When learning a foreign language in early age, we often say that “interest is the key”. Garden International School (GIS) Primary students had the opportunity to demonstrate their second-language proficiency through a Bahasa Malaysia show performed in the school.

The 45-minute show told the story of a durian prince and mangosteen princess with local cultural elements to represent the diversity of Malaysia.

“Using a show to practise a foreign language is an effective method to motivate second language learners. It helps them to apply their learnt skills in meaningful situations and interesting dialogues so that they retain the skills in the long run,” explained Ai Li Gao, Head of Primary Modern Foreign Language (MFL).

“The Primary MFL curriculum is mostly story/music-based to reflect the interests of young learners and to ensure that they learn a language for a purpose. The storyline of this show was based on daily-life situations. In particular, this script was written to combine the learning children did related to fruits, introducing oneself in a conversational setting, and Malaysian culture,” she added.

Even though this is the first ever Malay show, this is the third show produced by the primary MFL department. Previously, they had organised two successful Mandarin shows for the delight of students and parents.

This article was originally published in The Expat magazine (January 2017) which is available online or in print via a free subscription.