English camp to teach children about nutrition

NST: Breakfast has long been touted as the most important meal of the day: It boosts energy and lets a person gear up to face the day.
However, a recent survey of 12,000 primary schoolchildren by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia has found that 30 per cent go to school on an empty stomach.
This means one in three children go without breakfast, usually because of lack of time or appetite in the morning.
Nestle’s Breakfast Cereals is therefore teaming up with the New Straits Times to organise "Koko’s Smart Start Camp" to make schoolgoing children aware of the importance of good nutrition.
Nestle’s Malaysia-Singapore country business manager Nirmalah Thurai said the one-day camp would also help improve the level of English of the participants as all activities would be in English.
"A proper lesson guide has been developed especially for the camp, in line with the school syllabus for Health Education and Science," she said at the launch of the project by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam at SK Batu Berendam II yesterday.
New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd group editor-in-chief Datuk Hishamuddin Aun said the camp would help promote a healthy lifestyle while encouraging language use.
The camp is open to Year Five pupils from 35 schools from all over the peninsula and will be facilitated by experienced educators from the New Straits Times NIE team.
Ali said it was a good way for children to gain knowledge of nutrition and improve their competence in English while enhancing their creative, communication and social skills.
Nestle is also sponsoring 150 schools nationwide with 120,000 copies of the NST and 30,000 copies of the Berita Harian for six months.
This is the second time the NST and Nestle are working together on the smart camp. In 2005, the project covered 35 schools and 5,250 Year Five pupils, with other pre-camp activities and contests for over 70,000 pupils from Year One to Six.
A readers’ contest will be held every Monday in the Life&Times section of the NST.
The best student entries stand a chance of winning up to RM300 and a Nestle breakfast cereals hamper, while 70 teachers will be exposed to educational workshops by facilitators of the NST-NIE team.
For more information, call Nestle at 1-800-88-3433 or visit its website at www.nestle.com.my