KDU's French-German Language & Culture Week

By: Ann Teoh

“Guten Tag!”, “Merci beaucoup!” were some of the German and French words that were heard at the training restaurant of Windows of Damansara at KDU College.

At the first ever French-German Language & Culture Week held from 15^th – 18^th March 2010, hosted by the School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts, invited guests at the restaurant had to communicate only in these two languages before their orders could be taken. Some of the distinguished guests were:

Mrs. Fabienne Ricordel, Linguistic Attache of the French Embassy; Dr. Volker Wolf and Mrs Patsy Ng of the Goethe Institut, K.L.; Bruno Plasse, Director of Alliance Française; Selma Kriegner, President of the German Society, KL; Dr. Chia Chee Fen , CEO and Principal of KDU College; Dr. Tan Hui Leng, Deputy Principal of KDU College.

Mrs. Fabienne Ricordel and Dr. Volker Wolf launched the opening of the French-German Language & Culture Week

German lecturer, Mr. Thomas Liebecke, with French lecturers, Mr. Bruno Decourcy and Mr. Alan Le Bras and second semester students, were the main organisers for this event.

“We want to expose students to all things French and German through movies, skits, native speakers’ inspiring presentations, exciting games, fierce karaoke competition, European culinary delights and informative exhibition. Some students have never done presentations before and to speak in front of German and French guests was quite nerve wrecking for them. But they did well considering that they are only second semester students. This event actually challenged the students to go above themselves and to put into practice the German and French language,” said Mr Liebecke.

“It also gave them room to express their creativity,” Mr Le Bras m added. “It was fun and nice to do something outside the classroom.” In their blogs, Mr. Le Bras and Mr. Liebecke posted French and German songs from You Tube complete with lyrics.

Songs in French and German

Some of the choir members: Youme Son, Bahareh Ghalamolipour, Faegheh Zahdi Nassab and Neda Bon were nervous but excited when they presented a wonderful rendition of Tanze Samba Mit Mir.

Atiqah bt Abdul Rauf did a duet Joli and Dieses Leben with Gregory Tee Meng Yang. It was also an opportunity to find out hidden talents like Atiqah did. She was surprised when she was told she could not only sing, but very well too in two different languages.

Zubedah Delaware (from Tanzania) and Boitshepo Connie Tladi (from Botswana) also rendered an upbeat song by Laam, a French-Tunisian singer.

Goethe Institut,, Alliance Francaise and German Society, KL

Listening to other native speakers from Goethe Institut and Alliance Francaise was a wholesome cross-cultural experience for some students. Some members of the German Society of KL, including Selma Kriegner, its President , were delighted with proper French-German buffet served at the Windows of Damansara.

“We love the food: the spatzle and veal kidneys.” “We love this place: the Windows of Damansara”. "The menu is wonderful!" . “We’ll be back!” Their compliments were highly regarded as the German Society of KL have a monthly outing, the Gourmet Whispers ,where they would savour food delights in KL.

German History Speaker

Dr. Torsten Schaar who is an expert on German history and also a lecturer in German at INTEC-UiTM, Shah Alam, was delighted to present slides and share his knowledge with the students. They came away from his presentation more enlightened about the history of Germany.

Dr. Torsten Schaar, the expert on German history.

Informative exhibition

You could get an insight about the peaceful revolution of East Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Civil Rights Activism which was the driving force behind the GDR’s democratization, the dissolving of the Stasi, the debut of the Deutschmark in the east via monetary, economic and social union from the exhibition of posters (with information from the Federal Foundation for the Critical appraisal of the SED-dictatorship in cooperation with the Hertie foundation – supported by the Federal Foreign Office).

Besides posters, various types of newspapers and books in both languages were on display, giving the students an opportunity to know the various publications that are available.Many of the posters and other information were extended with tremendous support from the French and German embassies as well as Goethe Institute, the German Cultural Centre.

Deriving satisfaction from the success of this event, Mr. Thomas Liebecke, Mr. Alan Le Bras and Mr. Bruno Decourcy are cheerfully looking forward to the next Language Week: French, German and English which will be held on a larger scale next semester. “It has been fun,” they said. “Thanks too to the second semester students who have put up a good show and support. They said they have thoroughly enjoyed the food, be entertained by French and German movies, winning the competitions and most of all, they appreciated that the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts has indulged time and the fund to give them this opportunity to interact with French-speaking people. They have learned a lot, in good fun, and that’s what matters.”

Ms Kitty Lee presented prizes to winners.

Au revoir!
Auf Wiedersehen!

KDU College Made an Impact at the Worlds Universities Debating Championships 2009/2010

By: Don Siron Pereira, President of KDU Debate Association (KDUDA)

KDU College is relatively new in the debate scene in comparison to other varsities in Malaysia. However, it has achieved leaps in its first year alone; this was evident in Turkey where the Worlds Universities Debating Championships (WUDC) was held.

In Turkey with Mahherajjan Narayanan, Julius Yee Sher Xern and other new friends.

