Fulbright ETA Monthly Highlights
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Fulbright ETA Monthly Highlights March 2017 AMINEF proudly presents the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Monthly Highlights. Each month we showcase the various activities ETAs have been involved in throughout the past month, both in and outside the classroom. AMINEF oversees 29 ETAs who are placed in high schools across Indonesia. Foreword Welcome to the March edition of the Fulbright States while increasing the US student’s own ETA Monthly Highlights. Throughout March, language skills and knowledge of the many host Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) countries around the world. led and participated in a range of activities with their schools and communities. This month, ETAs In Indonesia, the Fulbright ETAs are placed in continued to engage in cultural exchange at their high schools (both SMA and madrasah) where sites. ETAs joined their schools on field trip and they assist local English teachers. The program welcomed visitors to their own sites, creating new has now been going for 12 years and has affected friendships and maintaining already established many thousands of Indonesian students and relationships. ETAs continued to work with English their communities across the archipelago over Clubs in both their schools and their communities, that period. AMINEF, in charge of the Fulbright and several held their local WORDS Competitions, program in Indonesia since 1992, works closely leading up to the national WORDS Competition in with the Indonesian ministries of Education and Jakarta in early April. Culture and Religious Affairs to administer the ETA program in Indonesia. The ETA Program, one of the US State Department- funded Fulbright programs carried out in many The Highlights recount in an informal way the countries throughout the world, places recent stories and experiences of the ETAs, their co- college graduates and young professionals teachers and students, and the people in the as English teaching assistants in primary and communities where they are placed. We hope they secondary schools or universities overseas. The are informative and capture the special value of program helps improve foreign students’ English- this program. We welcome your feedback. language abilities and knowledge of the United We’d love to get your feedback. learn from Americans and vice versa? We’ll post your feedback in the next newsletter and you may For ETAs: please share with us your favorite win a special thank-you gift from us. Email us at: stories: which teaching method is most fun or [email protected] you’d like to apply, or which activity you’d like to hear more of, or what is happening in your Many thanks to all of the ETAs for their wonderful community? stories and photos. Be sure to get next month’s newsletter! For Indonesian teachers, students and the general public: Send us your reactions: which stories struck you as interesting, which experiences are AMINEF American Program compatible with your own, how can Indonesians and Communications Teams 1 Edition March 2017 Local WORDS Competition MAN 1 Kendari The highlight of ETA 18 students participated in the event on March Kendari, Mackenzie Findlay’s 3rd. The topics of the speeches ran the gamut Southeast Sulawesi month was hosting the from wanting to be a “cicak on the wall” in an alien WORDS Competition at spaceship, to Heaven, to Willy Wonka’s “Chocolate her school, MAN 1 Kendari. Through the whole Factory” to her parent’s shoe store, to Thomas month of March, Mackenzie worked with her Edison’s workshop as he made the first lightbulb, students to write and practice speeches on the and on and on… In addition to the speech, theme, “Cicak on the Wall” (If you could be a cicak students also had to present a talent. Singing and on the wall in any room, at any time in the past, dancing were favorites among the students. They present, or future, and observe a room without also had students do magic tricks, taekwondo, and being seen or heard, where would you go?) Initially, one student painted a beautiful watercolor. All in this theme was a little difficult for the students to two-three minutes! The winner of the competition understand, but she believed in their creativity. was Elanda Yovita, an 11th grader who wrote With a few of her classes (the English language an inspiring speech on the Indonesian heroine, track) they worked on brainstorming ideas and Kartini. Elanda, as a cicak, wanted to go to the topics in class. Mackenzie had them come up with past to be in Kartini’s room and observe her as she nine different potential places and then helped wrote letters and educated herself. Elanda had put them choose their best three (most creative!) ideas. in a lot of work and her speech was well-thought From there, students wrote further on each