JOHOR BAHRU, Nov 7 – In an effort to promote fresh and engaging English lessons, final-year TESL students recently organized a program called English Green Day in collaboration with Form 2 students and teachers at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Sultan Ismail in Johor Bahru. The program aims to teach Form 2 students English while integrating elements of nature into the lessons. A total of seven classes participated, involving nearly 200 students on that day. The event was directed by Muhammad Shafiq Sulaiman, with support from his team members, and it was a successful initiative.

The program was divided into two sessions: the morning session and the afternoon session. The event began with an icebreaker game called “Catching the Bird,” where students had to catch the hand of the person on their left while trying to avoid being caught by the person on their right.

A treasure-hunting game was conducted during the morning session. It featured four stations with mini-games that students needed to play to earn points. The mini-games were designed to promote English learning, allowing students to engage in fun activities while enhancing their language skills. The games included The Telephone Game at Station 1, Skip Your Words at Station 2, Riddles at Station 3, and King of Charades at Station 4.

Only eleven to twelve students participated at a time to ensure smooth coordination. Each class had to appoint a representative for the treasure-hunting game. At each station, two groups played simultaneously, and the group that finished first earned the most points.

In The Telephone Game, each group formed a straight line. The first person in line was given a text to whisper into the ear of the person behind them. The students performed exceptionally well, with most groups completing the game quickly.

In the Skip Your Words game, students were challenged to skip rope while articulating specific words while their teammates guessed the correct sentence. For the Riddles station, students had to guess the object of a riddle and spell out the word using the letters provided.

Finally, at the King of Charades station, each group selected a representative to act out a scenario related to given words without speaking. In contrast, the others attempted to guess the words.

In addition to other activities, the evening session featured a greenery initiative called ‘Adopt A Plant,’ where students utilized items they collected during a treasure hunt game. This game encouraged students to reconnect with nature while fostering creativity. Each class received two seeds, two pots, gloves, two packets of fertilizer, a set of planting tools, and a painting set.

Students lined up to fill their pots with soil and were given about one and a half hours to plant and decorate their seeds as creatively as possible. The Form 2 students did an excellent job demonstrating creativity and care for their plants.

In conclusion, this program successfully contributed to the goal of promoting English in an entertaining and productive manner, as students learned something new while also improving their English skills.