PAL:  Learning Together Take 2!

The last day of school before the recent holiday was not an ordinary day at SK Perian.  They suffered immense damage from the recent floods and we, the Jerantut cluster mentors, decided that it would be nice to do our second Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) event with them.

Our first event was held at SJKT Jerantut and it was a great success so we did not want to change too many aspects.  However, we knew the areas where we could improve, so we put our heads together to polish up the event.

The way it worked

With the help of the mentees we divided the whole school up into 9 groups of mixed ages and levels.  Each mentor gave a PowerPoint presentation about a topic and students were asked to take short notes on mini white boards.  After each mentor was finished questions were asked and slides were replayed so that the students would share what they had learned and had written in their notes. After all three of us had presented we then played a fun interactive “Bomb Game”.

Student taking notes.

Students helping each other

To make sure everyone had a chance to participate we implemented a rule that once a student answers a question they may not answer another one until everyone in their group has had a turn.  It was amazing to see how the older, more advanced students naturally assisted the younger, lower-level students which is what PAL is all about.

With SK Perian being affected by the flood it was wonderful to do a whole school event and see the students enjoyingthemselves, helping each other and learning all at the same time.  I’d like to give thanks to all the teachers at SK Perian who helped and assisted us before and during the event.  You helped make the event a smooth and enjoyable one!

- Melissa Simon
      ELP Jerantut Cluster

Listening to a year 1 student's answer.

Jinks doing his presentation.

The score keepers.

We have the answer!

Josh doing his presentation