Australian Student in Central Java and Yogyakarta Villages (Part II)

Fourth Week
SD Keningar : Norway and Australia

bendix4th-weekRebecca could not come to our second meeting with the 4th graders at SD Keningar because she had an exam. We were originally meant to talk about children rights but this got hard since Rebecca could not come and speak Indonesian. When I came to SD Keningar we continued making a poster about me and Rebecca, we was meant to do this last week.

I had thought that the whole class could make a flag each to have on the poster, but we did not have enough pens for this activity. We divided the groups into three, and two and two made a flag together. We helped them make the flags since the Australian flag was so hard to make. After this we made a big poster with the pictures we used last weekend and hung it up on the wall.

When this was finish we only had 20 minutes left and I asked the teacher if we should do another activity but she said there was no time. For the remaining 20 minutes we played with balls in the classroom. They wanted me to try and catch the balls from them and I did so. Students from other classes also came into the classroom. Some of the parents of the children took a ‘selfie’ with me as well. I think this activity was fine, it was fun to make them aware of my country and Rebecca. It is an activity to get to know each other before we start our activities. After the activities we had a meeting with the teacher and found out that we should to an English course for the three remaining Wednesdays. I am looking forward to those activities.

Sumber village: Cultural session
Saturday the 29th of October

Rebecca and Bendik went to Sumber village to meet with some locals like we do every Saturday. When we first arrived we sat outside and talked and took photos while we were waiting for everyone to come. After this we went on out scooters to drive around Sumber and have a look.

The first stop was at the rubbish dump. There was a man sitting on the ground sorting the trash. Eko told us that he and some friends drive around the village and to some other villages to collect trash. They bring the trash back to Sumber and sort it into groups like for example plastic, metal, tree and food. When they have sorted the trash they sell the trash to factories that wants a specific type of material so they can re-use the material. This is a very environmental and economic friendly way of handling trash. They get rid of the trash and earn enough money to pay the workers that collect and sort the trash. A lot of the trash is also being re-used which helps save the environment. We have never heard about this option of dealing with trash before but it is very efficient. This way of dealing with trash would work best on villages because the trash in cities would be too much to sort out unless the people sort it out before handing it in.

After the rubbish dump we went to see a man that makes violins. When we arrived at his house he was very friendly and showed us all his instruments. He then played some songs for us and let us try and play as well. We had a long conversation with him about how he works and he showed us his workshop. It takes him between 2-4 weeks to make a violin and he then sells it for between 750.000 and 2.500.000 rupiah. He said the details around the violins are critical and hard to make. There are also details inside the violin to form the perfect sound. It was interesting seeing these side of the community. ACICIS students do not engage very much on local culture and it is therefore interesting for us to see how they make instruments.

We have also made a video about the visit to the violin man. It can be found on youtube on the following link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ykrUErVQA0&feature=youtu.be. At the end of our visit we all went to a local restaurant and ate Nasi Goreng. Rebecca and Ben though this was nice but the food was very unusual because there where chicken legs in the food which was not very delicate for us.

Fifth week
SD Keningar: Language class

This week I had a English language class with my class at SD Keningar. When I arrived at SD Keningar I started my class right away. All 13 students where present. The theme for this week language class was Family. Under are a list of the English words we used.

Keluarga Family
Saya My/me/I/mine
Saudara laki laki Brother
Saudara perempuan Sister
muda (adik laki laki) younger (brother)
Tua (kakak perempuan) Older (sister)
Ibu Mother
Bapak Father
Kakek Grandpa
Nenek Grandma
Tante Aunty
Paman Uncle
Sepupu Cousin
Buyut Great
Tinggal di Live at
Orang People

bendix5th-weekI started the class by writing and saying the English words and then the students had to guess what it meant, they did not even guess one of the words but everyone tried. After I had written the English word I also wrote the Indonesian word on the side so they could use that in class. This is also more environmental friendly because of the paper. The students asked me what some words meant in English and the teacher assisted me thankfully. My Indonesian are very limited. After all the words was written down I made a short family tree about myself and one of the girls in the class on the blackboard. The class had a lot of energy this week compared to the other weeks. After this the students had to make their own family tree using those words, most of the students needed help getting started except some girls.

