Creativity, team work, key for winners
Excellent content lead teams to impressive outcomes
IT all started on the Aquarius, a humanitarian search and rescue ship chartered by NGO SOS Mediterranee.
Due to hardships in their countries, tides of migrants risk sea crossings from Libya to Italy, including one heavily pregnant woman. As fate would have it – after being held captive, beaten and given very little food – the woman escaped and gave birth safely on the ship. Her newborn son was aptly named “Miracle”.
Miracle’s birth was celebrated by the migrants on board with singing and dancing – a far cry from the conditions they were from. This happy event was tweeted by the NGO and made it into the newswire.
On another continent, local Malaysian English daily The Star newspaper decided to publish this news. Although bite-sized, the article was inspiration enough for the grand prize-winning team from Chong Hwa Independent High School, Kuala Lumpur. The team selected the article as their movie poster feature in the Star Flicks contest.
The contest organised by The Star’s Newspaper-in-Education (NiE) programme attracted over 7,000 students nationwide.
Open to all secondary school students nationwide, Star Flicks required participants to create movie posters based on news articles from The Star. Each entry had to be accompanied by a 150-word abstract about the movie plot and social message teams wished to convey through the poster.
At the grand finals, Star Media Group chief content officer Esther Ng noted that this contest serves as an outlet of creative expression for young people.
“The views of young ones are important and worth hearing as decision-makers set out to create a better future for them. Their concerns may not even dawn on “powers-that-be”. This is why we need to hear them out, and Star-NiE is one of our ways of staying in touch with young people.”
All finalists did a five-minute Powerpoint presentation to convince judges why their posters and messages were important.
Passionate supporters of the NiE programme, Chong Hwa Independent High School had always been a mainstay in the Merit Category of Star-NiE’s annual contests.
This was the school’s first foray into the finals.
It was a presentation worthy of champions as they claimed the grand prize – a six-day, four-fournight all-allexpenses-expensespaid trip to South Korea – sponsored by Star Media Group.
The presentation by Team Created to Create, which began with a short animated clip to their “movie”, highlighted issues of humanity, survival and courage.
Wong Li Yun and Shanice Chew Yiun Yiing, both 16, said the competition allowed each of them to pay more attention to what was happening around the world.
“This competition made us realise how little knowledge we had about social issues,” said Shanice.
Echoing her teammate, Li Yun said there is a need for everyone to know just how many serious social issues are going on right now.
“When there is awareness, something can be done to start addressing those problems,” she said.
Both noted that each team mem- ber put in a lot of effort which resulted in the team’s success.
“Teamwork was key. We did everything together and the work waswas split evenly among usus,” said Li Yun, adding that the team purposely took time off from classes to prepare for the competition.
“It was worth the effort spending extra time preparing for this contest!” said one of the team members Ng Yan Lei, 16.
“We’re very glad that we took part in this contest. It has brought all of us closer. We’ve never been to South Korea and now we will be going there together!”
Another teammate, Vaness Sow, 16, attributed the team’s success to their supervising teacher Tan Choon Moi. “She guided us all the way to the grand finals. She also trained us so that we will be able to answer questions from judges confidently. Preparing for the finals has boosted our confidence standing on stage.”
Tan, who also heads Chong Hwa’s
English Department, said more students should join such competitions as it would train them to be quick on their feet and develop self-confidence.
She also noted that the questionand-answer session at the end of each presentation was an effective method to help students brace for Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTs).
“Impromptu questions are good to get students to analyse and think about the questions under pressure. “They pick up a lot of soft skills through these competitions,” she said, pointing out that soft skills are essential in 21st century learning.
“I told my students that since they are already in the finals, don’t just try to be the best. Be the best!” she said, adding that the whole team is extremely excited about their trip to South Korea in November.
Team #MeFour from SMK Seri Bintang Utara, Kuala Lumpur, bagged first runner-up with their project titled “The Bare Trap” which highlighted the prevalence of sexual harassment in Malaysia, especially among teenagers.
English teacher and team super-super visor Shafina Farveen Abdul Rahman said the competition was a good example of how 21st century learning should be.
“It developed their critical thinking skills and creativity. They also learned how to do things on their own initiative and did all the heavy lifting.”
Team leader Ivan Huang, 17, said their tasks required creativity and critical thinking skills, which are exactly what students need in the 21st century.
“It is also a taste of university life – preparing us for how assignments are conducted when we enter tertiary education,” he said.
He added that the competition brought his team members, who are also his classmates, closer together.
“Though we are from the same class, we were just acquaintances,” he said. Team 3R1T from Kolej Tingkatan Enam Sri Istana, Klang, Selangor, bagged the spot of second runner-up. Speaking on behalf of the team, Ong Pei Yee, 19, said they were exposed to the challenges of working as a team.
