How Manglish/Campur English and Big Hearts Sparked the e-English Enrichment (E3) Programme

DON'T PLAY PLAY…. OUR MANGLISH/CAMPUR ENGLISH…. ALSO CAN, AH!

Looking back at these pictures and video clips sent by a dear friend, the CEO of Lighthouse of Hope in Kapit, Sarawak, brings back a flood of memories from how this journey first began. Some of the sequences of events may be slightly out of alignment, so please forgive me.

Throwback…

Just before the great Covid lockdown in early 2020, came across a young enterprising lady, an undergraduate from one of the local universities who was conducting online English tuition classes. She only had one or two students from Indonesia and a couple of local students, mainly to earn some pocket money during her university days in Seremban.

Immediately, I liked the idea.

At that time, I had been searching for a programme that we could conduct online, especially in English language learning, for marginalised students across the nation. In particular, I was looking for something that could help the students staying in our hostels in Sabah under the Starfish Malaysia Foundation.

Tucked away in remote corners of Sabah and often lagging behind in their studies, these students needed more than just “booster shots” in education especially in English. Starfish had limited resources to hire tutors and, because of distance and cost factors, many tutors were reluctant to offer such services. Some of the older students could hardly read well (or at all), let alone comprehend passages or communicate in spoken English.

What I liked about the lessons offered by this young lady was her ability to combine a simple but effective English language framework with interactive apps. Presto, suddenly you had a winning formula for attention-grabbing and engaging lessons.

Students armed with cheap tablets, earphones, a simple stylus pen, stable internet, and any available meeting place, sometimes even under the roof of an extended kampung house veranda, became our “tools-of-trade” for delivering lessons over Zoom, whether they were 100 or even 1,000 kilometres away.

I managed to convince her to develop blocks of lessons where teachers could easily teach interactively and interestingly, with materials stored in the Cloud for easy access.

Just as we thought we were ready to test it out, Covid restrictions came down on the nation. But then… online teaching suddenly became a trend and a necessity.

Compassi Berhad was roped in to spearhead and help fund the programme. At the same time, Lighthouse of Hope in Kapit, Sarawak, agreed to gather a group of students to pilot the programme on a weekly basis during the third quarter of 2020. We started with a block of 10 lessons. The results were encouraging. Parents, teachers, and even the principal of a Methodist school felt it was a worthwhile programme for the Standard 4 students involved. Then came another block… and another block. By the end of 2023, we had successfully “nurtured and graduated” this first pilot group from Kapit after three years in the programme.

As Covid restrictions eased towards the end of 2021, we gradually rolled out more groups:

• A second group in Kapit in 2022

• Two groups in Sabah in 2022

• Two groups in central Kuala Lumpur in collaboration with a Malay NGO working amongst B40 families and undocumented children in 2023

By the end of 2023, we were receiving many requests from groups wanting to try the programme. The rest, as they say, is history.

Then on, we have agreed to launch more than 30 additional groups ie almost a 500% growth year-on-year, and this would easily involve more than 300 students in the programme. Our part-time teaching team (some volunteers… aiyo, mana ada money for full-time staff!) includes local teachers and professionals with a passion for social development work, as well as individuals from Indonesia, the United States, the Republic of Congo, Iran (an ex-refugee), and more to come.

Way back in 2020, this felt like a tiny “start-up” that was almost going nowhere, with one part-time undergraduate, very little funding (or almost zilch!), but a big vision and, of course, a BIGGER RESOURCEFUL GOD!

I honestly do not know where this journey will lead us in the future, but one thing I do know…DON’T PLAY PLAY… our Manglish/campur English also can make a difference for a whole new generation!

Psst… sometimes I wonder whether God really speaks English! LOL. Debate! Debate! Debate!

Our heartfelt appreciation and thanks to all the NGOs, teachers, volunteers, supporters, and friends who have journeyed with us along the way.

(Originally written by the late Mr Ho Cheng Leong, founding member of Compassi Berhad, whose passion for community development and unity continues to inspire our work today.)