American Fulbright grantees and Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) for the first time ever worked together to organize a workshop in Malang, East Java, to improve the quality of local English teachers.

Samantha Martin, a Fulbright Student Researcher in Malang, said that the joint project stemmed from a request in October from the Junior High Schools’ Association of English Teachers (MGMP) in Jombang, East Java, to the American Corner in Malang, at  Muhammadiyah University (UMM), to hold a workshop on English teaching.

“Pak Heru [American Corner staff] and I then agreed that this was the perfect opportunity to involve other Fulbrighters in the Malang area and we requested support from the PCVs in the regency,” Samantha said.

The researcher, who is usually called Sam, and the American Corner then invited two Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETAs) in Malang, Sarah Parker and Grace Wivell, as well as two Peace Corps Volunteers in the area, Camille Feiss and Nahal Mottaghian, to participate in the project.

The three Fulbright grantees, the two PCVs and the American Corner then designed a workshop that they hoped could respond to the needs of the English teachers. After a month of preparation, the workshop then took place in November 24.

Besides being attended by the MGMP members from Jombang, the workshop was also attended by English teachers from neighboring schools and the schools where the ETAs and the PCV are currently serving.

The workshop consisted of morning and afternoon sessions. In the first session, Sarah, a second year ETA who has acquired considerable intercultural communications skills, and Grace, a trained and experienced educator, gave a presentation on incorporating technological information in English teaching.

Sam, who was a Peace Corps Volunteer herself, led a bilingual session on communicative teaching methods. Meanwhile, Camille and Nahal shared their knowledge on how to teach interactively using games.

In the afternoon session, the forum was divided into small groups where the English teachers and the speakers could discuss in detail the morning’s topics while simultaneously practicing their English skills.

Although some cultural and language barriers posed a problem, the workshop was a big success, especially considering it was a pioneering project. In fact, unlike other forums in Indonesia were participants are usually quiet, the workshop’s participants were very active, asking many good questions, according to Sam.

“I don’t think this is the last time we will do a workshop like this,” said Sam, who expects that in the future Fulbrighters and PCVs can collaborate more to bring benefit to both Indonesians and Americans.

Photo Courtesy: American Corner  UMM.