STUDENTS GAIN INSIGHT INTO NST
Participants find NST resourceful and fun
EIGHTY students from the Austin Heights Private and International School took part in a New Straits Times-Newspaper in Education (NST-NIE) workshop on Saturday.
The students, aged between 15 and 17, were introduced to the different segments of newspaper articles in the News, Sports, Business, Life & Times pullouts and Op-Ed commentaries.
Activities such as a “Scavenger Hunt” to find articles, group performances, where they mimed an article of choice for the other groups to guess, and matching headlines to texts and pictures, among other things, kept them on their toes.
Student Channelle Chong Ziyi said she expected a workshop using newspapers to be boring, but was surprised how useful the NST was for her studies.
The 16-year-old was impressed with Life & Times’ Heal pullout, published on Tuesdays, as it contained articles that reflected her passion for physical and mental health matters.
“When I was told that I would attend a workshop using the newspaper, I thought it would be boring. But after seeing the quality and indepth articles in the NST, I couldn’t wait to go home and tell my father to subscribe to it,” said Chong.
Lee Zhao Yong, 16, the school’s head boy, said he learned about the writing styles in the newspaper.
“There are many topics that interest me in the newspaper.
“More importantly, I learn about the news style of writing to boost my vocabulary and English proficiency,” he said.
Bhuvanadevi Elanchelvan, 15, said she preferred the “feel” of a newspaper over reading news on social media or portals.
“Of course, people my age prefer reading things online.
“But trending topics are delved into and examined in the newspaper, and this makes it a more reliable source of current issues,” said Bhuvanadevi.
Pooja Balachandran, 14, praised the NST-NIE workshop’s facilitator, Vincent D’Silva, who is the Johor English Language Teaching Association (Jelta) president, for conducting a lively session.
“He encouraged us to write in sections such as School Times, and if we are confident enough, we could even write to the Letters to the Editor page if we are passionate about certain issues.