Jarod Yong

Representing Malaysia & Columbia University... =) This week, I was a privileged 1 of 13 selected education grad students, from Berkeley , Columbia , Harvard , Penn , & Stanford , to attend a mini conference organised by the  Progressive Education Institute  (PEI) of  Harlem Village Academies  (HVA). We had the opportunity to visit 3 HVA charter schools , & hear from their teachers & academic directors: HVA East Elementary, HVA West Elementary, & HVA West Middle. Here's what I learned.

Featured on NST Online - 16 May 2016 (Malaysian Teacher's Day) First, let me wish every Malaysian teacher reading this a Happy Teacher's Day! This Teacher's Day, I was featured in NST print ( I haven't read it yet because I have yet to receive a high resolution photograph of the article. Please help me out! ) as well as NST Online . It is indeed a huge honour to represent the teachers in Malaysia and more specifically my beloved colleagues working at rural/remote schools. Let me clarify that I am NOT the only teacher working in the hinterlands of our country, neither am I the most hardworking or the most deserving of "special" mention. There are plenty who are labouring endlessly for the betterment of the communities they are serving. Unlike syok-sendiri me, thousands serve wholeheartedly without seeking reward or recognition. To these teachers, I salute & I bow in respect. Nonetheless, I did have a purpose for sharing my story. This part of my

My captive audience. =) In March, I presented a poster based on a paper I wrote for one of my courses at TC. The title of the poster was "Recommendations for the Language Vitality of a Native Language in Malaysia". Those of you who are familiar with my teaching background would be able to guess that I was looking into the ethnolinguistic situation of the Iban language. Why conduct the study?