This is a noble initiative by a fellow Malaysian, Mark Lee, who hope to create a grassroot project to help fellow Malaysian students.
+++++++++++++ Helping Your Fellow Malaysian Students ++++++++++++
Many of you are fluent in English, and have broadband Internet access that allows you to access the wealth of educational resources available on the Internet.
However, some of your fellow Malaysian students, particularly in the rural areas, have barely begun to comprehend the opportunities that top notch educational resources, much less college education, can provide.
And you can help to address this educational gap for those who have limited English-language skills, and/or limited broadband access.
Sharing Top-Notch Educational Content with the Less Fortunate
There's a tremendous need for top-notch educational content, especially in math and the sciences, within Malaysia. The Khan Academy (KA) provides FREE highly recognized and successful educational content presented via easily digestible and understood video-clips.
However, the content is in English, which limits access by those who have limited English language skills. The proposed solution (S1) is to provide Malay sub-titles for relevant KA video-clips.
1-Hour Gifts of Your Time
To quote Jacintha Tagal - raised in Kuching and graduated from Harvard:
"[I] realize that the sort of person you want to be is a person whose life multiplies life for others, especially those who lack the opportunities that you have been given."
If you are moved to multiply life for others, please volunteer 1-hour gifts of your time to do either or both of the following (repeat as often as desired 
):
- Translate a 10-min video-clip from English to Malay, which will take approximately an hour.
- Critique a translated 10 min video-clip, which will take approximately 30 mins. Thus within 1 hour, you can critique two 10 min Malay-translated video-clips.
Making A Difference via Your Volunteer Time Contributions
The Belajar MY intiative will depend solely upon volunteer time contributions.
As far as I can tell, money and materials will be needed only for the S2 phase: production and distribution of DVDs. However, the S2 phase will come only after S1: Malay sub-titling of the Khan Academy video-clips on the Web has been completed.
Why Am I (Mark Lee) Doing This?
I have been extremely fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to study overseas, which has greatly expanded my horizons. I have an Orlando-focused educational blog, with the tagline "Enriching Minds, Transforming Lives". http://slchoices.wordpress.com/.
You and I have the opportunity to Enrich the Minds and Transform the Lives of our fellow Malaysians. It's up to us to help!
Next Steps
Step 1:
The key need is the initial mapping of relevant KA instructional to the Malaysian secondary school curriculum. If you are an experienced math tutor, an experienced math teacher, or know those in those roles who can help out, please contact me!
Until the mapping is well underway, we will have to wait to undertake the conversion (read translation) into Malay, and the subsequent critiques of the converted content.
Step 2:
In the meantime, please subscribe/follow the following for updates, including the need for your help:
Feel free to share the "Belajar MY" initiative with others. The initial focus is upon Math, with the hope/expectation of extension into the sciences.
BTW, I have this wonderfully quirky idea of inviting BillG (formerly of MSFT) to do a a short video-clip invitation/introduction, in Malay 
, of the Malay-subtitled Khan Academy video-clips.
The sooner the Malay-subtitling is done, the earlier I can work on inviting him to do a Malay-language invitation/introduction.
Support
The following individuals are already aware of the Khan Academy, and are very supportive of the "Belajar MY" initiative.
- Johan of Talent Corp
- Dzameer of Teach for Malaysia
- Wan Saiful of IDEAS
- Ong Shien Jin
- Suhaimi Ramly
Allow me to end with a vignette of a Malaysian helping a fellow Malaysian.
I had just alighted from the LRT @ KL Sentral. Amidst the mass of people making their way to the down escalator, there was a young lady walking rapidly towards a blind man gingerly tapping his red-white cane towards the down escalator.
It seemed she was about to bump into him; instead she reached out to gently hold his wrist, and carefully guided him down the escalator.I was touched by her compassion. Despite being of different races, she saw not his race, but rather his need. There's still hope for Malaysia, and you are part of that hope.
Posts
