Effective Communication with Children

Everyone loves working with children and as teachers- communicating with the main subject of their day , the child in front of them is of utmost importance.

Effective communication is multifaceted and learning to have an effective style brings out the most from a child as every child is different too as each teacher is.

This interactive-workshop covers understanding the different communication styles of children including reasons for some of these differences. Teachers will take away skills on how to adjust the way they speak (voice, speech rate, prosody, positioning, body language) to help children connect with them.  The workshop covers learning different speaking strategies and how to keep a conversational balance so that children would like to continue relating to them. 

We will also cover foundational issues that a teacher can pick up on that may affect a child’s ability to communicate.

Pamela began working with communities with speech-language, communication and feeding needs since the age of 16, while serving as a volunteer and later as a young speech therapy assistant during her secondary school holidays in Perak and gained more than she could imagine. She is a certified practising Speech Pathologist with the Malaysian Association of Speech-Language and Hearing (MASH) as well as the body of Speech Pathology Australia. (SPA). Pamela currently runs an active speech clinic that focuses on family coaching for children struggling with speech and communication within the session in KPJ Sabah Specialist Hospital, Kota Kinabalu.

Pamela uses eclectic approaches such as Voicecraft, Hanen, Floortime, MAKATON and cued articulation and PROMPT amongst other evidenced based approaches working with a varied population of disorders. She believes in the wholistic care of a child, and underwent training in Family Therapy and systemic practice to help families further. Her favourite therapy partner is the parent. She respects and know that some children spend far more time with their teachers than with their own parents, hence she is very excited to be able to share her skills at this conference.

Encouraging language creative expression through drama, poetry, & Storytelling

Including poetry, drama, and storytelling in a language learning classroom has numerous benefits for children of all ages and stages of development, ranging from improved language and communication to increased expression and confidence. Poems can be used to introduce or practise new vocabulary, language structures, speech patterns, and rhyming devices, for example. While reading poetry helps children learn about voice, pitch, volume, and inflection, dramatising stories and performing poetry benefits children by allowing them to use language in real-world contexts making language learning more engaging and fun. In this session, Elaine will talk about these benefits in depth and offer some teaching strategies and activities that you can immediately implement in your classrooms.

Elaine Foster is a poet, arts educator and community engaged theatre maker from Malaysia and the UK. She is the founder of MY Poetry School and the first annual national youth poetry slam in Malaysia. She regularly runs interactive storytelling, drama and poetry workshops for both children and adults that often focus on social and environmental justice issues. Most recently, she ran a series of online storytelling workshops for Universiti Malaya, re-telling Malaysian traditional folktales using puppets with children and co-organised the Kuala Lumpur Youth Literary Arts Festival (KLYLAF) 2022. Elaine has also taught a course for final year TEFL students titled 'Performance in Literature Education' for UM's Dept. of Language and Literacy Education

She is currently a house parent and assistant English Literature teacher at an international school in Kuala Lumpur where she has been based for over 20 years. She is a self identified feminist and a huge advocate for the rights of young people and their rights to self expression.

Project Based Learning for Children

A Project Based Learning (PBL) Experience: The Significant “MASAK-MASAK” for Early Childhood Education in Malaysia.

If you were to reminisce about your childhood, what would you recall?

The phrase “MASAK-MASAK” is not available in dictionary, it was originated from the Malaysia’s national language – Malay. “MASAK” (pronounced as Ma-sak), carries a few meanings, namely “cooking”, “mature” etc. whereas “MASAK-MASAK” is well known phrase in Malaysia among different ethnics, known as “make-believe play” or “toys”.

From the perspective of child development, the maturity of a child’s exploration requires time and continuous hands-on experience, allowing it to accumulate over time. In addition to that, if the process is child-led, the meaning will definitely be more profound.

TALENTO incorporated project based learning elements into children’s daily lesson since 2017. In the “MASAK-MASAK”, teachers listen to children allowing them lead the learning process. Growth and maturity are acknowledged in both children and teachers.

Mr Cheah holds a Master Degree in Child Development (UPM) and is the Managing director of Talento Academy which has earned the recognition of ‘the benchmarking preschool’ in Malaysia. He has 23 years of experience in the industry and manages 8 direct-owned centers. Mr Cheah is also a consultant to 49 preschools nationwide on curriculum transformation programmes.

Loose Parts Play

Loose part have become a buzzword in Early Childhood and there is a good reason why. It is because they are amazing! When Simon Nicholson first proposed the ‘Theory of Loose Parts’ in 1972, he had big ideas about what could be achieved with them. Rather than being seen as a ‘type’ of play. Loose parts work best when they can be freely moved, manipulated and combined with every other aspect of play.

This practical workshop will explore the possibilities of loose parts and provide ideas on how they can be best organized, stored, sourced and made available to maximize use. You will leave this workshop with a new appreciation of the power of Loose parts and how you can make them available, which will expand the way you currently think about them.

