Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Translation ?

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One of my biggest struggles while teaching over here has definitely been communication. So far I've been using a translator with great success. I'll ask the class who speaks the best English, then have that student help me teach the class. It's even more difficult to teach in Sarawak because English is the 3rd language of most students, in Penang English was their 2nd. The native language in Sarawak in Eban, and then they learn Bahasa Malayu, the national language of Malaysia, and English is the third language students are taught. I'm teaching in a rural school, most students are very poor, and they speak no English when they are at home.

This is going to by my greatest obstacle when completing my Final Project. I've started making a list that describes Malaysia with the students in grade 5. A few speak very good English, some speak no English, and others are to shy to speak to me at all. I have three more classes to complete a "Did You Know?" video with teh grade 5's that will be viewed by the cooperating class in Virginia. I think my translators will be the stars of the film, but we'll have to see how things go tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. Neat idea Eric! I can't wait to see what you come up with :)

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