One of AFS’ objectives is to create changemakers who can make a difference wherever they are in the world. Muhammad Fazri Hassan is one such person. The award-winning special education teacher and YES returnee has come up with an innovative teaching method to help primary special education students (with learning disabilities) to master reading skills in Bahasa Melayu.
FasRe, an abbreviation for Fast Reading and pronounced like his name Fazri, is a series of reading books based on the national Primary School Curriculum (2017 revised). There are five FasRe books which cover Year 1 until Year 5 reading skills. FasRe was created by using a mastery and repetition approach. Some of its unique features are colour coded words and spacing syllables which help students to read words properly. It is also built using dyslexic font.
Fazri felt the need to come up with a solution when he observed that after the first Movement Control Order was enforced, the reading skills among his special education students had dropped alarmingly. “This situation was not just rampant among special education students but also mainstream students especially pre-school students and those in Year 1 until Year 3. Hence, with FasRe being digitally available online and for free, it is hoped that the targeted students will be able to find suitable reading materials.”
The FasRe approach has won first and second placings in district and zone level competitions in Sandakan. Fazri has also presented his action research at Together Transforming Education (TTE) International Conference & Exhibition 2018 and Special Education International Conference (SEIC) 2019. In addition, he has participated in a few local competitions and action researches since he started teaching and received recognition for his effort. Fazri is also active in volunteer work and teaching stateless children in his home state of Sabah.
Below is a link to FasRe in a digital bookshelf:
https://fliphtml5.com/bookcase/idwwf
