Pictures CEDI and SLCP
PULAU TUBA, 14 June 2025: In an inspiring blend of education and community engagement, twelve student-mentors from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) are undergoing an immersive, real-world learning experience with local families in Pulau Tuba. This initiative is part of the SE-Budi Hasanah Programme, funded under the Hasanah Special Grant by Yayasan Hasanah, a subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad.
The programme adopts the Community-Based Language Learning (CBLL) framework, a transformative model that integrates English language learning with values education, resilience building, and community empowerment.
Through this framework, student-mentors are trained not only to teach language, but to design learning experiences that are authentic, inclusive, and grounded in the lived realities of the communities they serve.
Over the course of 15 scheduled sessions, these student-mentors are engaging themselves with 250 secondary school students from SMK Langkawi, Pulau Tuba, guiding them through carefully designed modules that combine language instruction with character development and social awareness.
The current immersion phase forms the backbone of this preparation. By living among host families, student-mentors participate in daily routines from early-morning marketing at the jetty, food preparation, and fishing tasks, to mudflat harvesting of shellfish and prawn netting along the mangrove coast. These experiences serve as data points for empathy building and needs assessment, crucial stages in design thinking and experiential learning methodologies that underpin the programme.
“When we entered the muddy mangroves to collect siput while listening to local stories about the sea, we weren’t just learning about livelihoods, we were learning about resilience, identity, and dignity,” shared student-mentor Auliaa Malek.
These interactions allow student-mentors to step into the shoes of the community; helping them develop not just teaching strategies, but deeper cultural intelligence, critical thinking, and emotional connection. Such outcomes align with Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle, ensuring that reflection, action, and meaning-making are embedded in the learning journey.
The immersion activities are organised in collaboration with Koperasi Kepulauan Tuba dan Selat (KOPTUBAS) and with the support of the Langkawi District Education Office (PPD Langkawi). These partnerships provide not only access and trust within the community but also sustainability in project impact.
As the student-mentors deliver the CBLL modules in these continuous sessions, their field experiences will directly shape lesson content, classroom facilitation styles, and the development of student-led micro community projects. This integration of language, values, and civic engagement reflects the holistic vision of SE-Budi Hasanah: to nurture learners who are not only academically capable, but socially responsible and emotionally grounded.
In walking with the community, quite literally through mud, sweat, and shared meals, these student-mentors are experiencing the essence of education beyond the classroom: a journey of humility, relevance, and purpose. – Muhammad Ishaq Hajah Alavudin
