KENINGAU: Two English language teachers here bagged the inaugural Simon Greenall Award for their "Dau Dau" project.
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.
Nurazilah Othman and Dr Sirhajwan Idek from the Keningau Vocational College took home a grant worth £1,500 (approximately RM8,700) for presenting the most promising project with the potential of bringing people together through learning English.
"Dau dau" which means "a long time ago" in the Bajau language, is an integrated arts project that aims to develop students' artistic abilities while improving their English language proficiency.
It also encourages students to develop their talents and interests by offering them support and platforms in three types of arts: literature, performance and visual.
The themes are ethnic cultures, particularly the indigenous tribes as well as contemporary issues such as mental health, the pandemic and world peace.
"I laud the teachers for their dedication in cultivating arts as a whole-school practice by integrating various activities into the classroom and co-curricular programmes.
"I believe in the role of arts in preserving cultural heritage while empowering youth to speak up," said college director, Johari@Jaibet Sabin in a statement.
Both the teachers had mentored and assisted their students in writing and publishing their pieces such as short stories, poems, and comics.
The duo were also involved in performing poetry, folklore dances, theatre and puppet shows as well as showcasing their visual works such as paintings.
In the future, Nurazilah and Sirhajwan are planning to explore more alternatives for English to be incorporated into performing arts.
Apart from that, they will also conduct courses for teachers to promote arts as a classroom teaching method.
Details of the award and their winning project are accessible at https://www.macmillanenglish.com/sgaward.