Table of contents
3.0 Acknowledgements 1
4.0 Description of the Project
4.1 Introduction 2
4.2 Objectives 4
5.0 Detailed report of the activity
5.1 Activity 5
5.2 SWOT Analysis 11
5.3 Financial Report 13
5.4 Photos 14
5.5 Recommendation for improvement 20
6.0 Personal Reflection 21
7.0 Conclusion 30
8.0 Appendices 31
8.1 Minutes of meetings or discussions 32
8.2 Slides 35
3.0 Acknowledgements
Deepest acknowledgement is given to Miss Angelina Tay, the coordinator and head teacher of
Manna House Learning Center (MHLC). She helps to coordinate the volunteers and preparing the
volunteers with teaching materials.
A special thanks is also given to Miss Jacklaneyh Dass, a full-time teacher, for the support,
guidance and advice to the volunteer on better understanding of handling children and what to
expect from them.
Besides, a special gratitude is given to Miss Low Ann Ann for stimulating the volunteers’
encouragement and guidance in preparation handling activities at MHLC.
Lastly, a token of gratitude to all volunteers that participated in this community project for their
time and effort invested in achieving the goal.
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4.0 Description of the Project
4.1 Introduction
Manna House Learning Center (MHLC) is an education center for refugee children established by
Manna House Center in conjunction with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR). MHLC is a learning center where it offers to teach Myanmar National Language,
English, Mathematics and Science from kindergarten to primary school children.
Before MHLC was established, MHLC was known as Zomi Learning Center where it is an
education center mainly for Zomi Community from 2012. On 2015, Zomi Learning Center was
renamed as Manna House Learning Center after getting full support from Mana House Center, a
church located in Petaling Jaya.
The Zomi people are one of ethnic groups in Myanmar where the majority are living in Chin state.
Nowadays, the Zomi people are suffering from economic and political sanctions and they are
isolated from the rest of the world by their own government. The Zomi people are pushed to seek
refuge from other country because persecution, forced labor and tortures from their mainland.
The main reason MHLC was established is Malaysia is not a signatory to the UNHCR 1951
Refugee Convention where the refugees did not earn the basic rights of formal education as the
mandate couldn’t support them. Therefore, MHLC was founded as non-proper school as they are
not accepted to enroll in Malaysia government schools.
At first, MHLC only caters refugee from the Zomi community. However, MHLC has
accommodate 84 children regardless of their race and religion where 90% of them are from Zomi
and the rest are refugees from other parts of the world like Indonesia and the Philippines. On the
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other hand, the children are mostly from age four to sixteen years old. They were group in the
grades based on their understandings regardless of their age.
Besides, there are three full-time teachers where the two teachers are from Myanmar and one of
the teachers are Malaysian teachers. There are also part-time volunteers that offer their support to
teach the children every week. Most of the volunteers are retired working people and university
students.
The main objective of doing community project at MHLC is to enhance children’s learning session
and their understanding of their knowledge. The volunteers who went there prioritize the children
to understand the knowledge given for their daily or working life rather than getting good score in
examinations. The refugees who are in Malaysia will started working upon completion of their
studies. Hence, the refugees will apply for jobs based on their understandings and skills. Most of
the refugees will started working as waiters, cashiers or salesman. Therefore, the volunteers try to
improve their understanding in Mathematics to prepare themselves for working life.
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4.2 Objectives
Main Objective:
● To improve children’s learning sessions and understanding on the knowledge given
Learning points:
● Understanding the importance of education at early stages
● Developing awareness and better understanding of the communities they live in
● Exposing volunteers to people who are at a disadvantage
● Enhancing volunteers’ verbal or oral communication skills by enabling them to practice
and test their knowledge through teaching in the community center
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5.0 Detailed report of the activity
5.1 Activity
The main activity was helping the kids with their studies. We had also arranged some games like
UNO and snakes and ladders, and activity sessions such Origami. The volunteers were specifically
asked to conduct revision classes for the students in line with their upcoming midterm examination
due on the 23rd and 24th of May. They were provided with mathematics’ revision questions for
the students to complete in class and had to assist them in doing so. They were to deal with students
from grade 3 ,4 ,5 and 6.
