KOTA KINABALU, July 12 — Two English teachers from Keningau Vocational College are working on the ‘Dau Dau’ project to encourage and cultivate the development of local arts and literature through English education among students.
‘Dau Dau’, which means ‘a long time ago’ in Bajau language, is a project that was developed by Dr Sirhajwan Idek and Nurazilah Othman last May, combining three areas of arts, namely short story writing and poetry, performing arts such as dance and theater, as well as visual arts including painting and media.
Through the project, Sirhajwan said students would be guided on how to produce art materials in English language that would hone students’ artistic talents as well as improve their English proficiency.
He said apart from preserving ethnic culture, the ‘Dau Dau’ project also touched on other current issues such as the pandemic, world peace and mental health.
“This project aims to revive arts in education because it is seen to be increasingly forgotten. This is important in producing a young generation who is passionate in preserving art and cultural values, in addition to improving students’ talents in writing and performing in English,” he told Bernama when contacted today.
Meanwhile, Sirhajwan said he and Nurazilah planned to create a Teaching and Learning module covering writing and performing arts techniques for English teachers, especially in Sabah, besides conducting a series of online courses starting September.
It is to encourage teachers to continue to explore the field of arts as an alternative in English education that can cultivate interest and increase students’ motivation to use the international language creatively, he said.
The ‘Dau Dau’ project was also selected as the winner of the international category of the Simon Greenall Award which was announced via the Macmillan Education website at https://www.macmillanenglish.com/sgaward on July 9.
The award was jointly launched by the Macmillan Education and International House early this year to honour the late prominent figure in the English Language teaching community, Simon Greenall.
Sirhajwan and Nurazilah took home a grant worth GBP1,500 (about RM8,700) to expand their project.
