THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2017 (PURWOKERTO) - On this blog, I've written a little bit about how "you never know" in Indonesia. Well, today was certainly one of those days. No sooner had we gotten into the school did we find out that today was exercise day. The students walk/jog a 6K around town with their teachers, and wouldn't we like to come too? Of course! I'm reminded yet again of the differences in concerns/liability between the United States in Indonesia. In many places in the US, for such a walk to take place, the city police would have to be notified so they could help patrol the streets, parents would need to sign permission slips, and a student-teacher ratio of 10:1 must always be maintained. In Indonesia, it's no problem. So, we took a walk around town with 500+ kids and 15 teachers! About 5 minutes into the walk, a pack of boys surrounded me, saying "Suhh (sir). Want to run? Jog...together?" Absolutely! So we started jogging lightly together, and then I called for a race down the street. They loved it! After awhile, the PE teacher in front told me to go ahead, because the kids will show me where to go. If you get lost, don't worry about it, some people in town will help you get back to the school. So off we went- me and about 25 of these boys that really wanted to run! I taught them the US Military's "I Don't Know, But I've Been Told" Indonesia style. I don't know but I've been told America is very cold Indonesia is very nice When you're here, you'll eat lots of rice Indonesia USA Hoo-rah!! Made it up on the spot, but it works, right!? Special memory for sure. After the run, it was sticky, hot, and humid, and I was sweating like crazy. I had jogged the entire trip around town in a golf shirt and khaki pants! There was no time to cool off, as one of the 9th graders challenged me to a game of 1v1 basketball. After a quick game, I went into an English class to teach anything I wanted. I made today's lesson about teamwork and working together. I showed them how to play "rock, paper, scissors" tournament-style, where the winners continue playing one another and the losers turn into the supporters. By the end, nearly everyone had the opportunity to be a supporter or be supported in some way. Then we played the Human Knot, which required more teamwork and working together. Finally, we showed them how to take out a SIM card from an iPhone. The next thing we did was conduct a Teacher Workshop for the teachers at the school. They have been very curious to learn more about American education, methodologies, teaching strategies, and much more. Matt and I conducted a brief 1-hour lesson on grouping strategies, and we explained how we deal with discipline in the classroom, why American students generally don't wear uniforms, and other questions the staff had. We are getting to be experts in using a translator- after every couple sentences, we stopped to let Rudhi (in green) translate for us. Overall, I think the workshop was very informative and beneficial for the teachers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
September 2017
Categories |