Teaching day
On the day when the volunteers arrive in place they were greeted by all the kids who were just
getting started with their daily schedule. After a short briefing by Miss Angelina on the plan
schedule the volunteers proceeded to meet their respective classes. The volunteers were divided
into groups of two and each group was assigned a specific grade. The teaching schedule was as
follows:
Arrival Briefing by Miss Angelina and assigning of grades to volunteers.
(9.45am)
Morning Grade 3 - Luqman and Lailita
(10.00am) Grade 5 - Hansa and Thalika
Grade 6 - Faris and Faiz
Lunch Time Help the students with their lunch and play with them while getting to know
(12.00pm) them.
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Afternoon Grade 3 - Luqman and Lailati
(1.00pm) Grade 4 - Hansa and Thalika
Grade 6 - Faris and Faiz
After classes Activities such as teaching Origami to the students.
After being assigned to their respective grades, the volunteers started by a little ice breaking session
of about 10 - 15 mins where they got to know the students better, such as basic information about
them, their hobbies and what they did during their weekend. The volunteers then started the
learning session by handing all the students their revision questions which they started
immediately. We were to help them only when they failed to do any question or needed a recap on
a specific topic. After their revision we played games such as snakes and ladders with them and
gave them some candies and sweets until their next class or lunch.
Since different volunteers had to deal with students of different age, they had to adopt different
approaches to help them.
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Group 1 (Luqman and Lailati who were in charge for year 3)
The total number of students in year 3 for Mathematics is 7 people and the number of students on
that day was 4 people. It is further clarified by the staff of the learning center that the absent
students may have mistakenly assumed that the public holiday on 20th May 2019 (Wesak day)
applies to them as well. The first 10 minutes were spent on simple ice breaking session where we
get to know the students better such as their hobbies and a simple overview of how their current
life is doing.
Morning session
The learning session starts immediately after the ice breaking session and since there were 4
students comprised of 2 boys and 2 girls, one of us supervise 2 students each. The learning session
was spent helping the students to complete a revision template prepared for them by the staff of
the learning center. Since the students were year 3 students, the revision question covers the topic
from year 1 until year 3. Our responsibility were to mainly observe their workings and intervene
only when needed. This intervention is made as little as possible so as to not make the students
reliant on the teachers solving the problems. However, if given that the problems are deemed too
difficult for the students which in our case happens during the multiplication exercise, then a full
explanation will be given to guide them.
Afternoon session
After lunch break, the students resume doing their revision questions with our help. After the
students finished their revision questions, we played games with them such as snakes and ladders
and UNO which were prepared beforehand by us.
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Group 2 (Hansa and Thalika who were in charge of Grade 4 & 5)
Morning session
In the morning we were in charge of Students of Grade 5. There were 5 students in total for Grade
5. We started by a little ice breaking session for about 10 mins. We introduced ourselves while
they also did the same and shared with us some of their [Link] handling them their
questionnaires we saw how they worked and helped them occasionally whenever they required us
to do so. Since we had only around two hours with them we concentrated more on completing their
assigned work but at the same time knowing them better. We also offered them some candies and
chocolate once they were done with their questions.
Afternoon session
In the afternoon we were in charge of students of Grade 4 and there were 8 of them. We started
with an ice breaking sessions with them like before and talked for about 10 mins. After that they
were handled the revision questions. Just like the grade before we provided our aid when they
needed us to and explained them topic they were unclear about. After the class we distributed
candies with them too and convince them to stay for a bit more to learn some Origami.
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Group 3 (Faris and Faiz who were in charge of Grade 6)
Morning Session
There were a total of 6 students in Grade 6. Before the class session starts, a short ice-breaking
session was conducted to know each of the students better by writing on a piece of paper about
their talent or hobby of themselves and guessing who wrote on the paper that have been chosen.
The students were randomly divided into two tutor groups of 3 students each and led by Faris and
Faiz. The students are entrusted to complete a set of revision questions to prepare themselves for
upcoming mid-term examination. The volunteers were entrusted to supervise them and intervene
when needed.
