Fulbright teachers to help with flood relief

KUALA LUMPUR: Margaret Van Deusen (pix) of the United States, has come to Malaysia to teach English but cannot wait to help out also with the relief efforts in flood-stricken Kelantan.
"I'm heartbroken to learn how bad the situation is in the schools, how bad the flood damage is," said the 22-year-old Van Deusen of Maryland.
She is among the current batch of 100 Fulbright English teaching assistants (ETAs) engaged to serve in about 70 primary and secondary schools in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak, Sabah, Sarawak, Kedah and Perlis this year.
"We're hoping to do some flood relief services in the affected districts since we're not able to start our classes yet," she told Bernama at a reception for the ETAs here.
Another Fulbright ETA, Israel Hernandez, 23, of Chicago, is looking forward with much anticipation to his stint in Kedah.
"I'm going to use curiosity as a tool to engage the students. I hope it could spark activity and make it (the learning experience) more attractive, at the same time breaking barriers and creating a different classroom experience for students," he added.
Anika Manzoor, 23, is relishing the opportunity to continue as an ETA for the second time at SMK Takis in Papar, Sabah.
She helped the school team secure third placing in a zone-level drama competition besides producing a rap song video expressing her students' love for the school.
The ETA programme places Fulbrighters in classrooms abroad to provide assistance to the local English teachers. They help teach the English language while serving as cultural ambassadors for the US.