For the June 2010 graduation, ELS JB organized an educational Earth Day graduation, which was both informative and exciting. Students gathered at the centre before 9 am and we began our day with a poster and craft making competition. Students from all levels had to create a poster on how to conserve our environment and also create an innovative and purposeful item using recycled materials; cans, bottles, boxes and newspapers. The teachers were amazed by the creativity of the students who were immersed in their task for about an hour.

Following that, we had a guest speaker from WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), Mr. Lasal Asirvatham. Mr. Lasal gave a presentation on the importance of conserving the habitat of our wildlife. After a brief introduction on wildlife in Malaysia, he moved to his main topic of his speech for that day, tigers and their habitat. Many interesting facts about tigers were exposed in the presentation. The students were captivated by the presentation of the guest speaker. Both the students and teachers learnt a lot of unknown facts about these majestic creatures. After the presentation, Mr.Lasal fired some questions at the students and gave away some WWF souvenirs as gifts to the students who answered his questions correctly.

At the end of the presentation, a student was dressed in a panda suit for the photography session. The last event of the day was a story telling competition. A total of eight students took part in the event. Great stories were told by the students. Every beginning has to come to an end. Thus, we concluded a great graduation with the prize giving ceremony and best student certificate presentation.

It was with great pleasure and excitement that ELS Johor Bahru welcomed 16 working adults from Mongolia for the May 2010 session. This group of students was the fifth batch of Mongolians to study in the Centre; the first group of students arrived in 2007.

All sixteen students are employed in various departments in the Energy Research and Development Centre, in Mongolia and were given the opportunity by their employer to visit Malaysia to improve their English and also be exposed to Malaysian culture – “edutourism” at its best!

Once the students were placed in their classes they settled in very quickly to their new environment. They were all very keen to study and immerse themselves in the learning process. They mixed freely with the other students in the centre and took every opportunity to practice the English learnt in class. Their eyes lit up when they understood and were able to ask and respond to questions in English. Their enthusiasm for learning was contagious! By the end of the session the progress that had been made was clearly seen.

In addition to their studies the students visited many local attractions. One of the highlights was a tour of Johor Bahru organized by the front-desk staff. Students visited the famous Indian Glass Temple, the 100 year-old Chinese Temple and the Sultan Abu Bakar Mosque. Also as part of the outing a visit to a local tourist village, the “Malaysia Kampong Culture Village” was arranged. Here the students got the opportunity to experience “kampong” life. The students observed pewter being made, a rubber tapping display, a coconut opening demonstration but even more amazing for them was the chance to paint their own batik pictures. There were some budding artists in the group! In addition, they had the opportunity to watch a traditional Malay dance and participate in a music performance. Fruit tasting was also an item on the itinerary. The students were fascinated by the taste of some of the exotic fruits.

Besides their tour of JB, the group also visited Singapore for shopping, an outing that was really enjoyed. The students also visited Genting Highlands. They really loved it there because of the stunning nature and beautiful scenery. Many amazing photographs were taken for family and friends in Mongolia to see.

It was wonderful to welcome the Mongolians to our centre. We hope in the future that more students from this amazing country will join us.