Afternoon session
The students were divided into two different study groups assigned by Miss Angelina. One of the
groups, led by Faris, were tasked to do Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) past year
questions while the group led by Faiz had a short learning sessions on some topics which is Prime
Numbers, Integrals, Lowest and Highest Common Multiples as most students in this group are
taught earlier from the other group. Before the end of the class, the volunteers prepare a short
playtime session which is ‘Eraser Wrestling’ to expose themselves a childhood game that most of
the refugees have never played before.
Lunch Break
During lunch break, the meal was already prepared by the learning centre staff and the students
had assigned roles as to who is to help in serving lunch each day. After lunch they had a bit of free
time so we proceeded to play with them, especially with all those who we did not meet during the
revision classes. We were also able to take some pictures with all the students during that time.
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After-class Session
Once all the classes were over, we taught them some Origami (making jumping frogs with paper)
for the students who were going home late. Thalika showed them step by step how to construct it
and once they were done they could play with it. Once done with the Origami it was already time
for them to return back. We bid everyone farewell and waited for everyone to leave. Meanwhile
we helped them to clean up the centre a bit after the departure of most of the students.
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5.2 SWOT analysis
1. Strengths
- We are confident in our knowledge and comprehension in Mathematics as we
are ourselves students taking actuarial studies on degree level. Therefore, any
questions imposed to us can be easily answered and taught to the students on how
to get to the solutions.
- We are considered as youths as we would be a suitable candidate to teach the
children as we would understand them more on certain areas such as attitude, trends
and personalities.
- We are also equipped with necessities to perform social and fun activities to the
students for them to not only gain knowledge and learnings through mathematics,
but also to learn in a friendly and fun environment.
- Classes were organized systematically based on their Year classes and based on
their schedule and everything went smoothly as different classes were separated
and the teachings can be done based on different levels
2. Weaknesses
- No teaching backgrounds or whatsoever and this causes the lack of
understanding on how exactly do we make sure the students get and understand
every single thing that has been taught.
- Lack of time. This is because by teaching Mathematics, it is preferable to have the
teaching period to go on for a long term period to have them practice on a weekly
basis. Unfortunately, our schedule is only meant for a day and it could be
ineffective.
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3. Opportunities
- Logistics. The venue and classrooms provided is huge and it is convenient to
separate the students. It is also convenient to move around and socialize with the
children.
- The number of children. The number and amount of children in the whole
organisation is the perfect amount to have a great learning environment. Not too
many and not too less created a perfect atmosphere for all the children to be taught
equally in a friendly vibe from us volunteers.
4. Threats
- Communication. Since most of the children do not speak English as their first
language, it is pretty difficult for them to understand what has been taught because
of the fact that the whole session was conducted in English.
- Lessons. The practice handouts given to the students were provided directly by the
organisation and not us volunteers. Because of this we have a few problems on
sorting out the handouts since it is not originated from us volunteers.
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5.3 Financial Report
No. Description RM
1. Materials 21.25
● Stationary (Gifts)
● Origami Paper
2. Candy & Cookies 20.95
Total 42.20
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5.4 Photos
Teaching session with the kids
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Lunch time
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Making origami
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Play time with the kids
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Photos that were taken together
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5.5 Recommendations for improvement
1. Teaching capability
Excluding children who are smart and can do all the exercises handed to them without any
major problem, there are quite a number of students who are unable to fully comprehend
the topics that are given to them. Explanations and methods given from us are sometimes
insufficient for them to understand the exercises that were given to them. Some of them
relies too much on the teachers to get the answers of the exercise without trying too much
by themselves. We deduced that this problem arose from us being individuals who were
not from teaching or education background and are inexperienced when it comes to
teaching children.
2. Communication effectiveness
The children themselves do not speak English as their main language as they do not come
from a country that speaks English as its first language. In addition, the fact they are very
much still kids, knowledge in English in terms of writing skills and verbal skills are
somewhat lacking. This results in a miniature barrier in communication when we are
teaching them. The capability to understand their first language or even better, speak in
native tongue would be a huge plus in improving the intercommunication between us and
the children and thus enabling the improvement in their studies
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6.0 Personal reflection
Thalika Ruchaia (16035917)
Often education is taken for granted by those who have been given the ease to have access to it; I
have seen such circumstances throughout my student life in my country where education is free.
