Life Changing Trip
I have to say that my life will never be the same after my trip to Malaysia. Too many things happened to me that changed my view of life and made me grow personally and professionally.
I feel I grew as a person because I learned a lot about a new and unknown culture for me .I had never seen Muslim women, praying rooms in public places, people eating rice or beans for breakfast, etc. All those things, that at the beginning seemed strange to me, made me a more tolerant person in the end.
During my stay in Malaysia, I had the opportunity to visit different places. One of my favorites was Tioman Island where I could go snorkeling for the first time even without knowing how to swim.
The organizers also took us to Malacca where we spent a weekend and stayed in a very comfortable hotel. On our way to Malacca, we visited some museums and during our stay in the city we also went on some guided tours. The second last night we went on a cruise with live music where some of my classmates sang and danced.
We also went to Putrajaya where we saw very nice temples and monuments. On our way back to Kuala Lumpur, we visited Batu Caves at night where I had to go up hundreds of steps and could see some strange religious rituals.
In Kuala Lumpur, I had the chance to visit a lot of places every day after class or on weekends. We used to travel in group by taxi or train. We visited a lot of shopping malls where there was a great variety of shops and nice places to eat. At KLCC, the main shopping center, we visited a very interesting aquarium where we saw exotic fish in underwater tunnels. We also went up to the Petronas sky bridge where we had a great view of the city. Days later, we also went up to the KL where we also had a beautiful view of Kuala Lumpur and the Petronas Towers at night, definitely, the best view of the city. During my last week in Kuala Lumpur, I visited the bird park, a botanical garden and the zoo, beautiful places where we really enjoyed the contact with nature and animals. Finally, the second last night, I decided to go with some friends to the cinema to see 'Indiana Jones'.
During the last week, we also had to organize a cultural exhibition where me and my country mate had to wear our national costumes and displayed some typical crafts from Chile. It was nice to exchange souvenirs with my classmates and answer questions about my country.
I also had the chance to meet very special people from different nationalities and some countries that I did not know existed before my visit, like Samoa, Laos, etc. I made very good friends and I will always have nice memories of the happy moments I spent with them.
My only problem was the heat. I couldn't adapt myself to the weather. It was too hot and humid for me, so I sometimes had to take a shower 3 times a day and drink a lot of liquid as never before.
One of the anecdotes I remember was when I broke my glasses by accident and had to go to an optical shop at KLCC to have them repaired. I discovered that the repair was much cheaper than in my country. I even had an eye check for free that, unfortunately, revealed that my short-sightedness had increased. I never thought of changing and having an eye-check in Malaysia, but at least, I didn't have to see a doctor to change my glasses like in my country.
I also said at the beginning that this experience made me grow professionally. This is because I learned a lot from my teachers and my classmates. I realized that some educational problems are the same all over the world and, like in my country; teachers are really committed to their work and make a big effort to improve their professional practices. In my course I learned to reflect about my teaching strategies and the problems I face in class. Together with this and with the help of my teachers and colleagues, I could think about effective solutions for those problems.
During my stay in Malaysia and as an IPBA student, I had the chance to learn about Malaysian higher education and also about the teaching of English in this country. At IPBA I could observe that the facilities were not very modern. However, I realised that the main focus was on people, students and teachers, and not on technology, necessarily. I could see that all IPBA staff was always very interested in helping students and that the different departments were very efficient. It was very nice to see that the students were really the centre of the educational process and that their opinions and work were really appreciated by all the teachers. I have to admit that we in Chile sometimes have put too much emphasis on technology and neglected important things.
Unfortunately, we did not have the chance to visit any schools. However, we could discuss in class about the teaching of English in Malaysia and learn how subjects like Math and Science were taught in this language at schools. We also heard that this initiative had not been exempt from problems and constraints like lack of materials or proficient teachers in the foreign language. Despite this, it was possible to observe that English was widely spoken in Malaysia and had been successfully incorporated as a second language.
In Chile, we have seen the government making a big effort to improve the teaching of English and transform Chile into a bilingual country. I strongly believe that we are on the right track, but there is still a lot to be done and learned from initiatives like the Malaysian.
Finally, we all came to important conclusions in class that for sure I will apply in my job to improve the learning and teaching of English in my country, 26 hours away from Malaysia, but from now on, very close to me.
Carlos Campusano
English Teacher
Tronwell Institute, Santiago
(attended Reflective Practitioner at International Languages Teachers Training Institute (IPBA) from 5 - 23 May 2008)
Participating in Class
Two Amigos - Chile Exhibition Booth
Closing ceremony
In Tioman Island
With dancers after the tourism show at Malaysian Tourism Center
Trip to Botanical Garden
Trip to Bird Park
With friends before getting on IPBA's bus to the next outing destination
Visit to the Planetarium
Embassy of Malaysia,
Santiago, Chile
www.kln.gov.my/perwakilan/santiago