You, Me and George Town’s Stories
2 FEBRUARY 2024
When asked about one’s first impressions of George Town, the words “historical”, “multicultural” and “busy” often come up. Even after years of being in and around this place, many may still not know what makes George Town the historical, multicultural and busy city that it is. Have you always been curious but wonder how you can begin to explore this?
Well, Arts-ED’s two George Town student programmes, Multicultural Legacies of Early Settlements in George Town and Sustainability of Traditional Trades in George Town, provided participating students with this valuable opportunity. So, let’s follow them along to help you get started on your exploration!
Let’s go on an adventure! photo by: Goh Choon Ean
Understanding and Experiencing the George Town Community
George Town is a place that is brought to life by its communities, who embody and tell their stories which contribute to the rich history and culture. Hence, there is no better place to start than within the community itself. But what makes a community and how do you approach them?
In simple terms, a community is the people who live and work in a specific place. A community shares certain characteristics with each other and often shares a sense of collectiveness. Approaching communities can seem daunting, especially if you aren’t familiar with them. But we can always start small by looking at the friends standing beside us, who themselves may come from different communities. Applying creative tools for getting to know each other, students started out their exploration on cultures and history by interviewing their fellow school mates.
Students are paired up to interview each other about their most consumed foods and common cultural practices in the Cultural ID activity. photo by: Chong Kwang Yew
Now that we’ve warmed up a little, why don’t we try stepping out into the streets of George Town! One of the easiest ways we can learn about the community is through our observations. What tangible and intangible cultural heritage assets can you see around the city? Going about the city, we may often be focused on getting to a certain place, making a beeline straight to it instead of taking a look around. Keeping their eyes peeled, students could point out what monuments and buildings they saw, as well as what professions and religious practices were carried out.
“Woah, that’s so cool!” Our facilitator guide is telling students about the significance of the architecture at the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple (left). The students observe the Logan Memorial monument in George Town (right). photos by: Ooi Win Wen
The most important part about exploring a community is learning from the community themselves. This is where we can begin to understand all the things that we saw. For the students, having some simple tasks proved to be really helpful. Find out how long a local business owner has been running his shop. Get to know the steps in making a certain street food. Ask a devotee at a temple what different prayer items are used for. Talking to people in the community directly didn’t just help them get information about the community, but also build their confidence in interacting with people.
“Oh, I get it now!” Students from our George Town programme sessions interviewing different traders in George Town. photos by: Chong Kwang Yew, Chen Yoke Pin & Ooi Win Wen
So, we’ve got a general picture of the George Town community now. After observing with our eyes and interviewing with our ears and mouths, how else could we delve deeper into this exploration? Years of building relationships with specific community members in George Town allowed Arts-ED to create the opportunity for students to have hands-on experiences and immersive conversations.
Students sat with the community members, joined them in their work, and talked to them about their experience being a part of the George Town landscape throughout the years. By having the chance to get a glimpse into the life and livelihood of a few community members, students were able to develop a deeper understanding, appreciation and empathy for the community and the real issues that take place.
Aunty Ati, the flower garland seller and Master Lee, the woodcarver are guiding the students on how to make a flower garland and carve a wooden signboard, respectively, while chatting about their trades. photos by: Siti Nur Amirah & Josephine Chan
Analysing and Reflecting on the George Town Exploration
With all that we have gathered through our exploration in George Town, it might seem that we’ve pretty much touched all bases of getting to know a community. But have you ever found yourself in one of those moments, days after experiencing something, when you suddenly have an epiphany about something you saw or participated in? That’s our brain processing things, making connections and ideas from the things that we got to know earlier. While that may happen coincidentally for us，we can also harness the benefits of those insights by having discussion, analysis and presentation sessions after our exploration of George Town.
In groups, the students engaged in several discussions and analyses of the findings they had collected, focusing on different aspects and even from different points of views. Students were able to identify what they found significant throughout their exploration in George Town, as well as why these things are considered significant for different groups of people.