Volunteering brings a deep appreciation of all that you have in life and helping those in need is a
firm reminder of what really matters. This experience has offered me the chance of being exposed
to students who are at a disadvantage and has helped me understand the importance of education
at an early age. I had heard a lot regarding Myanmar refugees in Malaysia but never had the chance
to have a better understanding of the community; this was a great opportunity to do so and further
communicate with the children about their likes and dislikes. I have found that when volunteering
within a community unlike my own, a simple smile can permeate language, cultural, economic or
other barriers especially with those who were too young to communicate with me during the lunch
break. I got to work on my teaching skills with children for the first time which in turn meant
reinforcing patience and being an active listener. The experience encouraged me to adapt to
different learning techniques as some of the problem solving were not performed as I had learned.
The learning session targeted our time management skills as we had to have the students complete
their task while still getting to know them and making the experience fun. Our ability to work in
teams was also tested as Hansa and I had to distribute our time accordingly so that no child would
feel left out from the revision class and that everyone’s questions were being answered. The service
experience was insightful as it helped me developed a greater sense of social responsibility while
providing me with the opportunity to apply my academic learning to real life. The experience
enabled the children and I to build relationship and social connectedness with each other while
exposing us to diversity and multiculturalism. The lasting impression this project will have on me
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would be that we all have a role to play in helping those that were not as fortunate as us and to be
ever grateful for this chance.
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Hansa Luchun (16021115)
For someone who had a background related to free and relatively easy education facilities, this
experience was something new for me. Having previously only engaged myself in volunteer works
in connection with the environment this was my first time being a help to the society. It taught me
several new things. I came to know how the people with different backgrounds and different
facilities provided are able to carry on their lives. Since these children are refugees in Malaysia
they have to work even harder to fulfil their dreams for a better life. Also being an international
student i got to know how different it is to teach without knowing the native language of the
students. Having also never taught someone before I got the taste of the positive and negative
sides of teaching. This experience was not only about being the first time me teaching children but
I acknowledged how to make the most of life. Despite being refugees here the children always had
smiling faces and were very pleased to get to know new people willing to help them achieve their
dreams.
Since our main activity was helping these children with their academic work, I experience better
how is it to teach students, especially mathematics. I got to reinforce my teaching abilities as it
was not a big part of my daily life and is something which I was not too good at previously.
Teaching abilities are not the only things essential when it comes to teaching children. One must
also have good communication skills. Since children are more active they need to be handled
correctly to get them to listen to you. At MHLC the children like to have conversations even more
as they do not get to meet a lot of people everyday and when they do they prefer talking over
studying. As such you need to know how to communicate correctly with them so that they are able
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to have a conversation and carry on with their work at the same time. This helps you to improve
your communication skills in general and also helps in understanding children better.
This experience brought into light how much one has to strive to earn a better life. Despite being
a public holiday the children need to go to school and continue working hard as the holiday did
not apply to them. They were not able to take advantage of all the facilities that are available to us
such as the public holidays. Since it was revision week we were asked to mainly concentrate on
trying to get the students to work and revise. As such we were not completely able to get to know
them or play with them. I would have preferred to spend more time with them playing or engaging
in fun activities. I believe they would have liked to have something more entertaining to do as
when they were engaged in constructing the jumping frogs through origami they looked happier.
While studying, at some point they got tired and did not wish to continue on with the revision
work. However we manage to bring their interest back through some cakes and offered them some
small gifts. Overall this was a very pleasant experience which taught me a lot and I also enjoyed
myself.
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Luqman Hakim (15062524)
This project has given me plenty of new learning experience. For someone who is the youngest in
my family and even amongst most of my relatives, I have been constantly surrounded by adults
and have spent little time with kids. This project has given me insights on how to better handle
elementary school children. Contrary to adults who have a more logical viewpoint and
understanding on their life, children have a great tendency to do things and activities that are
deemed fun to them regardless of the consequences. This is rather natural considering that they are
still kids and have yet to have the necessary experience and understanding of what is encouraged
and what is to be avoided. Dealing with children and teaching them the magnitude of their
decisions that they make is quite a difficult task to be executed.
In the scope of the project, getting the children to learn and comprehend Mathematics of their
respective level is a challenge especially for the ones who are not used in dealing with children.
