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Fostering Multiculturism

09 Mar 2018 7:48pm
The Asia Pacific Language Centre (APLC) recently brought the world together, as they organized the APLC Cultural Day at APIIT & APLC Campus @ TPM recently.  During this prosperous event, there were many exciting performances and booth displays. Students and teachers worked hand in hand to provide an interesting learning experience of cultures around the world for everyone at the event.
 
Booth displays were arranged by the students who were enthusiastic to not only work together on how to best represent their cultures, but also to learn from others. Each booth provided a myriad of information, decorations, traditional attires, games and food from their respective countries. Students had the opportunity to learn about different cultures in a fun and competitive manner. There were a total of 8 competing booths out of 9 where the Malaysian booth was represented by the teachers.
 

Hampers were presented to the Best Booths by Mr. Vijay Reddy, the Senior Manager of Special Projects. The winners for the booth display competition are
 
First Place:       Africa
Second Place: Central Asia
Third Place:     South East Asia, India and Bangladesh
Fourth Place: Middle East
 
On the other hand, total of 10 amazing performances by the students not only showed the aesthetic beauty of their cultures, but also their profound talents and love for their nation. The performances included traditional and modern dancing, singing, playing a traditional musical instrument, calligraphy and fashion show from the Middle East, African countries, Kazakhstan, China, South East Asia, Bangladesh, India and Japan. Lastly, a demonstration of the Malay traditional martial art called the ‘Silat Seni Tari’ by our guest performers, the members of APU Malay Cultural Society (AMCS) wrapped up the colourful and culturally mesmerising event.

     

It was definitely a fantastic experience and opportunity for students, teachers and attendees of the event to learn about the many cultures around the world. The success of this event was made possible through a common language, English, which united people from different parts of the world under one roof. It is with high hopes that this event will always be cherished as one of the many beautiful memories of the students of APLC.

Learning About Diversity and Inclusion - APU Lecturers and Students Participated in 4 Days 3 Nights Camp Alongside 100 Participants

20 Apr 2017 3:58pm

“We are all different, which is great because we are all unique. Without diversity life would be very boring.” — Catherine Pulsifer

In line with our practices to celebrate diversity, 2 lecturers, Siti Sarah and Audrey Linda Fernando and 15 students participated in the 5th Diversity & Inclusion Youth Camp that was held from the 24th – 27th April at UTM, Johor.  The camp’s main objective was to nurture students into becoming future moderate global citizens by increasing their awareness of diversity, imparting skills to them and providing them with the tools and frameworks in a supportive environment. In order to achieve the goals of diversity and Inclusion, the Camp involved students in processes that helped them examine their own assumptions, stereotypic outlooks, and prejudices, and encouraged the values of mutual acceptance, appreciation, respect, and understanding among the participants with the hope that the message will continue to spread long after the Camp is over. The Diversity & Inclusion Youth Camp hopes to make our youth a generation that promotes diversity, inclusion, and moderation so as to make Malaysia and its neighboring countries in ASEAN region, a warm and understanding society.

 

The camp saw over 100 participants from Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. It was led by two trainers, Dr. Hamidah Marican and Patricia Rita Nunis from HarmonyWorks Sdn Bhd, and facilitators from various other institutions. Throughout the camp, group discussions, talks, and performances took place, in which students had the opportunity to learn how to work with each other, understand different points of view across different ethnic cultures, overcome prejudices and stereotypes in order to deliver the most feasible solution.

 

It was a great experience for the students; we are glad to see that they can now see the world from a bigger perspective, as they learned to accept, to embrace and to tolerate the cultural differences that they experience in their daily lives. The students who attended the camp were highly motivated to continue as Ambassadors of Diversity and Inclusion, in which they are now planning to start their own Diversity and Inclusion Club on-campus, in order to narrow the unseen gap among their fellow friends. Kudos to the students for their initiatives!