Judd is passionate about providing opportunities for children to engage in self- directed play. She ran a business, Journey into Play, that provided training and consultancy, primarily to the Early Childhood sector but she has also worked with schools, out of school hours care and Playworkers. Currently she works at Victoria University as one of their academic staff.

Managing Children with Sensory Issues

This session will help you understand the sensory functions and what is sensory behaviour. You will learn about the difference between behaviour or sensory issues. Puan Mahfuzah will share strategies on how to manage sensory behaviours, and also sensory intervention ideas and tools to help regulate sensory issues in a classroom setting.

Mahfuzah, a graduate from Cardiff University, UK in Occupational Therapy.  She is currently pursuing her doctorate study in Occupational Therapy for school children with University Kebangsaan Malaysia.  She was awarded as Handwriting specialist from Learning without tears in July 2021 and is qualified in Sensory Integration and has been appointed as a Resident Expert for Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO SEN). She is also the author of many specialist books in her area of expertise.

The effects of a synthetic phonics approach on preschoolers' English reading ability

Preschool teachers are always looking for fun ways to teach children to read English successfully. This paper shares how stories, actions and songs can be used to teach preschoolers' to read. These strategies have been found to cater to the differentiated needs in the class. Skills related to the acquisition of language as stipulated in the National Preschool Standard Curriculum (2017), listening, speaking, and reading are discussed.

Creena Alison Wong is the founder of Jolly Learners and currently manages two Playschools and two preschools in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Creena is also an International Synthetic Phonics Trainer and has been teaching for more than 30 years. She has been running projects for government preschools in Sabah and Sarawak since 2011. She is currently pursuing her PhD studies in Early Childhood Education.

Green School and Sustainability in Early Childhood Education

This workshop is designed for early childhood educators and administrators who are interested in creating green and sustainable environments for young children. Participants will gain an understanding of the importance of sustainability in early childhood education and learn how to incorporate environmentally responsible practices into their classrooms and schools.

Participants will be provided with an overview of the concept of green schools and the principles of sustainability in Early Childhood Education. Azura will suggest some practical ways to create a green and sustainable environment for young children.

She is passionate about Early Childhood Education and Child development and have influenced generations of preschool teachers as a university lecture since 2008. She has conducted various Early Childhood Education workshops, talks, forums and seminars globally. She holds a Masters in Early Childhood Education from OUM and a Bachelor of Science in Education (Mathematics & Computer Science) from UTM. She is interested in designing prgrammes to further enhance the professionalism in Early Childhood Practitioners and enjoys conducting and learning from educational research.

Encouraging Scientific Learning & teaching in ECE

Placing human as the central focus in STEM education makes STEM teaching and learning socially and culturally relevant for students of all ages, this has culminating in the current movement to humanise STEM education (HSTEM). Relevance brings meaning and leads to the momentum for action, in this case for sustainable development. HSTEM is especially relevant to the current world as we collectively face global issues such as climate change, pandemic, world hunger, energy sustainability, and clean water. Students need to consider how they can play a role in addressing these issues, whether at the societal or global levels. It is a myth that these topics are too difficult for children, in fact these topics are particularly important to these young ones as the impact on their life is tremendous and they will have to find solution as they reach adulthood. Humanizing STEM education is also aimed towards creating a just and democratic society for sustainability of humanity.

STEM learning is a social activity with potential to integrate moral and democratic values into classroom activities, students need to be aware of their role as agents of social change. For instance,

discussion on the benefits on modern technology should also generate classroom dialogue on why some groups of people have difficulties accessing the technology or how it might affect one’s health

or how its waste leads to issue of landfills etc. Looking at STEM education from this humanistic perspective is transformative in nature which leads to socio-political actions, this requires critical pedagogy. This presentation will look at some of the critical pedagogy.

Ng Soo Boon has a PhD in Education specialising in Curriculum Development and a MEd in science education. She taught Chemistry and Science in schools for 9 years and spent another 27 years developing national curriculum from preschool to upper secondary school. Through the years, she headed the Early Childhood Sector as well as Science, Mathematics and Technology Sector in the Curriculum Development Division (CDD), Ministry of Education (MOE) Malaysia. Her designation in her last five years before retirement was the Deputy Director in CDD, MOE, leading a diverse team in CDD from different disciplines to develop, implement and evaluate the national school curriculum. She is currently a senior lecturer in the Education, Languages and Psychology Faculty, SEGI University. She has vast experience in developing curriculum, producing learning materials, conducting courses, carrying out research as well as managing programs. She was involved in the formulation and implementation of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025. Through the years, she has been actively involved with national as well as international agencies such as UNESCO, IBE, UNICEF, SEAMEO on a number of national and regional projects related to curriculum, science, STEM, girls in STEM, and early childhood. She has published a number of papers in journals and spoke in many conferences. Her latest international project is Hybrid Learning during Covid-19 pandemic.