Book Days Article

Grab your books, your writing utensils and your thinking caps because it’s time for the Book Days Event of 2021! Book Days was a 3-day event which started on Tuesday, October 26^th and ended on Thursday October 28^th. Students from grades 1-6 get to engage in interactive learning and exploration of literature in 3 different languages:  English, Mandarin, and Bahasa Indonesia.

The duration of Our Book Days activity was 50 minutes for 3 consecutive days. The primary school students were grouped into 3 Google meet classrooms – (Grade 1 & 2), (Grade 3 & 4), and (Grade 5 & 6). Each day each Google classroom would engage in either English, Mandarin or Bahasa Indonesia activity until all grade levels finish their 3 languages Book Days experience.

For English, students learn to make Animal Riddles and masks, practiced real-time conversation, made posters using the Canva program, and also brainstormed ideas to make a storyboard. For Mandarin, our colorful and bubbly Mandarin teachers let the students watch a short film about a popular Chinese folk tale. After viewing the film, the teachers translated the story using Bahasa Indonesia. As for Bahasa Indonesia, students read a short story about popular Indonesian myths and then answered some discussion questions provided by the teachers.

The Book Days event synthesized the 3 main languages that the students have been learning in SHB. With the different variety of activities, projects, and materials amassed in this event, the students could get a clear idea how important these 3 languages are.