Teachers to present dramas at Rotary LIT Showcase 2018

KOTA KINABALU: The Rotary Club of Kinabalu Sutera and the Rotary Club of Likas Bay have jointly launched their latest project named the Rotary LIT Showcase 2018.

The project, which is funded by the two clubs, the Yayasan KelabKelab Rotary Malaysia and the Kota Kinabalu Rotary Instititue, is an advanced literacy programme which focuses on students and teachers in the suburban and rural areas of Sabah to improve their level of literacy and communication skills in English.

LIT means lit up or lighting up Rotary to the public to showcase the noble deeds that Rotary does for the community.

LIT is also the abbreviation for literacy and the importance Rotary places on advanced literacy among the younger generation.

Finally, LIT stands for literature in which Rotary emphasises language arts and the appreciation of the English language as a global language to people and cultures.

Supporting education and literacy is one of Rotary’s six areas of focus. More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate.

Rotary’s goal is to strengthen the capacity of the community to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.

The objective of this programme is to equip students with not only content knowledge but effective communication abilities to enable them to function and perform at optimum level in order to become productive members of society.

A sustainable advanced literacy programme, the project aims to enhance “learning to read,” improve “reading to learn,” and give access to knowledge.

It also encourages students to keep reading and learning as they are expected to collate the information gained and collaborate to produce a worthy drama to showcase the skills they have acquired.

Receiving the support from the Sabah State Education Department, the project will run from September through December 2018. It will be implemented in stages.

In the planning stage, a theatre and drama vocational training programme was held from September 6 to 7, which was participated by nine teachers from three schools identified earlier.

The schools involved were SMK Narinang Kota Belud, SMK Kinarut Papar and SMK Nambayan Tambunan.

The Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu or SPARKS and Green Leaf Theatre facilitated the well-received training programme.

Throughout the programme, the participants learnt about drama, musical theatre and technology, scriptwriting and performing arts from six facilitators.

Present at the closing ceremony of the two-day programme were President Francis Ng of the Rotary Club of Kinabalu Sutera, President Lim Chin Pin of the Rotary Club of Likas Bay, Past District Director Philip Chong and Project Chairs Audrey Koh and Emily Chong.

The setting up stage will see the delivery of the Rotary Learning Hub, which will constitute educational resources, computers and printers to the three schools selected.

Francis Ng said, “The computers would not only be for the use of English but other subjects such as History and Geography.”

Towards the end of the project, the three teams of teachers will return to Kota Kinabalu to showcase their respective dramas at the Rotary LIT Showcase 2018, which will be held on November 17 at the Mini Putrajaya Auditorium Kota Kinabalu.

Each team will present a twentyminute drama.

The public will be invited to watch the showcase.