September 2024 was ETA Alyssa Guiang’s first month at her host high school, SMAN 1 Tomohon, in North Sulawesi. She was welcomed warmly by the teachers, students, staff, and neighboring community. She enthusiastically attended the high school’s 78th-anniversary celebration, where she watched exciting student performances and met the governor of North Sulawesi. Alyssa was also invited to a community birthday party and a local church anniversary celebration, where her host family graciously included her in prayer and commemoration.

While navigating her site, Alyssa realized the importance of forming basic sentences in bahasa Indonesia to connect on a deeper level with her community. She carried this realization into a lesson plan that she crafted with one of her co-teachers to give students a speaking foundation for the rest of their years in English class. To introduce the sentences, Alyssa first wrote them on the board in bahasa Indonesia and challenged students to try to translate them into English. Some of the sentences students learned were “I have a question,” “Please help me,” and “See you later!” She then posed various everyday scenarios to the students and asked them to vocalize a phrase they would use to match the scenario. It has been a delight for Alyssa to guide the students, watch them form sentences useful for classroom life and daily activities, and witness their budding enthusiasm for spoken English!

Alyssa Guiang is currently teaching at SMAN 1 Tomohon, North Sulawesi.