Tuesday, 15Aug06

Highlights: volunteer in Bantul high school as native English speaker, scooter accident, gifts for Bantul family, English club at night

This morning was fun. At 8 I met up with several Jogja State University (UNY) students who organized a high school class about ‘debating skills’. (Indah, Rosa, & friends) This is a part of their “KKN” (college community service),,, a required practical application project.

The 2nd purpose of this ‘project’ was to emphasize & practice their ability to speak in English… They were happy to have a native speaker, and I was happy to make some stuff up about debating. (=

It was interesting visiting a high school as a guest speaker. I feel like I stand out enough as a western face in the crowd,,, and a foot taller than most… and I’m definitely a square peg in a sea of circle & triangle slots in a high school- but we got right down to the debate stuff, and I got to put my teacher hat on for an afternoon,,, which I really enjoyed.

The girl to my right gave a speech on the finer points of debate, and how a formal ‘competition’ is run. (3 minutes to make your points… then the other team gets a turn). Then I weighed in on overcoming shyness in public speaking & how to make learning English easier.
(note: the typical Indonesian teenager speaks 3 languages already: local language, national language, and Jakarta’s language- if they want to understand Indonesian movies/TV… so English is language #4 for most of them)

Before the ‘debate competition’ got underway, the students wanted to ask some questions about America…

1) Why does America support Israel’s aggression against Lebanon?
2) Is there free sex everywhere in America like in the movies?
3) What is American high school like?

I think I began each response with,,, “that’s a really good question. I’m glad you asked that!” ha ha… and tried to give a thoughtful answer.

I stood whenever I was talking,, spoke a little slower,, and talked as openly and honestly as I would to anyone. The kids were great. (10th graders) I noticed when the Indonesian college students spoke, the high schoolers chatted among themselves… but when I spoke to them- they were all silent & I had their full attention. Felt good.

There were two debate teams which squared off against one another… one “pro” one “con”. I became the judge.
Topic #1: TV makes students lazy to study
Topic #2: Dating motivates students to study

I guess I was more like Paula Abdul than Simon Callwell (American Idol) with my comments after each debate (= ha ha. They all did pretty well- and their English was understandable if not perfect,, which is what I told them to shoot for. They did great!

The school surprised me with a trophy & gift for being their honored guest. It was really nice. I’m not sure I deserved it,, but I had a great time meeting & spending some time with all of them.

This school is in the far western part of Bantul, pretty far from the other parts I’ve been volunteering in. The school building was still standing & in good shape. Some of their homes & families were not so lucky.

Parjiman, the shorter man in khaki, is one of the English teachers. He lives in Banjarwam,,, in a tent these days. He lost his mom and 15 people from his neighborhood in the earthquake. 80 people were lost in the next town over.
He’s on my list of people I’d like to help. (=