Welcome to the November edition of Monthly Highlights for the 2018-19 cohort of Fulbright ETAs in Indonesia! The ETAs leaned into their creativity during the month of November as they wrapped up semester lessons. Many of the ETA-submitted stories this month are highlights of their creative ways to engage students in the classroom. They shared stories of incorporating games like Apples to Apples into lessons, encouraging students to share their hopes and dreams, and creating class projects around the importance of Mangrove Trees. This creativity continued outside of the classroom as ETAs led English clubs focusing on topics like Dia de los Muertos and environmental science.
ETAs sometimes start to feel homesick during the month of November, but they did their best to bring a piece of American holiday tradition to Indonesia. ETAs celebrated Thanksgiving Day by cooking meals with community members and creating turkey hands of gratitude with students. Staying active and engaged helps ETAs feel more connected to the local community. This is why ETAs participated in English teaching workshops, helped students prepare for competitions, and hosted events for International Education Week (#IEW2018). Click through the stories to read about these activities and many more!
Many thanks to all of the ETAs for their wonderful stories and photos.
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What Our Readers Say
Thank you to our readers who shared with us their favorite articles from the October 2018 edition:I appreciated Riley Heist’s article, Try English First. I wish I had done this in my classroom at the beginning of the year because it makes English feel relevant!@Indonesiaful (facebook page)Click here to read ETA Riley Heist’s article ‘Try English.. Read More.
Thanksgiving from a World Away
During the weeks approaching Thanksgiving, ETA Riley Heist began gathering ideas on how to celebrate with the teachers. Riley wanted to be sure to give her friends at her site an accurate understanding behind the history of Thanksgiving, as she often finds that the holiday is muddled with falsehoods, and she also wanted to show.. Read More.
Providing the Seeds
What would happen if students built their own grading rubric and graded themselves? What would happen if the teacher provided the seeds of knowledge but let the students negotiate how to cultivate life in the plant? Through Knowledge Building practices, students in Sir Don’s classes designed campaigns to promote mangrove growth on the coastlines of.. Read More.
Thanksgiving Potluck
On the afternoon of Thanksgiving, Thursday November 22, ETA Anna Misenti hosted a potluck event at her school in the spirit of the American holiday. Students were asked to bring a small dish to share, and Anna brought several cakes to celebrate the event. Although these were not “traditional Thanksgiving” dishes, the Indonesian-style Thanksgiving feast.. Read More.
“I think…” – Four Corners and Learning about Suggestions
During one unit with her 11th graders, ETA Darby Jones introduced the game Four Corners to teach students about making and responding to suggestions. For this activity, each corner of the classroom represented an opinion: strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree. Darby would read a scenario and an accompanying suggestion. Examples of such scenarios.. Read More.
Learning about Día de los Muertos!
The second week of November brought an English Club meeting that focused on Día de los Muertos and aimed to introduce students to Mexican culture’s presence in the United States. ETA Emma Barnes gave a short presentation about the holiday and described some of its most distinguished traditions, including decorated skulls and the making of.. Read More.
Apples to Apples Provides ALL the Laughs
The month of November flew by for ETA Gordon “Peter” Bensen as the semester at MAN 1 Kota Payakumbuh came to a close. In this month, Peter made new friends, participated in Gotong Royong, launched his CEPS, celebrated Thanksgiving, went on field trips with other teachers from MAN 1, played in a football tournament, and.. Read More.
Racing Around the Classroom
November marked SMA Negeri 1’s last 10th-grade unit of the first semester: announcements. To encourage students to approach this unit with curiosity, teachers Ibu Yulia Mufarichah, Bapak Khasan, Ibu Nur Chasanah, and ETA Sarah Wozniak introduced their classrooms to “Read and Race.” In this activity, students raced around the classroom, reading and remembering sentences from.. Read More.
Stop the Bus
In the closing lessons of the first semester, ETA Neelam and her co-teacher Ibu Wiwik focused on verb tenses. In the midst of the end of the semester when moral can be low and final exams are around the corner, they knew that teaching grammar lessons would be challenging. Still, they worked together to create.. Read More.
International Pen Pals
At the beginning of this month, ETA Amanda Cahn began her community engagement project with some of her 11th grade students: pen pal letters to 7th-11th grade students at Liceo Jose Manuel Borgono Nunez in Petorca, Chile, where she taught last year. In the photo, students are working on their first letters. The students were.. Read More.