The three boys in class did not understand any of the words and I had to assist them, eventually they managed to put down at least five family members each before they started to play. The girls came up to me all the time to show me what they have done, I think it was very nice to see that they learned something and manage to do a lot of it themselves. Every time the boys started to run around and play I asked them to come back and finish their family tree, if they did not want to I tried to have a conversation with them were they either counted or said words in English. The girls took initiative to color their family trees and we went a little over time, it was very nice to see that the girls were engaged in the class. One of the girls in class have a disability and she just wrote down what I wrote on the blackboard, I got her a new sheet and started to make a family tree for her. It was hard for me to spell the names she said so I had to get help from another student and eventually I asked the teacher if she could continue so I could get the boys to color the family tree as well. What I liked most about this experience is that I get to see that children at SD Keningar are quite similar to western children in that age, some are very engaged and some would like to do other things than what they are told, which is fair since they are children.

The students took the family tree home, so hopefully their family can learn some English words as well. After the class I talked to the teacher about our field trip next week and then I went home.

Sixth Week
SD Keningar: Language class
Wednesday 9th November 2016

bendix6th-weekToday I went to SD Keningar to have a language class, when I arrived I got told that my class had rehearsal today so I had to wait. Eventually the rehearsal ended and we met in the classroom. There were only 30 minutes left of the class, my plan for today was originally to go for a walk and talk about what we see in the nature in English. In class we decided to go for a walk and when we went outside it was raining a little so the teacher said that we had to go back to the classroom even though no one wanted to. We went back to class but I had nothing prepared for the classroom so I just came up with some short activities we could do. I wrote numbers on the blackboard and the students had to say the number in English. Some of the students was really good and managed to say numbers up to a thousand, while some students only knew one to ten. We tried some numbers over thousand as well and with some help two of the students said them.

After the counting we went over to colors, even though I did not know the colors in Indonesian. The teacher assisted me here and the students knew the colors very well in English. At the end of the session we took some photos and all the students said thank you for coming. This was a short class compared to the other weeks.

Sumber: Meeting
Wednesday 9th November 2016

After the language class I went to talk to Eko at his office. We had a meeting to talk about the mount Merapi and volcano session next Saturday. I also showed him what I did with the language class today and practiced the words with him. His friend also came by and I went over the words with him as well.

We went over the following words:

Alam Nature
Pohon Tree
Jalan Road
Berjalan Walk
Daun Leaf
Ayam Chicken
Rumah House
Rumput Grass
Mobile Car
Supeda motor Scoter
Tanaman Plants
Batu Stone
Gunung Mountain
Sungal River
Lautan Ocean
Langit Sky
Awan-awan Clouds
Hujan Rain
Matahari Sun
Anjing Dog

I always look forward to meetings at Sumber because they are so kind and interested. They ask me all sorts of question about my home country and I appreciate that. They also talk about Indonesia and how different everything is, which gives me a better cultural experience and knowledge.

Sumber: Session about mount Merapi and volcano
Saturday 12th November 2016

Today I went to Sumber village to have a session about mount Merapi and volcano. Sumber village is located close to mount Merapi and every time it erupts they evacuate. I was informed that the community disaster management, community children and community system information village was present.

We started the session by going over information about mount Merapi and talk about volcano safety. The participants had to read the information, all the information is in English because I do not speak much Indonesian and they want to learn more English. We stopped reading after every sentence and they had questions about the words and sentences meant. When they read they also corrected each other on pronunciation. It took us two hours to read two pages and they gained more knowledge about volcano safety and they also told me about their work and experience. They had a big eruption in 2010-2011 and had to evacuate the village. They said it was very stressful and a lot of damage to the village. After we went over the sheet we had a 30 minutes break to eat and talk. In the break Eko came and I went over the sheet with him quickly.

After the break we talked about what their plan was and they have an agreement with another village in regards to evacuation. They go there and sleep in several houses that are for the village; offices, musical building and community houses. The population of Sumber village is around 4000 and they stay together in another village during eruption. The eruption is long lasting but the elders are used to it and they have no other choice. We ended our meeting with photos.

After the meeting they invited me to go to a local temple in Sumber. We went there and it was very interesting to see the small communities around. The temple was very old so we could only see ruins. The temple was marked by Gadjah Mada University as important.

Bendik Andre Lillemo Stormo
University Of the Sunshine Coast Australia
SATUNAMA Internship (October 2016)

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