Encouraging them to learn by giving them gifts or some reward may result in them being too
focused on the rewards itself rather than what they are learning. The real challenge in teaching
children is how to instill an autonomous behavior in learning the subjects. On the other hand, to
prevent them from repeating the same mistakes or to prevent them from going to the path of
making that mistake is another challenge in itself. Simply punishing them might not be an effective
way of educating them of the wrongs that needs to be avoided.
When executing the project, I realised how dynamic the teachers of these children have to be in
order to nurture all of them to succeed in their academics. Some of them after being punished,
instead of improving, might deteriorate even worse than before as they are soft-hearted. A simple
show of discontent from the teachers towards the mistake made from these kids are somehow
enough to make them avoid making the same mistake again. However, there are kids who are more
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rough in nature and unless the teachers makes it clear that the mistake is to not be repeated again,
they will continue in doing so.
This project had in general taught me to be more lenient towards children in educating them. In
general, children are very flexible in absorbing what they see and learn from their surroundings.
Ire is not the best if not the worst traits that we want them to be in the future and one of the ways
to prevent this is to avoid in expressing aggressive behavior in front of them.
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Faiz Zailan (1504878)
I have learned many valuable lessons from this experience. I have never knew education at early
stage played a big role in our life. During lunch break, there was a huge language barrier for me
as it was hard to communicate with some of the kindergarten kids as some of them didn’t get a
proper English lesson before. Besides, this experience helps me to understand the community they
live in. I never knew that there are many refugees from other countries besides Myanmar before
and they really work hard to make living in Malaysia.
I managed to reinforce teaching skills that I rarely used before. Before doing this community
project, I have only experience teaching as a tutor for only one person. However, I managed to
teach six children at MHLC. It helps me to have a better experience in teaching the students and
making sure that they understand what they have been taught. Besides, teaching skills could help
to nurture my communication soft skills as it helps to adjust my style and tone according to the
audience which is the children.
Being part of this community service have taught me that being in the community is important. As
someone who rarely do volunteering work, it taught me that the community could help to educate
and improve myself. It provides a source of fun, support, friendship, opportunity and new
experiences.
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Nur Lailati (15054547)
My team and I accomplished our goals by helping the refugee’s children on education purposes.
We taught them mathematics because the subject is not easy for the children to understand. Apart
from that, we also had the opportunity to interact and talk with them about their personal life as
the children love to tell us about their family.
Before the project has been executed, it was a very challenging for the whole group because to
communicate with the organization is not an easy job. First, we need to find the target group of
people that we want to do the project and set which date is suitable for both organization and us to
do the project. After we had many discussion and reviews from all the members, finally we decided
to execute our project at Manna House Learning Center.
Things that I learned before and during the project execution is self-management skills. I was able
to work in teams as we helped each other especially when we were having a hard time to complete
the task that were distributed before going to the center. We worked together to ensure the planned
activities ran smoothly during our project at learning center.
This project helps me to sharpen my teaching skills. To teach the children in the center is not an
easy task as the kids were very active and they cannot sit still. We need to have the patience while
teaching them because some of them is very rebellious and naughty, but I have tried my best to
teach them and make them to understand the concept of mathematics that they are learning in the
center.
After the project execution, I realized that a lot of difficulty that are facing by the refugee. For
instant, they do not have the opportunity to work in public and private sector in Malaysia even
though they have finished their studies. My experience at Manna House Learning Center has
allowed me to reflect on the values of the community itself. We need to help each other in order
to find the happiness among ourselves even with smallest act of kindness.
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Faris Muhaimin (15031990)
It is not an option or a choice. It is about rights. Every single living being in this world deserves
the right to have a proper education. The United Nation has established all 17 Sustainable
Development Goals for people to take a step to create a better world for everyone in this world.
One of the goals, is called as Quality Education, where every single person in this world deserves
the right to have a proper education throughout his or her life. Even though all of these initiatives
has been done, but clearly there are still a lot of children could not receive the same privilege as
others in terms of education. This project really opened my eyes. Personally, I have collaborated
with Manna Learning Centre before this, for a different project where i got to work indirectly in
terms of supporting them. However, this time I had the opportunity to work closely and directly
with them and I definitely learned a lot of things from it.
