School radio station hosts VIPs
Vocational institute NorthLight School teaches radio broadcasting to all Year 3 students as part of the school’s new media curriculum. Interested students can join the school’s radio club to produce weekly talk-radio segments that are broadcasted ‘live’ on Fridays. Prime Minister Lee and Education Minister Ng Eng Hen are two of the local dignitaries hosted by the school thus far.
Read on to find out more about how this initiative has benefited students and prepares them for their vocations in the future.
School radio station that could
NorthLight school's radio station has hosted VIPs such as the Prime Minister and Education Minister Ng Eng Hen
Not everyone gets to tell the Prime Minister what to do. But when NorthLight student Vincent Pereira Guy sat down for a radio interview with Mr Lee Hsien Loong in February last year, the affable 16-year-old reminded his guest of honour not to press the wrong buttons.
'Sir,' he said, 'this is a ‘’live’’ broadcast.'
Since going on air in early 2008, a humble student radio station in a school for academically challenged kids has, quite unexpectedly, hosted dignitaries such as PM Lee and Education Minister Ng Eng Hen.
Run by students and teachers, NorthLight School's radio station made the news recently when the PM revealed that he had been making quiet visits to schools.
The vocational training school in Dunman Road, which takes in students who have failed their Primary School Leaving Examination twice or more, was one of his stops. There, he said, he gave a ‘live’ interview on campus radio.
He was not the first VIP to do so. During a school visit in October 2008, Dr Ng was put in the hot seat opposite one of Vincent's schoolmates Noor Ashikin, says NorthLight's vice-principal Chia Hai Siang.
Vincent, who is studying food preparation and goes by the on-air moniker DJ Legend, says the PM was 'cheerful and always smiling'. He was 'very shocked' to have been chosen for the job of interviewing the PM - but not as much as his parents, who own a security company.
'They thought I was joking,' he says. 'They believed me the next day only when I showed them a photo.'
During Vincent's 20-minute session with the PM, he quizzed Mr Lee on what students of the school should achieve. The interview was broadcast ‘live’ within the school's premises.
At NorthLight, all Year 3 students are taught radio broadcasting as part of the school's new media curriculum. Those interested can then join the radio club as a co-curricular activity, producing a weekly 15-minute, mostly talk-radio segment that goes on air every Friday at noon.
Recording takes place in a $30,000 professional-looking New Media Centre built with help from the Singapore Media Academy. The academy also roped in former deejay Belinda Sunshine to train students and teachers on the basics of radio production.
Information and Communications Technology teacher William Tan sees the radio station as an accessible way to teach IT skills to students with low English literacy. About half of those who first enter NorthLight have reading ages below that of seven-year-olds.
Radio production encourages them to read, write and speak, says Mr Tan.
Adds Mr Chia: 'Even more important than reading or writing is their confidence level. In the past, these were students who wouldn't dare to speak in front of a crowd. They would look down at the floor when their teachers spoke to them.'
Apart from getting to rub shoulders with movers and shakers, the students hope some broadcasting experience will prepare them for their vocations later.
Year 4 student Lee Chuan Jie, 17, who studies retail, says speaking up gives him more confidence to 'serve customers and promote products'.
Others, like Year 3 Kevin Nonis, 15, might have bigger dreams. Says the fan of shock jock Glenn Ong: 'In the future, if we get this kind of job in radio, we will know what to do.'
Source: 10 January 2010, The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Permission required for reproduction.