Keningau teacher wins regional Cambridge award
KOTA KINABALU: An English language teacher at the Keningau Vocation College was named the regional winner of this year’s Cambridge Dedicated Teacher Awards, a global competition that rewards teachers around the world for their dedication and achievements.
Sydney Engelbert was chosen as the regional winner for Southeast Asia and Pacific for her commitment to crosscultural collaboration which helped to develop her students’ communication skills, said the international education group at Cambridge University Press and Assessmentnin a statement.
“Engelbert teaches at a rural school in Keningau, Sabah where her students will rarely leave the district. The judges praised Sydney’s role in enriching her students’ education despite this isolation.
“Notably, Engelbert kickstarted an online exchange class in 2022 with several other vocational schools in Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Indonesia,” said the statement.
By winning the category, Engelbert will get £500 (RM2,946.42) worth of books for their class, a trophy, take part in a regional awards ceremony and receive publicity for them and their school during the coming year, it added.
Cambridge received a total of 14,840 nominations across 141 countries for this year’s competition.
According to the statement, Engelbert was the second teacher from Keningau Vocation College to have won the regional award after Khalifa Affnan in 2022.
Engelbert expressed her gratitude for having been chosen as the winner.
“I am greatly honoured to be awarded with this recognition. It’s important that we create a learning environment rooted in cultural exchange to help students develop the practical and communication skills needed for the future.
“I am deeply proud of the success my students have had as part of our online exchange class that is centred around cultural competence and exploring topics beyond the standard curriculum,” she said.