ELC Reading Club#6 - I am Malala “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”

        On 3rd June 2022, the English Language Centre held its reading club#6 on an autobiography entitled I am Malala. Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education. In 2014, when she was 17, she was awarded the Nobel Peace, making her the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate. Malala is also the second Pakistani and the first Pashtun to ever receive a Nobel Prize. 

        As usual, the reading club was held online via Google Meet from 7pm to 8.20pm, and was joined by 7 students and two teachers. Miss Shyne, the chair of the event started the session with an ice-breaking activity, getting the participants to briefly introduce themselves and tell everyone if they have finished reading the book. Though most of the participants did not manage to finish the entire book, they found Malala’s story very intriguing and certainly provided much food for thought about education. 

        After the brief ice-breaker, the participants took turns to share their thoughts and opinions about Malala and her admirable qualities, and Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai and his influence on Malala. Many of the participants expressed that they are very impressed with Malala’s courage to fight for the right of education for Pakistani girls. Tan Hwei Shan from S3 Birmingham shared that she thought Malala is a rare gem and that if she were in Malala’s shoes, she would not act like she did. Ong Yuan Ting from S3 Canberra mentioned that Malala’s bravery is beyond her comprehension and she could not imagine herself doing the same if she received death threats from the terrorists. 

        When being asked to share their favourite part of the book, most participants said that they were surprised to read about the courage portrayed in Malala. “Her story has inspired me to be courageous because she fearlessly stood up to people who denied her rights to education just because she was born to be a female,” commented Lee Yan Qi, one of the participants from S3 Chicago. The participants also took turns to explain their least favourite part of the book. One participant named Koh Ee Jane from J1 Ottawa expressed that she found the shooting incident very frightening. “The book started with the shooting incident and I was not ready for it as I thought it would come much later on. The thought that she was shot while on her way to school in a school bus is just very terrifying to me.” 

        All the participants also had the opportunity to recite a phrase or two from the book which they found most inspiring and it was pleasant to see some participants highlighting the phrases recited for future references. Before the session ended, Miss Shyne invited everyone for a group photo.