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.
Be sure to get next month’s newsletter!
AMINEF American Program and Communications Teams
We’d love to get your feedback.
Please share with us your favorite stories: which stories struck you as interesting, which teaching method is 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.
Selamat Hari Guru!
ETA Sophia Lopresti and her co-teacher, Ibu Popi, usually meet with class 11 MIA 1 on Mondays. On November 26, however, class had been cancelled for a celebration of National Teachers’ day. The students were excited, the teachers were carefree, and Sophia was kind of confused! When Sophia was a little girl in elementary school.. Read More.
Joyful English Learning
On November 13, ETAs Allison Cwikla and Anna Ringheiser were given the opportunity to present as guest speakers at “Enhancing Joyful English Learning”, a full-day conference for senior high English teachers located throughout Central Java. Allison and Anna shared and practiced a few of their favorite engaging classroom activities from the first semester. Allison shared.. Read More.
Thankful
The week before Thanksgiving in the United States, ETA Anna Ringheiser shared a story of the first Thanksgiving with the kids in the English Club for Kids. Anna used this as an opportunity to teach about the history of the first Thanksgiving, and also draw attention to the history of native peoples in the United.. Read More.
Sunday?! You must mean Fun-Day!
On Sunday, November 4, ETA Elizabeth “Liz” Wallace had the pleasure of running an English Teaching Workshop for teachers in the Gresik community. Over 30 teachers spent their Sunday morning with Liz at SMA NU 1 Gresik. Liz designed the workshop to focus on active learning and bringing the concept of “play” into the classroom… Read More.
The 8th ALSA English Festival
After weeks of two-hour daily competition practices, eight students from MAN Demak were ready to compete in the 8th Annual ALSA English Festival in Semarang, Central Java. ETA Sabrina Verleysen and her co-teacher Ibu Emma accompanied the eight students throughout the English Festival and Competition. Students from MAN Demak fearlessly competed across four categories including.. Read More.
Holiday Exchange
Several teachers at MAN Model 1 Manado invited ETA Caroline Kim to join them at a nearby village for the festivities of Maulid, the observance of Islamic prophet Muhammad’s birthday. The men beat drums and sang songs in Arabic, while the women and Caroline sat outside of the mosque and exchanged pastries and gossip. Neighborhoods.. Read More.
International Education Week Celebration
On Saturday, November 17, ETA Brian Miner was joined by over 500 students, teachers, and young professionals from all around Sangatta Utara in an auditorium of one of the local government’s offices. There, along with three other outstanding panelists from East Kalimantan, Brian discussed international opportunities to study, teach, and work abroad. He talked briefly.. Read More.
Connecting Youth in Semarang
As part of her Community Engagement Project, ETA Anisha Tyagi plans to host a seminar at her school, with discussions centering around social engagement. In order to better connect with Indonesian high school students, she recruited all her college-aged friends (made as recently as the week before) to help her brainstorm ideas. The team came.. Read More.
The Student Becomes the Master
It was a hot afternoon at SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Gresik High School, as it often is, when ETA Ryan Ulrich held his English club meeting. The participants in this meeting were different from previous meetings, however, for they were not the teenagers who Ryan currently instructs as an English Teaching Assistant. Instead, the room was.. Read More.
Siap!
When ETA Alexander Lopez-Perez was given a little over two months to prepare for an international martial arts competition, there was little the fledging English-teaching-cultural-ambassador could do but accept the invitation from the earnest audience. Luckily for Alexander, a honed and well-traveled master of SILEK (Silat) offered a space on his team for the ETA.. Read More.
