Mentakab mentor Jimmy Ma started a program in his SK Bangau school a month ago. This program was aimed at increasing reading opportunities for the students. The students currently are participating in a program called "nilam," which gives them weekly time in the library in order to read books. From those books, they are asked to fill out information about various things like author, character names, etc.

Jimmy's program is similar to this program, except it's reading without the chore. It's more geared towards reading with a friend (PAL) for enjoyment. The ultimate goal of this program is for the students to understand that reading does not have to be a chore and can be fun and enjoyable.

One month into the program and the students are really responding positively. The vast majority of students are on-time for this early morning event and they are also on-task.

It is the hope of Jimmy that SK Bangau will continue this reading program long after TELL2 is finished; and it looks like that is exactly what is happening!

This blog is updated and maintained by Jimmy Ma

As we come into the last months of TELL2, mentakab mentors Martina and Jimmy are still working hard at their projects. One of the projects that Martina and Jimmy have been doing all year has been reading and writing workshops. Martina and Jimmy have been doing these workshops for all of their schools in their clusters.

As the year draws to a close, Martina and Jimmy have been going around their schools and scheduling "top-up" workshops. These are the same workshops with a different group of students. The benefit to repeating these workshops is to introduce a new group of students to these skills and remind teachers/mentees of how helpful the skills from the workshops can be when those skills are used frequently.

Below is a workshop done in SJKT Ladang Semantan.

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Pen PALs Pahang is in full effect. Here are some students writing letters in Ms. Hoo's Year 5 class in their SJKC Khee Chee class to students in a TELL2 school in the Bentong cluster.

The addresses between the teachers have been exchanged and the PenPalsPahang program is organized to continue long after TELL2 and mentor visits end. It is the goal of the TELL2 program that the methods and programs brought in by the mentors will continue long after the program is finished.

This blog is updated and maintained by Jimmy Ma

One of the programs that Mentakab Mentor Jimmy is starting in his schools is an Early Morning Reading Program. In this program, students are placed in pairs or small groups one morning each week. They are given books and read to each other.

In these pairs or groups, there is one student that has as firm grasp on reading and one or more students that are still in the process of advancing their reading skills. The skilled reader is a "mentor" and will receive a badge showing that they are a "PAL". These students will help the other students read by guiding them and reading to them.

The program was initiated this week at TELL2 school SK Bangau. The TELL2 English teachers involved in preparing and making this event a success were Mr. Rafi, Ms. Suhana, and Ms. Afzan.

The event was successful and the students had a great time reading with their PALs! Hopefully, this program will continue on in the future!

This blog is updated and maintained by Jimmy Ma

Pen PALs Pahang has gotten very popular. There are several teachers involved across the districts of Jerantut, Maran, Bentong, and Temerloh.

Here are some students from Bentong and their teacher, happy to receive and return letters from a school in the Temerloh district. The mentor from Bentong involved with the Pen PALs Pahang program is Charlotte Lewis.

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Mdm. Tan at SJKC Mentakab 1 has been doing an excellent job introducing writing techniques to her year 2 class. Guided by her mentor, Martina, she has developed a fun way to introduce new writing skills such as mind maps, bubble maps and flow charts. These are very important skills that the students must learn but it also incorporates HOT skills which all students should include in their writing from an early age. Well done Mdm. Tan and keep up the good work!

This blog is updated and maintained by Jimmy Ma

Mentakab Mentors Jimmy and Martina are still a big part of their community. They do a lot of charity events, work with the rotary club, and generally promote good relationships between the community and its small population of foreigners.

One of the events in July that Jimmy and Martina's running club is hosting is a blood donation drive. This is an effort of the running club to create awareness in Malaysia that donating a few minutes of your time and a pint of blood can help save lives.

Can you spot where our Mentakab mentors are?

This blog is updated and maintained by Jimmy Ma