topic, out and passionate. describing what they might hear, see, feel, think, smell, etc., there. Then, together, Mackenzie and Mackenzie was so proud of her students for the the student chose the best one. hard work they put in to the competition. It went perfectly and she was beaming the entire day! Edition March 2017 2 Local WORDS Competition The WORDS Competition talented young students practicing their hand SMKN 2 at SMKN 2 was an obvious at public speaking in English and sharing their Pangkalpinang highlight during the hidden talents. The winner of the local competition Pangkalpinang, month of March for ETA was Dimas Pratama. Stay tuned to hear about Bangka-Belitung Kiana Ward. Students his performance in the national competition in danced, beat boxed, and Jakarta in April’s edition of Fulbright ETA Monthly sang their hearts out. It was a joy to see so many Highlights. English Club Field Trip A few MAN 1 Gorontalo MAN 1 Gorontalo English Club students went Gorontalo City, on a field trip to the mall after Sulawesi school with ETA JoAnn Doll on Thursday, March 9. After practicing comparative and superlative adjectives in English Club earlier in the week, the students raced through the mall to complete a scavenger hunt in which they compared prices, quantities, and locations of items in different stores. The students also enjoyed creating their own extremely challenging scavenger hunt questions for the other English Club students to complete later this month. 3 Edition March 2017 School Field Trip SMA Kristen As the rainy season comes which funds students from remote villages in East Mercusuar to an end, folks in Kupang Nusa Tenggara to attend high school in Kupang, Kupang, are spending more time in hopes of giving the students a better education. East Nusa Tenggara outside, especially with It’s sometimes difficult for the students being so far the weather cooling down away from home and their families, but they have a as well. In the last week of March, ETA Christal close-knit community in Kupang and they also live Clemens went on a field trip with her school, SMA together in a school kost. The fishing village was Kristen Mercusuar, to a nearby fishing village called about two hours away, east of Kupang. The students Noekele. All of the students who joined the trip are and teachers spent the day catching, cooking, and part of a special government scholarship program, eating the fish, sharing a delicious meal together. Edition March 2017 4 Foam Run In March, the Bringin Running Club flew out to bathroom in the morning. Early in the morning on Surabaya for another 10K race, the “Iconic Foam race day, everyone made breakfast and headed to Run”. ETA Katarina (Kata) Krueger, three student the race course. True to the name, there was a lot runners, PE teacher and of foam at the start/finish line, providing lots of fun Katarina Krueger co-teacher Tyas, who photos. Joined by ETAs Caroline Rose and Shreya SMAN 1 Bringin, came along to make sure Kundur, and three of Miss Krupa’s student runners, Central Java the trip was smooth and everyone headed out for some sightseeing together, to take photos and cheer which included a tour of a submarine and stopping everyone on, stayed with ETAs Kelly Fitzgerald and by the famous Surabaya statue of the fighting shark Krupa Patel in Surabaya. The boys loved their first and crocodile. After lunch everyone said good-bye flight, observing all the night lights from the sky as and the Bringin group headed to the train station they flew over Java. The whole group had dinner at for the ride home, the first train ride for some of the Kelly’s house where they spent the night before the group, including Kata! It was a very full, fun, quick race. It was so fun to meet other Americans and have trip. Kata was so glad to have another great race a big meal together. Having everyone stay together with her runners and introduce them to more of her felt like being at camp, complete with a line for the Fulbright friends from the US. 5 Edition March 2017 Jalan -jalan In late March, ETAs day on the water, the ETAs met up with ETAs Anna Labuan Bajo, decided to explore the Katomski and Samantha Geary, the current ETAs Flores beautiful island of Flores. in Labuan Bajo. Together, they enjoyed eating lots of On Thursday, March 23, ikan bakar and nasi goreng at the local fish market. ETAs Ayat Abourashed, Edmund Pacleb, Kayla The ETAs loved and admired the beautifully vivid Stewart, Kelly Fitzgerald and Mackenzie Findlay sunsets and the pride the locals had for their culture. spent the day on a boat exploring Komodo National The time spent in Labuan Bajo was wonderful and Park. The ETAs trekked up Padar Island, saw eight the ETAs were sad to leave, but they were grateful Komodo dragons on Komodo Island, snorkeled at they had the opportunity to explore Anna and Pink Beach, and swam with Manta Rays.