HLS Newsletter September 2025

Hi, and welcome to the HLS website!

Over the last few months we have had some really enjoyable classes. Let's start with the Last-One-Standing Spelling Test.

Students were required to spell words of increasing length and difficulty as they made their way through rounds. Spell it correct, you stay in, spell it wrong and you're out. We had one or two intense battles along the way! Here are the winners from each class:

Next, we enjoyed our annual Merdeka class in August. Children talked about why they love Malaysia, and then had an activity to test whether they knew what is made in Malaysia and what is not. The food at the end of the class is always a big draw during both Merdeka and Halloween classes.

At HLS, we give our students plenty of opportunities to speak English. This is especially true during Presentations classes. Students prepare a presentation at home on a certain given topic, and then deliver their presentation in class. It presents a wonderful opportunity for public speaking practise and a chance to build confidence in speaking English.

Mr. Duncan enjoys creating new things which he can use in his classes. Over the years, he has been working on drawing a map. It ended up being 36 A4 pages in size! He pasted it to the classroom wall and prepared comprehension questions about it for the students to answer. This included giving directions, following instructions, and extracting information. Our students loved the map and were sad when it came down the following week!

For the first time at HLS, we held a Trading Class. Students brought an object from home that they were willing to trade. They had the chance to advertise their item to the class, then attempt to make a trade with someone else. We saw a lot of trades happen and there was a lot of fun all around!

We welcomed back some former students over the past few months who dropped in to visit and catch up with Mr. Duncan. These are always very special moments for us. We love our students and keep an interest in them after they leave our classes and continue with their studies and life.

Oscar and Hui Xin are legends of HLS, having spent several years in our classes. We are so thankful for their love and support of HLS, and for the deep friendship we enjoy

Falisya was our student for several years before she moved to boarding school. We miss her so much and it was a treat to see her again as she accompanied her sister Farra to class

Yan Chloe was a student of HLS many years ago when she was younger. She is now studying at college in KL but came back to visit during her semester break. So great to see her again! Beside her is her younger sister Vernice

We also said goodbye to Uzma & Attar who have been studying with us for the last few years. They are moving abroad with their family and we wish them all the best!

We also said goodbye to Ding Chok Onn and Ding Chok Han after many years attending HLS classes. This is their farewell speech!

That's a wrap for the HLS Newsletter for now. Thank you to all parents and students who are enrolled in our classes. We are grateful for your support and look forward to continuing to teach all of our students as we approach the last few months of 2025.

HLS Newsletter, March 2025

 CNY WEEK

During the week of 10th - 15th February, 2025, HLS English Classes Kuantan held classes on the theme of Chinese New Year. Students dressed in their CNY clothes or associated colours and engaged in some fun activities including snakes, fireworks and 'ang pao.'

The Friday night English class during CNY week

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

Also in February, we watched three of the videos I compiled from my trip to England last December/January. The children enjoyed watching the videos and then answering some questions I prepared based on topics discussed in the videos. Below are the videos:

MARCH 2025 CLASSES

In March, we have continued our speaking focus by having students regularly engage in speaking English, whether in conversations with the teacher or each other, in presenting their written work, or in a Show & Tell class (upcoming next week).

This week students will be reading a short story provided by the teacher and answering several questions to test their understanding of the text, and their ability to think creatively and write good English.

We wish our Muslim students and friends a very happy and uplifting fasting month, and also look forward to April at HLS, with continued speaking opportunities for our students.

Take care,

Mr. Duncan

2025 Events at HLS

 🗓️📌 2025 EVENTS @ HLS 📌🗓️

📌 We will be holding some special events in 2025 at HLS. I know you love these kind of classes. This is a taster so that you can think about preparing in advance:

1. CNY CLASS 🧧🐍

(February 2025)

(We will have some fun activities based on CNY and snakes. Students will be invited to dress in their best traditional Chinese or New Year clothes for the occasion!)

