was commendable.
You know, I keep coming across people who tell me about things homeschoolers miss. I suppose that’s inevitable; but do I really mind missing out on bullies, a grade-anxious culture, dumbed-down learning passing for education, and a regiment that sucks the life out of our kids? On the other hand homeschooling is about all the things we get to do simply because we’ve broken free of our shackles. We’re free to be family.
It was a lovely day. We had grannies, babies in strollers, and dads with video cameras. There was lots of food – someone brought homemade peanut butter, another brought walnut cake – and there were laughs aplenty. The kids were well-behaved, busy catching up with one another. Homeschoolers all, from different faith communities coming together as families do. And isn’t that the most natural thing to do?
