Malaysia - ZCC English-medium Science Education

ZCC Malaysia and English-medium Science Education

Young Ambassadors for the Climate – YACs came to Kuala Lumpur this week when the British Council, Malaysia organised a week of activities around the ZCC Exhibition from March 6-10, 2006 http://www.britishcouncil.org/malaysia.htm.

Monday
The programme of activities included Facilitator Training for the MUTR climate change kits at the National Science Centre in KL which focus on alternative sources of energy, sustainable living and the dangers of ultra-vilolet radiation from sunlight (www.mutr.co.uk).


…facilitator gismo creations…

       
…UV-warning badges…

Colleagues were introduced to the new Science Across the World topic in writing ‘Climate Change around the World’ producing their own biodiversity maps of Malaysia as an example of surveying the local impact of Climate Change.

   
…local teachers and colleagues from the National Science Centre, Kuala Lumpur…



Tuesday


…Debbie preparing for the YAC Day…


…Deputy Minister YB Dato’ S. Sothinathan officiating the launch of ZCC Malaysia…

The week included the launch of the ZCC exhibition at the Central Station in KL attended by a large audience, partners from HSBC and was officiated by Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment YB Dato’ S. Sothinathan.

This is the first of a number of locations for the ZCC Exhibition in Malaysia and the launch itself included a YAC Day where young Malaysians from KL schools invented solar powered gismos with the view to attracting public attention to the issues of Climate Change.
It was particularly significant that the Deputy Minister stressed his appreciation of the involvement of young people in the campaign, the aim being to make them ‘ambassadors’ for the climate through their work at the event and in explaining what they were up to to the passing public curious to see what was going on at the railway station on their daily commute.
       
The creativity and inventions were impressive…

   
…but for innovation and marketable potential …  the prizes of British Council clocks went to a solar-powered fan cap…

   
…YACs handling media attention…

Presents were also donated by BP Malaysia and these included educational CDs which you can find at www.cetdem.org.my.

Wednesday
Further training involved colleagues looking into preparing there own YAC events for popularising Science in their working contexts.

         
…Colleagues debated pros and cons of renewable energy…

   
…and practised communicating Climate Change issues…


…here’s the first attempt at a solar-powered car I’ve met in 7 ZCC campaigns which actually runs!!!

 
Thursday
There was an important meeting with the Ministry of Education curriculum development section and a team of local Science teachers looking into the writing of a module on climate change with participation from BP.
Science Across the World will provide the draft materials on the new topic Climate Change around the World and I’ll contribute support on the language of Climate Change for the module.


…Mr Cheah, Principal Assistant Director of the Science and Maths Section of the Curriculum Development Centre chairs the meeting on preparing a Climate Change module for Malaysian Science Education…

Friday
We also met with the Ministry of Education ELTC – English Language Teaching Centre, with a workshop for teachers on Science Across the World Climate Change and English-medium Science Education.


…introduction to Science Across the World…


…getting to grips with the Science Across site…


…40 colleagues signed up to Science Across…

This was followed by a round table discussion with the ELTC team on CLIL Teacher Training around the world and the situation in Malaysia.


 …The ELTC team…

It was agreed to arrange a SAW link on the ELTC website and participating colleagues received free subscription to the programme. I also promised to provide ELTC trainers with SAW TT materials from other contexts and trainers will be networked with CLIL TT colleagues in other contexts.
There is also a Regional CLIL TT week in preparation for next year – an opportunity to bring agencies together to share their work and resources.
Colleagues throughout the week were also added to factworld network at www.yahoogroups.com to network with CLIL colleagues around the world.
It was an exhausting timetable, but a truly fulfilling professional experience for me personally. Many thanks to Deborah Singh from BC Malaysia for her help and support shadowing me throughout the week and providing me with a host of insights into the local context and also in her work in training for English-medium Science in Malaysia.

Best wishes

Keith

Keith Kelly (Language Education Consultant)
FACTWorld Coordinator (www.factworld.info)
NILE Associate Trainer (www.nile-elt.com)
SAW Consultant (www.scienceacross.org)
Home address: 146 St Leonards Rd, Leicester, LE23BZ, UK
Home tel: 0044 1162700962
Mobile: 0044 778 2356776
email: keithkelly@factworld.org

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