“George Town is filled with so much evidence of cultural heritage!” A group of students present their findings on their most significant categories of cultural heritage. photo by: Siti Nur Amirah
Acting on the George Town Experience
Starting out small for our exploration, we then expanded our interactions to more people and more in-depth experiences, finally we take a look back at what this all means for our own lives. At the start of our exploration, the students may have felt detached from the community and their stories. When they were asked about their initial perceptions of George Town and its community, the answers were mostly factual terms or opinion-based thoughts.
After spending time with the community, the students spoke of George Town with a sense of great empathy, warmth and belonging. Students shared what they wanted to do about the issues they witnessed throughout their exploration, and how the experience gave them new opportunities and perspectives. Such activities allowed the students to relate their exploration of George Town to the larger context yet more personal interpretation of what it means to be a responsible citizen.
“After the programme, I think traditional trades…” Students gather around to write and share what they think and feel about traditional trades after a day of exploration and experience. photo by: Ooi Win Wen
Overview: Our community-based approach to experiencing George Town and its Communities
The George Town student programmes we conducted in 2023 were an introduction to George Town and its community, an exploration of the culture and heritage and a catalyst to further understanding and action for students and teachers alike.
The first programme, Multicultural Legacies of Early Settlements in George Town, introduced participants to five early settlements in George Town and explored six main themes to understand the culture and heritage brought about by these early settlers to George Town. Through observation and interviews at the sites associated with these early settlements, participants collected evidence of these cultural heritages in an organic manner, as well as sampling a new cultural food or beverage that they had never tried before. Reflecting on the significance of these cultural heritages, participants discussed and presented which themes they found most significant and why they thought so. Finally, participants connected this to their personal lives, by highlighting points within their cultural foods and cultural practices that they found similar to the evidence they found throughout the programme.
Students and teachers entering Masjid Kapitan Keling, the core site for exploring the Indian Muslim cultural heritage in George Town. photo by: Siti Nur Amirah
The second programme, Sustainability of Traditional Trades in George Town, introduced participants to traditional trades in George Town, briefly on how they came about and exploring how they have been sustained throughout the years. Through a mission task, participants were introduced to the diverse traditional trades in George Town before getting an in-depth experience with two selected traditional traders. Formulating questions to ask the traders regarding three main aspects of their trade, the participants conversed with the traders and tried out making the trader’s products as well. With these new insights, participants were facilitated to think about the relevance of traditional trades to the community of George Town and to themselves. The issues raised by the traders became a central discussion point for participants to empathise with and suggest solutions to using a roleplaying method before finally pondering on their personal involvement.
A photo with everyone who makes the Sustainability of Traditional Trades in George Town programme engaging- students, teachers, facilitators and Sifu! photo by: Ooi Win Wen
Over the course of eight sessions, the students and teachers expressed how much they had learned and how enjoyable it is to have the opportunity to connect with the George Town community and in turn their own culture and heritage. They had also explicitly expressed their desire to take part in the programme or visit the community again. Teachers have taken the opportunity to have their students share their experience with other schoolmates, use the real-life experiences to further illustrate classroom lessons, and even put to use creative techniques in their teaching. While students share how the session has changed their perspectives and make them appreciate this city even more.
An accompanying teacher - Cikgu Umairah commemorates the experience of getting to know and learning from Aunty Ati. photo by: Goh Choon Ean
If the students’ and teachers’ experiences have piqued your interest to know more about George Town, why not give Arts-ED’s creative, collaborative and community-based approach to learning a shot! Drop us your inquiries at info@arts-ed.my or reach us on our social media https://linktr.ee/ArtsED
Communities exist in every corner of the world. Taking on the approach of community-based learning (CBL) like Arts-ED has done in these two George Town programmes, you can explore and be involved in your local communities as well. To know more about CBL and how you could apply it to teaching and learning activities, sign up for the Community-based Learning Action Portal (CLAP) at https://www.arts-ed.my/community-based-learning
The 2023 George Town Student Programmes were made possible by Yayasan Sime Darby.