Happy New Year and welcome back to the Fulbright ETA Monthly Highlights! The ETAs began the year with a lot of excitement and determination. At this point in the grant year, the ETAs have a better understanding of their schools and the greater host community. Returning to their regular schedules after a long December break was the perfect chance for ETAs to try new activities in class, begin engaging community projects, and bond with community members.
Read through the highlights for stories about the ETAs feeling more comfortable in their role as teaching assistants and cultural ambassadors.
Many thanks to all of the ETAs for their wonderful stories and photos.
Be sure to get the next month Highlights, February 2019, edition. Plus, if you would like to read the best articles from previous editions (August – December 2018), take a look at our special edition “Best of Fulbright ETA”.
AMINEF American Program and Communications Teams
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Please share with us your favorite stories: which stories struck you as interesting, which teaching method is the most fun or you’d like to apply, or which activity you’d like to hear more. Email us at socmedia@aminef.or.id and we’ll post your feedback in the next newsletter and you may win a special thank-you gift from us.
Mid-Year Enrichment Conference
January marks the start of a new semester for schools in Indonesia, plus it is the half-way mark for the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) grant in Indonesia. Every January, the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF, the Fulbright Commission in Indonesia) hosts a Mid-Year Enrichment Conference (MYEC) for the ETAs and their co-teachers. The 2019.. Read More.
Double Trouble in Gresik
SMA NU 1 Gresik had a big surprise when they came to school after the New Year. Rather than one English Teaching Assistant, they had two! ETA Elizabeth “Liz” Wallace invited her older sister Cat, a former Teach for America (TFA) corps member and English as a Foreign Language teacher in France, to guest teach.. Read More.
New Year Celebrations
At the beginning of this month, ETA Amanda Cahn joined SMA Don Bosco Padang in celebrating Christmas and the New Year. At 7:30 am, students and teachers attended mass together, and then the festivities began at 10:30 am. In the first acts of the school-wide performance, Amanda and a few other teachers sang “Jingle Bells”.. Read More.
Monsoons of Love!
Last weekend, on a teacher retreat at one of the most beautiful beach resorts ETA Kiyoko “Kiki” Nakamyra-Koyama has ever seen, Kiki got to swim in the ocean during a monsoon-like rainstorm. The experience was unparalleled. From a distance, she was able to observe her fellow SMA Santo Yosef teachers laughing and playing closer to.. Read More.
Creating Opportunities for Creativity
ETA at MAN Demak, Sabrina Verleysen, and her co-teachers Bu Emma, Pak Jam, and Pak Syafi have been working hard incorporating more creativity into lesson plans to increase student engagement and overall excitement in the classroom. On Tuesday, January 15, 2019, Sabrina and Bu Emma created opportunities for creativity for their 11th-grade students by introducing.. Read More.
Girls Club
This month, ETA Anna Ringheiser held the first meeting for her community engagement project entitled “Girls Club.” This Club is designed to help girls gain self-confidence, find mentorship and become mentors, as well as discuss problems they face as young women, among other topics. For the first meeting, Anna distributed some candy canes that her.. Read More.
Food Tastes Better When Eaten Together
On January 21, ETA Gordon “Peter” Bensen planned to attend his MAN 1 Payakumbuh student’s soccer practice, only to have it canceled when the sky opened up and a vicious rainstorm ensued. His initial disappointment quickly subsided as he decided to check out what was going on, on campus. Upon arriving at school, a group.. Read More.
American Coins and Detectives Arrive in Temanggung
ETA Allison “Allis” Cwikla has greatly enjoyed getting back into the swing of things as the second semester began at SMAN1-Temanggung on January 2. A few highlights from January include introducing her tenth-grade students to the “penny cup” and Nancy Drew, her favorite mystery detective from the United States. To encourage class participation and conversational.. Read More.
Building Confidence Through Narrative Texts
Photo Caption: SMAN 2 Sangatta Utara teachers lesson planning for the Narrative Text unit. This month ETA Darby Jones and her counterpart decided to rethink the way narrative texts are normally taught in English classes at SMA 2 Sangatta Utara. To help students prepare for the upcoming local and national WORDS competition, the instructional team.. Read More.
Share Your Dreams!
In order to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day, and in hopes of teaching SMA 10 students about MLK himself, ETA Riley Heist and her co-teachers organized a lesson that would hopefully teach and inspire the 10th and 11th graders at her school. Students started class by using their phones to answer Riley’s question.. Read More.