Julius Yee Sher Xern, Mahherrajan Narayanan and I created the first footprints for KDU in the arena of international debating. The tournament was hosted by Koc University but the venue was in Antalya. The venue that accommodated about 400 teams was the Maritim Pine Beach Resort and it was soon the talk of all the participants. Its luxurious rooms provided an avenue for participants to have a good time at the beach if they wanted to, kick back and relax at one of their three bars or even hit the gym in their spare time.

The tournament saw about 400 teams which translated to about 1700 people. The University of Sydney eventually won the tournament with the London School of Economics, Oxford and Cambridge also in the finals. KDU College, being its first year, managed to garner 13 points after 9 preliminary rounds. The amount of points needed for the quarter finals was 14 points. Although not being able to make it to the quarters, team KDU managed to beat some prominent teams along the way.

As the preliminary rounds progressed, it became evident that our team was given high scores as we continuously met good teams, even in the face of a previous loss. Team KDU managed to be victorious over prominent Universities such as Princeton (USA), Northwestern (USA), Calgary (Canada), Zagreb Law (Croatia), St Johns (USA) and many Asian teams such as Iraq National Debate Team (Iraq), Bina Nusantara (INA) and many others.

Many adjudicators noted that KDU College was indeed a force that is growing. KDU College printed its name in the minds of many big names, making them continuously eager of our results after each round. Being a new team in the tournament, we also made many new friends from around the world thus making KDU known around the world as well. Sustaining this good reputation would mean continuously participating and making KDU proud.

Experience was something that we intended to find and achieve. Indeed, that was what we garnered. The organisation of the tournament, albeit having 400 teams, was immaculate. The rounds started on time, the socials were magnificently beautiful and the food, scrumptious. Post-WUDC the three participants have returned to KDU College to share and teach the members of KDUDA. Continuous training sessions organised almost two to three times a week have only one goal in mind - to win more tournaments this year and to make KDU even more known and feared when speaking about debate.

Young dancers bowled 'em over at KDU!

"The Korean pop culture is so evident in today's dance culture. The energy, the spiritedness, the drive and determination in you have bowled us over!" So impressed was Ms Ong Soo Weon, Head of the Centre for Pre-University Studies (CPUS), the organiser of the Contemporary Dance Competition 2010, that she could not help using all the positive and superlative words to describe the participants' awesome creativity.



"Dance is a form of creativity and I am thankful that Michael Jackson is not forgotten! I'm a fan of Michael Jackson too." She received a warm applause from many MJ fans. "CPUS organised this event for you so that you can have a fun day here as KDU has the facilities and the resources and we want to share these with you. To see your smiles and to have such a wonderful audience, we have truly suceeded in meeting our objectives."

Indeed, KDU College has, judging from the overwhelming response from eleven schools from the Klang Valley. They were represented by their teeny boppers, all set to give their best in break dance, bollywood,hip hop, popping, locking and b-boy dance styles. These schools were: SMJK Katholik, SMK BU (3), SMK BU (4), SMK Sinar Bintang, SMK Sri Bestari, SMK USJ 12, SMK USJ 13, SMK Bandaraya, SMK Taman Sea, SMK Stella Maris and SMK Tropicana.



Rachel Quah from SMK Taman Sea 1 was the rose among the thorns in her talented group performing a mix of hip hop and pop dance. "We practised for two weeks and we're doing our best. Competition is tough as the other teams are very good too, but we've enjoyed ourselves!" she exclaimed, when she was told that she was a smooth dancer and her team's movements were well-synchronised.

Julius and Eva Woon (both from CPUS) who emceed the event described dance as "a form of self-expression" and thanked the participants for they "have revolutionised a new mindset in the art of dance!"

The dancing team from SMJK Katholik were ecstatic and jumped for joy when they were declared the winner for Best Choreography. It was even a sweeter win for them when they were also judged to be the Champion of KDU's Contemporary Dance Competition 2010. They bagged a cash prize of RM500.


SMK BU 4 walked away with the Best Costume prize, clinching the lst runner up prize and cash of RM400. Second runner up went to SMK Stella Maris and they walked away with RM300.



Team dancers from SMK BU4 hugged their choreographer, Melissa Ong, who was very pleased with their win. "We're very happy, and very proud. We had only one week of preparation, but we practised very hard," said Tham Su Ming. Her other team mates Lau Weitlan, Chia Ying Yin , Rianne Dan and Wong Woon Shing were jumping with joy as they congratulated each other.

Consolation prizes were won by: SMK BU 3 and SMK Taman Sea 1, SMK USJ 12 and SMK Sri Bestari. They each took home a trophy and RM100 for each team.



The judges were no strangers to dance competitions, and they were Marion D'Cruz (a former staff at KDU College many years ago and presently, the Executive Producer and a founding member of the Five Arts Centre) ,Gavin Chan and Sally Oh (both from Outcast Dance Studio). Said Ms D'Cruz, "Dance is more than just a movement. When you dance, it must be with passion: from your heart, your soul, your gut! You have to shoot it out like an arrow and I should feel it. Some dancers have the courage to look at the audience and the judges in the eye, and tonight, I remember two people on stage because they did just that!"

Check out her useful, priceless tips:

• Don't lip syn alone, if you do it, then all the rest of your dancers must do it together. Otherwise don't do it at all.