2.  SHOW & TELL CLASSES 🧸🎀🪀

(March & November 2025)

(Students can bring any object from home to show the class and talk about it)

3. PRESENTATIONS CLASSES 🧑🏻‍💻👩🏻‍💻🗣️

(January, May & July 2025)

(Students have the opportunity to practise their presentation and public speaking skills in our Presentations Classes)

4. SINGAPORE CLASS 🏙️🚇

(June 2025)

(Students will enjoy the first themed class of the year by getting to know all about Singapore with some fun activities!)

5. LAST-ONE-STANDING SPELLING TEST 👩🏻‍🎓📖🗣️

(August 2025)

(Students will be able to test their spelling skills in this fun and competitive spelling competition. Start practising your spelling now to see if you can become the champion!)

6. MERDEKA CLASS 👘🕌

(August 2025)

(Come dressed in your finest Malaysia traditional clothes for some local fun. Bring along food for a potluck and celebrate our country together - Malaysia Boleh!)

7. TALENT SHOW 🎤💃🏻🎭

(September 2025)

(The annual HLS Talent Show is held in September. You are invited to come and share your talent with the class. This could include singing, dancing, sports, playing musical instruments, art, etc. You can dress up in appropriate clothing to match your talent performance and bring along whatever you need)

8.  HALLOWEEN CLASS! 👻🎃🕸️

(October 2025)

(Every October, the HLS Halloween class is held. It’s easily our students’ favourite class of the year! All students are invited to dress up in Halloween costume, which you may need to buy / prepare well in advance. The classroom will be transformed with Halloween-style decorations for an unforgettable experience!)

9. BUSINESS CLASS 👨🏻‍💼👩🏻‍💼📈💵

(November 2025)

(How does the business world work? How do companies know if they are making profits or losses? Students will enjoy this business-themed class, and can come dressed in smart clothes like businessmen and businesswomen!)

10.  CHRISTMAS CLASS 🎄🎁🎅🏻

(December 2025)

(In December, we hold our annual Christmas class where you will enjoy fun exercises and games about all things Christmas. Think Santa Claus, snowman, candy, gifts and Christmas trees, and that’s what the class will be about! You are also invited to dress up in Christmas costume or clothes that are red, white or green for a little extra fun!)

📝 Make a note of these events and I’ll explain in more detail when we get closer to them!

Online classes end; in-person lessons resume

Half a year of online classes finally came to an end in the last quarter of 2021. From October 2021 HLS resumed in-person classes with an influx of new students joining throughout October and November.

We enjoyed the online classes despite the difficulties. There were some highlights that wouldn't have happened in normal class settings. For example, we held an online Masterchef Competition, a Merdeka modelling contest, and a Talent Show.

We were so excited to see the wealth of talent among our students! It's a pretty long video (above) but hope you'll enjoy it.

We received loads of fantastic entries for the HLS Masterchef competition too. It was really hard to choose a top ten; we ended up with over a dozen best clips!

To celebrate Malaysia's Independence Day (Hari Merdeka), we organised an online merdeka photo contest and awarded the best entries, some of which you can see below:

Mr. Duncan joined in the fun!

Geanne

Summer

Adrian

Namilan

Yaw Chean

Regine and Raeden

Rithani

Farouq, Falisya & Farra

Jing Tung

We then spent an afternoon driving around Kuantan to hand out prizes to all of the Merdeka Photo Contest winners. It was lovely to see our students face to face in the middle of a lengthy virtual class scenario.

Adrian

Caelynn & Cayori

Xin Yue

Lily

There were some good moments during the online classes, but we are now really happy to resume our in-person classes once more. Welcome back to Horne Learning Services!

ENGLISH INTERNET HUNT!

Hi there everyone! You have successfully made it to the next instruction on your English Internet Hunt.

I hope you'll enjoy this little challenge as we try to make online learning as fun and interactive as possible. 

What you need to do next is go to my Youtube channel (Duncan's Family Channel) where you will find a video titled "Next Step." Watch that video carefully for your next instruction.

Peace out!

(This is part of an online weekly exercise of bouncing around the internet exclusively for our students' pleasure!)