Written by Webmaster | 27 January 2010

Background

The  British Council Connecting Classrooms Project  is a collaboration between the British Council and the Ministry of Education Malaysia to provide a platform for teachers and students in Malaysia, Thailand and the United Kingdom to work on school-based curriculum activities and other areas of common interest.

The different activities would take place online for discussion and joint collaboration to produce a meaningful product.  The British Council’s vision is to have a connected world of global citizens who are confident, independent, creative and interested  in  other   cultures and key issues facing the world. There are three clusters of schools in Sarawak, namely the Kuching Cluster, the Sibu Cluster and the Miri Cluster. Each  cluster has ten schools headed by an officer with the Education District Office (PPD) who is called the Local Authority. At the school level, the principal is the manager assisted by a teacher coordinator, an ICT teacher and the subject teachers  of one class of Form One.

 

SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman is one of the selected ten schools in the  Kuching Cluster. The project began online officially in September 2008.  An action plan is drawn up based on given curriculum  topics for students’ discussion and  project work. The  action plan straddles a three-year period from September 2008 to  2011.

Getting Started

The principal Mdm Rakayah Hj Madon, 6 teachers and twenty-two students from KRK ( Kelas RancanganKhas )  were registered for the project which kicked in September last year. There was a lot of excitement among the students as they were very enthusiastic about  communicating with students from the two countries. The main problem was the internet which was quite daunting at the beginning. However, the teachers and students persevered and problems ironed out accordingly. The  number of students grew to 35 this year.

The students are assigned under different teachers and they have a schedule to log-in and post their messages on the web platform. They also keep a journal for their postings. They work on different things with their subject teachers according to the topic in the action plan.   The teacher coordinator monitors the on-going activities and reports to the Principal whereas the ICT teacher helps with the technical aspects.

On the 14 April, the first  National BCCC Seminar organized by the British Council in collaboration with the Curriculum Development Centre (PPK), Ministry of Education (KPM) and Academic Management Sector(SPA), Sarawak Education Department (SPA), was held in Bintulu where selected schools  came together to share their success stories. SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman, Kolej Abdillah and SMK St Mary represented the Kuching Cluster. Clusters from Johore, Penang, Pahang and invited guests from Perak and UPSI made up the crowd.

In July 2009, a second cohort of 18 Form 1 students and two  teachers are registered.  The students are very vibrant and enthusiastic and they took part in the Science and Innovation Carnival which was organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology in August. They sent in a project using the concept of  recycling ice-cream sticks for innovation.

In July, Ms Ng Jueh Hiang was sent to Bangkok Thailand for the International Teacher Co-ordinators  Training from  16-19 July.

The Form 1 students have done another project on Local Food Recipes on the invitation of co-partners in Si Thammarat, Thailand. The form two students worked on superstitions and also climate change.

SMK STAR was given the honour of sending a teacher and a student to attend the BCCC Seminar from the 24-30 November 2009 in Taiwan last year. Mdm Salbiah Abu Bakar and Peter Adam Madya from 2 Khawarizmi B.