JOHOR BAHRU, Jul 25 – The Language Academy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSSH), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), successfully concluded its two-year Language Academy Foster School Project with a vibrant drama performance featuring pupils from Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Sungai Boh and SK Tiram Duku at Seminar Room 2, UTM Johor Bahru. Streamed live on the Language Academy’s official Facebook page, the event allowed parents, educators, and the wider public to join online while supporting UTM’s cost-saving guidelines.

The drama performance marked the grand finale of the Foster School Project, an initiative that has nurtured English language learning through creative writing, storytelling, and drama since October 2024. Throughout the two-year programme, pupils developed their English communication skills while building confidence, creativity, teamwork and public speaking abilities through a series of interactive workshops and enrichment activities.

What made the performances especially meaningful was that every drama was adapted from original stories written by the pupils themselves. Their ideas were first developed into published storybooks before being transformed into engaging stage productions. The audience enjoyed performances based on stories from Splash & Tell: Ocean Tales from SK Tiram Duku and Under the Sea Tales from SK Sungai Boh Storytellers, celebrating the creativity and imagination of the young authors.

The programme was fully organised by the staff of the Language Academy, UTM, who coordinated the planning, training, logistics, publications, live streaming and overall event management. They were supported by fourth-year Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) students from UTM, who served as facilitators and backstage coordinators throughout the project. Over several months, the TESL students worked closely with the pupils to refine scripts, develop characters, rehearse performances and build the pupils’ confidence before taking the stage.

The project also highlighted a strong spirit of collaboration among educational institutions. Besides the two foster schools, the programme involved four additional schools working collaboratively. Sekolah Seni Malaysia Johor (SSeMJ) designed and produced the drama props and costumes, while SK Sri Pulai Perdana contributed a recorded choral speaking performance.

SK Muzaffar Shah from Kota Tinggi contributed a recorded cultural dance performance, while Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra provided student emcees for the event.

This multi-school collaboration demonstrated how institutions with different strengths can work together to provide meaningful learning experiences while fostering creativity, communication and community engagement.

The Language Academy Foster School Project is a collaborative initiative between UTM, SK Tiram Duku and SK Sungai Boh, supported by the Johor State Education Department (JPNJ). Over the past two years, pupils participated in creative writing workshops, drama workshops, reflection sessions and storytelling activities that resulted in the publication of storybooks and this final drama performance.

The successful completion of the project reflects the Language Academy’s continued commitment to community engagement through education, demonstrating how authentic language learning experiences can empower young learners to become confident writers, storytellers and performers while strengthening long-term partnerships between the university, schools and the wider community.

Prepared by: Dr. Nurhidayah Mohd Sharif and Dr. Nur ‘Ain Balqis Haladin