Our Lady of Fatima (OLOF), Beluran – Pada 4 September 2011 yang lalu, sekumpulan sukarelawan yang terdiri daripada Gerry Benjamin, seorang pensyarah Bahasa Inggeris di Maktab Gaya, Wendy Chin, Account Officer di Pusat Kebajikan Good Shepherd Sabah, Evelyn Doikin, graduan program YouthPREPLink dan Sr Jossie Sili dari Pusat Kebajikan Good Shepherd (PKGS) selaku ketua program ini telah memberi “English Training” kepada belia-belia OLOF yang akan menjadi fasilitator Bahasa Inggeris bagi program YouthPREPLink. Sesi ini merupakan sesi persediaan bagi fasilitator tempatan untuk mempersiapkan diri mereka dengan ilmu dan cara-cara menyampaikan sesi “English Conversation” dengan para peserta YouthPREPLink pada 4 sehingga 9 Oktober 2011 nanti di OLOF, Beluran.
Belajar Bahasa Inggeris melalui aktiviti santai : Jazz Chant, What Animal Am I? dan Chinese Whisperer |
“English Training” ini dimulakan dengan doa dan seterusnya sesi berkenalan. Sesi ini dikendalikan secara ‘Activity Based’ iaitu belajar Bahasa Inggeris melalui permainan, nyanyian dan menari, berdialog dan sebagainya. Partisipatif yang aktif setiap orang yang hadir menceriakan keadaan dan membuatkan pembelajaran Bahasa Inggeris menjadi mudah dan seronok.
Program YouthPREPLink
What is YouthPREPLink?
The YouthPREPLink is an initiative by Pusat Kebajikan Good Shepherd (PKGS) which started in 2005. This programme is aimed at bringing awareness and learning for youth from the rural areas of Sabah. The programme’s intent is to prepare youth to face and better manage the cultural and social realities experienced in society when they migrate from rural to urban locations in search of higher education and employment.
Target Group
The Youth PREPLink Program is targeted towards less privileged youth from rural areas and remote villages. This is because they are the ones that will venture to big cities like Kota Kinabalu, Penang, Johor and even Singapore in search employment and higher education. The target age is 16 to 21 years old, i.e. Form 4 – Upper 6 / undergraduate student / unemployed youth.
Basics of the YouthPREPLink Program
The program’s aim is to learn about managing life in a new environment and culture. Learning and creating awareness, however, should be accompanied by action. This is where participants are encouraged to be agents to disseminate information on the YouthPREPLink Program to other youth especially those who are in high school and college, as they would inevitably leave the villages for the cities.
A teaching, activities and resource approach will be taken in this program in the form of a course with two modules. These two modules are English Conversation, and Human Development Sessions.
Pertinent to this program is the Human Development Sessions which is geared towards youth who are ‘at risk’ – simply because they are in the process of taking significant steps and changes in their lives. Other relevant activities/topics will be introduced progressively.
The YouthPREPLink program would be promoted in village communities to create awareness of both the cultural differences that would be faced by the youth who migrate to urban contexts, and also of the need for preparedness of youth to face and manage the social realities when they migrate.
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