Once again we missed assembly. Sigh. Hopefully a better start tomorrow.
Today we went to the Melaka Zoo. It was HOT but great. Awi, Nani and Lin drove there with us, and Lin went in with us. You may be thinking ‘seen one zoo you’ve seen them all’… but this was no ordinary Adelaide Zoo experience. There were all the usual inhabitants + some very exciting ones as well. Among the most exciting were:
Elephants, Rhinoceros, Wildebeast and Sun Bears :)
We watched an elephant show during which I was asked to join them in the enclosure. An elephant put a hat on my head using its trunk and picked up a coin and gave it to me (which I dropped… after the elephant did such a great job). There were three elephants and they played a song for us – one on the harmonica, one on the tambourine and one on the drums. Very talented elephants!
After the zoo, Awi, Nani and Lin took us to A’Famosa, which is a historical site. We went inside the ruins of St. Paul’s Church.
BEST. MEAL. EVER. tonight. Awi drove all around Melaka looking for Sate for us for dinner. After many failed attempts, we found some and it was worth the wait. Dinner consisted of 2 glasses of ice cold watermelon juice, Pataya and Sate (satay).
Speech
Not a whole lot to report from our observations in the classrooms…
Class #1 = Art Class.
The kids were super cute, the two that were there anyway! Aliah and Husni are both 7 – Aliah is just deaf however Husni has dyslexia as well as being deaf. There are two other children normally in the class who are not only deaf, which would be difficult enough, but also have to cope with having dyslexia AND autism. They are also twins. The children sought our confirmation in much the same way as Australian children do, through eye contact and positive reinforcement – they simply don’t use spoken words.
An aspect of the education system in Malaysia that is vastly different is there is no need for permission from parents for us to take photos of the children. Thus, photos abounded…
Aliah Husni
Class #2 = Life skills
I am not certain how the ability to build a table out of drinking straws and masking tape is a life skill, but nevertheless, that is what was done. It was interesting to note that the children did not have their own scissors or masking tape, as we would in Australian classrooms. The teacher said this was a matter of controlling the children, as they would play around with the scissors and not pay attention. It was great to be able to join in an activity with the kids, as most of our time here has been observations rather than volunteering and participation. I think most of this is due to the communication barriers with both the children and the teachers.
Audiology with Zaidee (the pretend audiologist)…
Earlier today two children had complained that there was a problem with their hearing aids, and so came Zaidee to the rescue. He is not qualified to repair hearing aids, but checks the batteries in them and determines whether it is just a problem with the batteries… or if the BTE device itself is broken. Most of the children who have hearing aids here where BTE devices (behind the ear).
I was lucky (if you call hearing a VERY loud screeching noise lucky) to listen to what the children hear through their BTE when it is not functioning properly. Not pleasant at all. Jess and Zaidee had a good chortle at the face I pulled. Hopefully we will get to hear what a working hearing aid sounds like soon!
To attend this school, and live in the hostel, children’s parents pay for half of the cost, and the government gives them scholarships to pay the remaining amount. The costs for the parents of hearing impaired children can be quite larger, as the ear mould of the hearing aid must be changed when it becomes hard (it is normally soft … like silicone) and is usually every 6 months. The cost of 2 BTE hearing aids is usually 6000RM (approx. $2000).
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