Exuberant aspirants with facilitating teachers after their successful presentations
By Bernadette Peter Lidadun, Senior Lecturer, Academy of Language Studies, UiTM (Sabah)
June 13 2022
FOURTEEN aspirants from the Preparatory Seminary, Catholic Diocesan Centre, Kota Kinabalu successfully participated in the inaugural English Language Camp for Aspirants 2022 (ELCFA2022) from May 17-18 May at Nuluhon Garden Retreat House, Inanam.
Being the first ELCFA, the English language camp was a trial run and would in future be included as one of the annual educational programs for English language proficiency in the academic calendar of the Preparatory Seminary for the aspirants.
The main objective of the program is to provide the opportunity for the aspirants to learn the English language in a fun, exhilarating and conducive environment outside of the Preparatory Seminary.
Other objectives of the camp are to instill team spirit among the aspirants; to encourage creative and critical thinking, and to inculcate discipline in time management and responsibility among the aspirants.
The activities expose the aspirants to teamwork while completing assignments involving the use of English. They not only cover important content in English language learning but also encourage higher-order thinking skills among the aspirants while completing assigned tasks as a team.
The camp began with an ice-breaking session ‘This Is My Brother’.
Other activities included team building, human scrabble and spelling bee, sentence race, scavenger hunt and sharing sessions.
The highlight of the camp was the presentation of creative sketches on Catholic Saints by the aspirants.
The aspirants who joined the camp were Velerian Victor, Joehbeey Majimin, Athanasayleus Aginasious, Cornelius Justin, Canddy Yangun, Jackelson Jimmy, Anderian Alexander, Clive Leo Singki, Lincoln Anak Susah, Rayner Raphael, Uldrique Mark Verus, Alexander Jiran, Cornelius Corinthian Patrick and Alexsius Jainis.
When asked for their feedback on the camp, the aspirants said that the activities throughout the program involved good time planning as they were required to complete various tasks in a short period of time using the English language.
Most aspirants were amazed by their own capabilities in accomplishing the assigned tasks and by their hidden talents in performing with very limited time for preparation.
Meanwhile, being involved as a facilitating teacher, I also acted as the camp coordinator. The ELCFA2022 team comprised other hardworking facilitating teachers, namely, Caroline Harris, Florence Selvestian and Pontius Otigil, who not only helped prepare the camp, but also gave invaluable feedback during the camp.
Fr Isidore Gilbert, rector of the Preparatory Seminary, acted as camp adviser.
Other helpful facilitators were college students who were on their semester break, namely, Annette Thomas of Putra International College (Melaka), Eva Thomas of UiTM Seremban (Negeri Sembilan), Shaun Felix of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and seminarian Samuel Bernard of St Peter’s College (Kota Kinabalu).
The ELCFA2022 ended with a prize-giving to teams of aspirants by Dr Nancy Chiuh, a senior colleague from the Academy of Language Studies, UiTM Sabah, who is currently heading an ongoing research on English Language Needs Analysis for Aspirants at the Preparatory Seminary.
The research is a formal research registered under the Research Ethics Committee of UiTM Malaysia. Some preliminary findings of this research have greatly influenced the planning of and the organizing of the ELCFA2022.
Other members of the research team include myself and another colleague Aries Henry Joseph from UiTM Kota Kinabalu, and Associate Professor Dr Nor Fazlin Mohd Ramli of UiTM Shah Alam.