• Edit your music: it must be done seamlessly. If you have any problem with editing, come and see me in my studio in Taman Tn Dr. Ismail.

• Dance is about something that rises from your soul. It should hit me so hard that I want to get up and dance too!

Gavin Chan praised the dancers.


"You've all done very well. However, when you do research, make sure that your source of information is reliable, for the right techniques and authencity in the dance style and movements."

Sally Oh was pleased to see young dancers on stage. "It takes real courage for you to be up there! Dancing is great - good for the memory, coordination, your health and you get to meet a lot of people too. But when you perform, you must interact with your audience. Look at them in the eye, don't look at your team members. Give a lot of practice to know your routine well and this will add to your confidence."

Students M. Thiagaraj and Thevarajan, both from SMK Sinar Bintang said, "This is a very special event as not all colleges organise dance competitions. It has motivated students as many of us like to dance, and it also improves dancing skills from watching the competitors."

CPUS has thoroughly enjoyed organising this event, and knowing that this dance competition has touched many young hearts, they are inspired to organise a bigger event next year. Look out for it!


A bunch of wholesome thanks and appreciation go to the great guys and gals who have spent a lot of time organising and working behind the scene. They are the unsung heroes whose efforts are oft forgotten but whose insatiable passion to ensure that everything runs like clockwork drives them to make Contemporary Dance 2010 a success. They are:

Initiator: Ms Ong Soo Weon (Head of CPUS)

Advisor: Ms Sathyavathy (Academic Department Head)

Organiser: Ms Hema Madhavan (Lecturer, CPUS)

PR : Ms Nor Hayati (Lecturer, CPUS) and Ms Chua Bee Gaik (Student Service Manager)

Secretary: Ms V. Krishnaveny (Admin Exec, CPUS)

Special thanks to:

Coordinating with sponsors for Crew's T-shirts: Ms Hannah (Student Affairs Executive) and Mr Syful (Student Affairs executive)

Working Crew: Students from A-Levels & Foundation, January 2010.

Emcees: Woon Eva & Julius (Students from A-Levels, June 2009) & Mr Jaya Kumar (Lecturer/Programme Leader,CPUS)

CPUS Flash Presentation: Syazwan

A brainstorming session (L-R): Sathya, Hannah and Hema

(L-R) Ms V. Krishnaveny and Norhayati smile for the camera

CPUS lecturers - keen and supportive members of the audience,
(L-R): Ms Santha, Mr Jefri, Ms Bawani and Ms Norhayati

PHOTOS GALORE
View more pictures at www.kdu.edu.my
Part 1 and Part 2

KDU COMET CHALLENGE

Rising above challenges were 80 teams from secondary schools who were eager to test their own levels of creativity, agility, technical skills and team spirit. Time was the essence in Comet Challenge 2010 held at KDU College on 12 March.

With rushing adrenalin, the competitors faced MIND TEASERS for the first task. Picking a quiz on Maths, Physics and other brain teasers from ring-a-bottle game, they had to get all answers correct before moving on.

Having crossed that hurdle, they had to select a topic in SPEAK UP. Giving impromptu speeches for a minute was a moment of anguish for some but they braved the occassion. For many, the computer games JUST RIGHT and CANNONBALL FRENZY were a whizz. Tested on their agility they had to launch as many cannonballs as they could to defeat their rivals.

Photographers wannabe also breezed through PICTURE THIS where teams have to creatively snap photographs of objects based on the given theme. But first, they had to learn to ask questions such as, "Where is the photography studio, please?"

By the time the competition reached the BUILD AND TEST level, less than 20 teams were left to vie for the prize money of RM300 for the champion, RM200 for the lst runner-up and RM100 for the 2nd runner-yp. The finalists had to use electronic schematic diagrams on a vero board to assemble (soldering and testing) this board and troubleshoot the circuit to execute its functions.

Two teams: SMK (L) Methodist and SMK Seafield managed to edge out their closest challenger, SMK (P) Sri Aman, to tie at lst place. Another team from SMK (L) Methodist also had a tie with SMK USJ 12.

Champion and Runners-Up

• lst place (tie) SMK (L) Methodist (Ivan Low Wai Mun and Ling Xiao Chun) and SMK Seafield (Chin Chun Wah and Lee Kok Weng)

• 2nd place SMK (P) Sri Aman (Si Jen Yeen and Elsheba K. Abraham)

• 3rd place (tie) SMK USJ 12 (Teh Wee Zhun and Chai Jie Sheng) and SMK (L) Methodist (Wong Seik Kye and Eric Lim)

Consolation Prize Winners

• 4th place SMK Sri Sentosa (Tan Khang Aik and Yeam Sue Ting)

• 5th place SMK Sinar Bintang (Khong Yan Xiang and Chong Choo Wei)

• 6th place SMK Kwang Hua High School (Lim See Peng and Lee Boa Wah)

Comet Challenge is an initiative organised by both the School of Engineering, Science and Technology to provide secondary school students a break from their daily routine of studies and to give them an opportunity to meet and interact with students from other schools as well as KDUvers. The winners also walked away with scholarships, medals and certificates of recognition.