Questions for our older students.

When I took CELTA, we were taught to engage our students from the start of a lesson with pictures, questions, and many other prompts. These were extremely useful in engaging the students in the lesson and making them interested. When I started teaching adults, it was a delight! The talk we can have from the mundane to their interest! It was a truly fortunate experience for me. But I always started it with a "How are you?" "How was your weekend?" it turned expected fast. 

Students knew what I was going to ask every week. I wanted to make an impact, ask them questions that they rarely hear, and expand their critical thinking. I talked to Jim one night after all our classes, and he told me to ask them out-of-the-norm questions so I decided to do so! 

I decided to look up questions that were appropriate and not boring or expected. I found 20 interesting questions that fit high school to adults perfectly well and range from Elementary to Pre-Intermediate!

Questions like: 

- Tell me about a favorite event of your childhood.

- Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person?

- What could you do as a child that you can't do now?

- What do you think is the best age to be?

These are simple easy to understand questions but allow students to think and us getting to know each other better. I love getting to know my students and these questions will change from time to time, just to understand how they are as an individual studying a different language. 

Malaysian Dances! Part 3: Magunatip (Bamboo dance)

 After learning the Zapin dance moves! We brought in the big guns! We brought in our "bamboo sticks" or more like poles wrapped in green paper! We make do with what we have! When I was researching for these dances, Magunatip really spoke to me! I knew the students would love it, was just something so different, and just fun honestly! Magunatip requires dancers to have agility and skill in jumping/dancing while avoiding getting crippled by the bamboos! Dancers hop in and out of the two or more clapping bamboo poles.

Originated from the Borneo land of Sabah! Performed by the Murut tribe while wearing their utterly beautiful traditional costume! Picture below! This dance originally performed for healing ceremonies and returning headhunters as a celebration (sounds of clapping, gongs and cheering made the blood of nearby villages run cold) is now performed during cultural events and festivals throughout Sabah. Most commonly now, it's performed during the harvest season or weddings as a sign of joy and happiest to their roots!

   Isn't it gorgeous?!

Two people will sit opposite each other and move the bamboos following a rhythm while 2 or more people jump and avoid the sticks! I knew I had to avoid any accidents (can't afford a lawsuit T_T) and the safety of the students does come first! I sought help from Yukari-san and Tomo-san in moving the bamboos while I jump as an introduction. We managed to create a routine where we counted (1-5) and managed to not get hurt! We were ready for the students! 

Video here:

Magunatip (warrior dance)

Students started off again watching a video and were just amazed! They were frightened but definitely ready to be jumping everywhere. I started off with a demonstration, twirl in front of the bamboos and then the jumping starts! We did it by making students follow my lead one by one until they were comfortable doing it on their own! They were later curious about the "Bamboos" and wanted to move it while the others jump around. They learned fast! By the end of it, I was sitting at the side as the students became masters! They wanted to do more tricks but were quickly shot down! 

But boy did the students enjoy it! I for one had fun teaching them about my culture as well as immersing myself in it! 

Malaysian Day Part 2: Zapin Dance

Took me a while writing this, but I made it finally! Continuing our story from last time, the first dance we learned was the Zapin dance commonly done in the West of Peninsular Malaysia and the most popular Malay traditional dances. Legends have it, it was introduced to Malaya (Malaysia's old name) back in the fourteenth century by Persians and Arab Muslim missionaries from the Middle East. Due to the gender inequality of the time, only men were able to perform the beautiful dance but proud to say, women dancers are now finally allowed. 

Source: The Sun Daily

Both men and women move beautifully across the stage that has a deep-rooted foundation to the traditional entertainment that has graced many Sultans in the past and present, hopefully, future as well. The Zapin dance is usually accompanied by traditional musical instruments such as the Gambus, Gendang and Rebana. Due to the missionaries back then, Zapin has been introduced to not only Malaysia but also Indonesia and Singapore. Hence, creating different variations of the dance. 

Due to my lack of knowledge in teaching someone to dance, I decided to follow a few tutorials I found on Youtube and use that. To be honest, it was a mixture of a lot of Zapin dances but hey! It worked out well!

We started by showing everyone a video of the whole performance of a Zapin dance that followed the song by Malaysian sweetheart, Siti Nurhaliza.

Video here: 

Zapin Ya Maulai

Students by this point were amazed and thought they will be zipping through the classroom like professionals! But sadly, I had to burst their bubbles and they will only learn a few simple steps. We started off with a move called the Inang. We sway both our hands up and down repeatedly a few times. The followed by the Asli which is a slower version of the Inang and we move left and right on a horizontal line. Then the fun starts! We zip into the Zapin move where our right hand is held in front of us as we move forward and back in a V shape style. Hard to imagine I know!

The Inang move

The Asli move

The Zapin move

The twirl move

We finished off with my favourite of all, the one hand raised and the twirl! A classic! In all seriousness, the students loved it! We then danced while wearing the costume we made and danced to our heart's content! Next time, definitely will have more moves and have a complete performance!

Malaysian Dances! Part 1 : Introduction to Malaysia

Luna International first-ever Malaysian Dance day! Being a proud Malaysian, I took this challenge and wanted to knock the socks off these students! As it was held in August, also known as Malaysia’s Independence month, I thought “Great! Perfect timing!” Thus, my planning started! I conducted my research and talk to family and friends back home! I wanted something unique but not too difficult for students. Finally, I found Zapin and Magunapit to teach them! Was I excited!

 On a beautiful Wednesday morning (18^th August) we had a full house! We started with the first half of the day with an introduction to Malaysia! A beautiful montage created by Malaysia Truly Asia showcased the diverse cultures present in the country! The students were in awe especially seeing the animals (Proboscis monkey I see you!) They are also introduced to all the other popular dances across the country (Ulek Mayang - calling spirits of the sea) (Ngajat - A harvest dance)

We continued more by asking the students to colour in 3 different Malaysian inspired drawings by a talented close friend of mine (Instagram: @byanisgallery). She was inspired by the 3 big regions in Malaysia (East and West of Peninsular Malaysia as well as Sabah and Sarawak). From the fabric to our traditional games to our flora and fauna. Truly beautiful especially after the students coloured everything in! Then we stuck up the coloured drawings on the map of Malaysia!

West Malaysia

East Malaysia

Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak)

Now time for costumes!!! Like every performance, the costumes are the utmost important aspect! In Malaysia, as an activity, we like making clothes using newspaper and I really wanted to make the students wear newspaper! So, we made a paper skirt! Extremely easy to rip but did the students have fun learning something new! We continued on to a different aspect of the costume! The headbands! Dancers in Malaysia would usually wear a headdress thus I must make it too! Using yellow and gold cut out leaves, we shaped our headband beautifully. Am I proud of the students!

In Part 2, we will talk about Zapin as a dance and how the students enjoyed learning it!