“Each of us had a different opin- ion. We learnt how to discuss and address them properly and solve conflicts,” she said, adding that the team had to manage time effectively as the timing of the competition was near their examinations.
Excited about the team’s victory, their English teacher and advisor Chandrika Menon said she was very proud of her students even though they did not win the grand prize.
“They managed to be one of the finalists out of thousands of participants on their first try! They are already winners to me,” she said, noting that a lot of effort had been put in.
She added that the competition was an avenue for students to make use of the English language through reading, writing, speaking and performing.
“21st century learning consists of all the skills that were demonstrated in the competition,” she said, pointing out that her school submitted 39 entries.
Besides winning a Samsung Tab each, the first runner-up team will join the second runner-up team in Resorts World Genting for an all-expenses-paid three-day, two-night stay sponsored by Genting Malaysia Berhad.
As first-time participants of the Star-NiE contest, the team from Kolej Tingkatan Enam Desa Mahkota, Kuala Lumpur, believed they did pretty well by winning a consolation prize.
Speaking on behalf of Team Banana Studio, Jaganath Hari said the competition was good exposure as it was something they had never experienced.
“The competition helped us to improve our general knowledge as well as self-confidence. We worked hard as a team and did a lot of research outside the topics we usually touch on,” said the 19-year-old. He added that he had never presented or spoken publicly in front of an audience.
He intends to participate in the competition again next year.
Inspired by articles on food contamination published in The Star, Team Banana Studio’s movie plot was about “Pisang Man: The Unsung Hero” which aimed to educate the public about food hygiene.
English teacher and supervisor Shalini Palraj said she was proud of the team for stepping out of their comfort zone.
“The students are in an exam-oriented education which has little to nothing on creativity and thinking out of the box.
When it came to this competition, they started having conversations
about information that will not be tested in the exam.
“This sort of competition helps students become aware of the social issues that could affect them. It also builds their soft skills, presentation skills, body language, which are things they’ve never been bothered to think about before,” she pointed out.
The Smarties team from SMK Sungai Kapar Indah, Selangor, was another finalist who won the consolation prize, based on their work that emphasised drug abuse and mental health.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Hisvary Murali, 16, and Nor Mazleen Mokhtar, 17, said the competition was a good learning experience.
“I’m not really good at writing, which was why I challenged myself by taking on the task of writing the abstract. Now I’m a little better,” said Hisvary who is determined to do better in the competition next year.
“We got to delve deeper into social issues that are happening instead of just reading the headlines or retweeting the news when it appears on social media,” said Nor Mazleen who regarded the competition as a “sweet memory” before graduating from secondary school.
Their supervisor and English teacher Umavathy Govendan said the competition allowed students to experience independent and collaborative learning.
“They had a lot of fun along the way and managed to obtain some handy skills, such as research, editing, and communication skills. It was very hands-on, no chalk-and-talk and spoon-feeding them,” she said, adding that the students were the sole proprietors of the whole project.
The judges comprised Education Ministry Co-curriculum and Arts Division assistant director Nadhirah Azman, Genting Malaysia Berhad vice president resort communications and public relations Katherine Chew and Star Media Group executive editor Errol Oh Boon Peng.
Chew, who was also a judge for last year’s Star-NiE contest, thought that presentations were outstanding this year.
“The message behind the poster by grand prize winner is a very encouraging one. We face challenges everyday and we should face them positively. It was nice. I think we all need hope in whatever we do.”
“The first-runner up also did very well highlighting sex education. A lot students in Malaysia don’t really study sex education. I think it should be more widely taught in school, so that students are more aware of what is right and wrong.”
Nadhirah noted that the competition tested students on all language skills.
“We want to produce students who are holistic individuals - those who can write and speak confidently and are independent users of the English language.
“Co-curriculum plays an important role in their education. It contributes to their PAJSK (Pentaksiran Aktiviti Jasmani Sukan & Kokurikulum) marks that they will need when they move on to tertiary studies.”
Oh said that it was nice to see young people being enthusiastic about highlighting social issues.
“The prizes are no doubt a moti- vation, but I’d like to think that they have become truly passionate about the issues after finding out more while preparing for this competition.”
Adding to the excitement, the winners of the #BEBASKARTEL Choral Speaking Competition on Competition Law 2018 by the Malaysia Competition Commission’s (MyCC) from SMK Jalan Bukit, Kajang, Selangor, made a special performance with their piece titled “We Are Who We Are”.
SMK Jalan Bukit senior assistant (co-curriculum) Hamidah Abd Latif, who is also the trainer for the school choral speaking group said that she came personally to watch the finals of the Star-NiE contest.
“Very interesting! I think it’s just beautiful. This contest is in line with what we are doing in school. It combines English, art as well as technology.
“Different aspects are interwoven in Star Flicks. Star-NiE is really motivating students to participate and to become aware of what is going on around us. Congratulations to all the winners!”
This contest is endorsed by the Education Ministry.