It was definitely not my first time tutoring and handling kids, but it was definitely my first time
handling refugee kids. Based on the experience itself, I believe that communication is vital when
it comes to education. We faced certain problems when it comes to delivering the message where
communication medium was vital. But by having the right mindset and effort to teach these
children, everything is possible when we take things slowly with patience. By having this
experience I can safely say that I am more than grateful to have the privilege for education
throughout my whole entire life by far. There are times where I never really thought of taking
some time to appreciate it and this whole experience really opened my eyes to see things from a
different perspective. Hopefully in the future I will get to experience more things to develop myself
towards a better human being.
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7. Conclusion
From project selection on the 23rd of April, the team had been in communication with Miss
Angelina to review activities that would help improve children’s learning sessions and their
understandings on the knowledge given. Once confirmation was received regarding our visitation
date, the team split into pairs to study the learning materials provided by MHLC. Through our
preparation process during the mid- semester break, the team also completed the task of buying
stationary, candies and cookies for the students. On the project execution’s day, once arrived, we
waited for Miss Angelina in her office where she briefed us on what to expect throughout the day,
giving us insightful coaching guidelines and the learning scripts of the students. Once we
introduced ourselves to our assigned classes and completed the ice breaking session, the pairs of
team started the revision session whereby the students were coached when they reached a
difficulty, their work was reviewed and candies were given to award them when they finished.
After the break, the teams completed the learning scripts and proceeded to play and distribute
cookies and stationary to the children who were more than ecstatic. After classes, we started an
origami session on ‘how to make a jumping frog’ with the few children that stayed behind as they
waited on their responsible parties to pick them up. While some on the team played racing games
with the frogs alongside the children who were having a blast with their imagination, the others
were helping to clean up any mess left behind. We also had an end-of-session discussion with Miss
Angelina whereby we expressed concerns on the materials the students were having difficulty
grasping while having a more in depth conversation regarding the struggles the children have to
go through and the effort needed to help guide the kids to a brighter future. She expressed her
gratitude towards us and we were invited to visit or volunteer for them anytime soon.
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8.0 Appendices
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8.1 Board Meeting Minutes
“Manna House Learning Centre (MHLC)”
Members:
Luqman, Faris, Faiz, Lailati, Hansa and Thalika.
9 April 2019
● Discussion of different possible organisations and NGOs that can be helped.
● Brainstorming of different ideas to help the community.
● Among the proposed community that we were planning to help:
o Orphanage: Rumah Amal Cahaya Kasih Bestari
o Refugee: Manna House Learning Center
o Animal shelter: Second Chance Animal Society
23 April 2019
● Finalisation of group project.
● Discussion of various possible activities that can be held to help MHLC.
o Movie screening
o Origami
o English and mathematics classes
o Variety of games
● Distribution of responsibilities.
2 May 2019
● Brief meeting to provide an update on forthcoming meeting and clear any questions.
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3 May 2019
● Finalisation of visitation date to MHLC through WhatsApp.
8 May 2019
● Meeting attended by Faris and Faiz at MHLC with Miss Angelina to discuss activities
proposed.
10 May 2019
● Discussion on learning session activities.
o There were some activities that needs to be cancelled due to the student having midterm
during the week of the project execution.
● Briefing on teaching guidelines.
o The syllabus used in the center follows the Singapore syllabus.
● Split into pairs to teach different grades.
16 May 2019
● Rebriefing on classes assigned to the teams of two.
● Distribution on revision worksheet that will be used on the 20th of May via
WhatsApp.
20 May 2019
● Sunway College foyer: Discuss ideas planned for the ice breaking session.
● MHLC:
o Miss Angelina briefed us on the number of students present and behavioural pattern
of some students. Techniques and guidelines on how to cope with the class was also
[Link]:
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o End-of-session discussion with Miss Angelina: learning weakness of the students,
hardships the children have faced, effort needed to help children from Myanmar, the past
of MHLC and Miss Angelina’s experience.
o End-of-session discussion with the team: learning outcomes, improvements and future
plans.
Note: Mathematics textbooks have been handed out to each member to give an idea on the content
that will be taught to the students.
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8.2 Presentation slides
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