On February 13, Charlie, an ETA at SMAN 1 Kalianda, and five of his English Club students visited a local first-grade class as part of his Community Engagement Project to teach English at elementary schools. This lesson focused on the names of fruits in English. Greeted by huge smiles from the kids, Charlie and his high school students showed pictures of fruits to elicit their names in Bahasa Indonesia, and then Charlie asked for brave volunteers to draw a picture of a fruit on the board and write its name in English.

Next, the class was split into small groups, each led by a high school student. The elementary students made a craft using cutouts of fruits, which they glued onto paper to create a scene. Their leaders used a mix of English and Indonesian to encourage students to practice English vocabulary while ensuring they understood the activity. The students wrote the names of the fruits on their papers, tried to explain their creations to their friends, and kept their crafts as souvenirs!

The lesson was a lot of fun for everyone! The elementary students loved meeting Charlie and the “big kids” from high school, and they were incredibly enthusiastic throughout the lesson. The high school students also enjoyed the visit and had the chance to teach English, which helped them practice leadership and their own language skills. Charlie can’t wait to visit another school soon!

Charles Cushman is currently teaching at SMAN 1 Kalianda, South Lampung.