N.I.C.E.

This workshop was conducted at the Amazing Borneo Tours conference room. It was a joint effort between Amazing Borneo Tours and Lifeskills Training Center. The admission to the workshop was free of charge and the workshop lasted from 9 am to 4 pm. The workshop was conducted by two speakers, namely, Audrey Koh Sui Ean (B.Education TESL HONS UK) and Chai Lee Fong (Talent Management & Certified Advanced Behaviorial Analyst). Their topics for the day were English Foundation & Critical Thinking Skills, respectively.

The attendees for this workshop were mostly tourism industry team players. To them, effective communication skills are important, as their job requires them to have interaction with people from all over the world. Critical Thinking Skills was also taught in this workshop to encourage creativity and problem solving.

The attendees were taught proper written grammar and encouraged to engage in a “Proper English” speech exchange. At the end of the session, confidence in speaking in the English language was observed. This would, in the long run, greatly enhance the travel experience for many tourists who come to visit Sabah.

Today’s increasing trend towards globalization, advances in IT and other developments in society have brought considerable convenience to our society. Although, more often than not, it has resulted in a reliance on technology. Many a times, we opt to rely on our smartphone instead of using creative methods to solve a problem. We fear that in the long run, our thoughts and intelligence would be disjointed. This is why during our Critical Thinking Session with Chai Lee Fong, participants were given a set of puzzles to solve. Through the session, we were reminded to exercise not just our fingers, but most importantly our brain. Participants were encouraged to use depth in their thinking skills, and this is essential to problem solving, especially during a crisis.

Having experienced the Sabah earthquake, it was important to us as a company to improve the image of our state and nation. A lot of media attention and light was shed on our heroic malim gunung (mountain guides). Unfortunately, many of them spoke limited to little English, and struggled during the media interviews. As such, we decided to extend our workshop and bring it to them. The event was held at the meeting room of the Kinabalu National Park and was extended to all mountain guides and staff who worked at KNP.

We started the workshop with Kenji (Amazing Borneo’s sales director), giving a speech in a mixture of Bahasa Melayu and English. Upon hearing a familiar language, it immediately broke the ice in the meeting room. After which, hands come up more often and responses are shot out more readily throughout the session. Many times, we receive feedback that the mountain guides were a quiet and reserved bunch. However, many do not know that a large part of their reserve is due to their lack of confidence in conversing in English. When surrounded by their own, they are more confident and less shy of making mistakes when speaking in English. This was also one of the reasons why we preferred to bring the workshop to them.

The initial objective of the workshop was to encourage them to open up and embrace the English language; however, much to our pleasant surprise, many of them made a considerable effort to speak in good grammar after the session with Audrey.

During the Sabah earthquake, critical thinking skills were one of the most important steps in crisis management. Our mountain guides braved through the cold and harsh conditions to help the climbers get down the mountain. At the time of the crisis, where several routes were blocked by fallen hedges and stones, creativity and critical thinking skills were essential in paving new paths. During the workshop, we were impressed with the mountain guides. They were active in solving the given puzzles. This serves as a further reminder to us that it is important to rely less on technology and to actively exercise our most important asset to the human race — our depth of thoughts and intelligence.

The beautiful island of Mantanani is one of the most popular tourist choice when it comes to beach destinations in Sabah. Together with Amazing Borneo’s staff, 24 students and four teacher from the American School of Dubai relived the more glorious days of the mosque in Mantanani Island by giving it a fresh coat of paint. It was an all-hands-on project as students and teachers alike got sweaty and messy covering the mosque’s fences and exterior walls. It was a memorable and hearty experience, as the villagers surprised us with refreshments, thereby creating an opportunity for a cultural exchange.

During the event, our company took the chance to donate more than 200 kg worth of rice to the families in need on the island. The families in need came from different background, with some disabled kids and single parenting homes. It was heartening to see how our little contributions were received with much gratitude and happiness.

We ended the event with spirits renewed, hearts filled w satisfaction and a thank you note from Mohd Tahir Ismawi, village chief of Mantanani Island.

Real education is not confined to the classrooms. We believe exchange programs build character, develop social skills and fosters friendship. International learning and knowledge propels students towards acceptance and understanding of an array of different cultural and community perspectives. Through the exchange programs that we have helped organize and coordinate, students are able to broaden their general knowledge and learn from one another.

On 18th of March 2014, the staff and cohort of Greenridge School set off to SK Mantob Primary School (transportation and logistics from Amazing Borneo Tours). They were given a warm welcome with the traditional Sumazau dance. We started the program with the headmistress’ welcome remarks, after which, the students and teachers of Greenridge School did their introduction and sharing session. During the session, English language was used and encouraged as part of the program’s objectives was to encourage students of SK Mantob to embrace the English language.

As part of the CSR initiative, Amazing Borneo provided the raw materials of wood, tools and paint for the making of shoe racks. The 15-year-old students and their teachers came together to assemble shoe racks for the school. It was definitely an eye-opening experiences for the Singaporean students, having observed the basic lifestyle and needs of the village kids. Many of them went home feeling grateful and more appreciative of the simple things in life.

Following the success of the previous experience, Amazing Borneo once again organized another similar event with Greenridge School, Singapore. The objectives were similar, but with some changes made to the activities. Once again, AK Mantob Primary School was chosen for because its setting encouraged students involved to reflect on the learning exposure. To kickstart the day, the Singapore students organized and led some friendly games relating to English and science. The games created and allowed opportunities for an amiable exchange.

It was also one of our objectives to help improve the basic facilities of the school. Thus, following the footsteps of the previous experience, we once again provided the raw materials of wood, tools and paint. This time however, wooden bookshelves were made instead, having observed the lack of it from the previous experience. As the students and staff of Amazing Borneo set about assembling the shelves, unconsciously, this is the kind of experiential learning not taught and offered when desk-bounded in the classroom. It is through such exchanges that produces the most positive learning outcomes — learning from the heart.