The year 2020 marked a new year and the second half of the ETA grant. At this point in the grant, the 2019-2020 cohort of ETAs has a better understanding of Indonesia and its host sites. They started the year ready to be more productive inside and outside of the classroom. Click through their stories to read about interactive classroom ideas, local WORDS competition preparation, exciting school events and much more!
Many thanks to all of the ETAs for their wonderful stories and photos.
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 communications@aminef.or.id we’ll post your feedback in the next newsletter and you may win a special thank-you gift from us.
Welcome to Sangatta
One Wednesday afternoon, ETA Lucy Srour and her site mate Janika had the pleasure of welcoming the great Yuta Otake to their beloved Sangatta Utara. Yuta Otake is a teacher extraordinaire and instructor from ETA orientation in July. Unfortunately, he only had two days in Sangatta, so Lucy and Janika threw on their tour guides.. Read More.
New Year, New Semester
In early January, the American Indonesia Exchange Foundation (AMINEF), the Fulbright Commission in Indonesia, hosted the 2020 Fulbright ETA Mid-Year Enrichment Conference. The 2019-2020 cohort of ETAs and their co-teachers arrived in Jakarta on January 7 for three and a half days of programming. Sessions during the conference focused on teaching strategies to increase reading.. Read More.
New Year’s Evolutions
Starting a new semester and a new year, ETA Nathan “Nate” Kumar is excited to continue building on the successes from the past semester and to make improvements in other areas. As such, Nate is eager to incorporate different methods of English learning into his clubs and classes. For example, Nate recently introduced “Cool Word”.. Read More.
“Digital Literacies for English Language Learning: What, Why, and How” in Demak, Central Java”
What are digital literacies and why do they matter to Indonesian high schoolers and high school students? How has technology changed English teaching in Indonesia? Well, English teachers in Demak had a unique opportunity to learn about this with and from a US English teacher and researcher. On January 17, 2020, a workshop was held.. Read More.
Strong Winds in Sulawesi
ETA Michael Walsh focused on Narrative Text with his 10th-graders. Students learned about storytelling adverbs and worked in groups to analyze a story called “Strong Wind” in English. The group had to then depict their portion of this fantasy story and summarize it to their classmates in Indonesian. The classes had to work collectively to.. Read More.
Californian Pen Pals!
January comprised of a Temanggung Madrasah 5K, a trip with the hilarious Pak Husni to Jakarta for the AMINEF Mid-Year Conference, and lessons about climate change, MLK Day, and a recount text about a bule eating durian for ETA Lucy Faust. The highlight, for ETA Lucy Faust, her counterpart Bu Atik, and 86 students, was.. Read More.
The Year of the Rat
On the weekend of January 24-26, ETA Shannon Pinzon partook in Chinese New Year festivities with her Indonesian family. Malang has a large Chinese-Indonesian population and it was fascinating to see huge parts of the city brightly decorated with beautiful red ornaments and paper lanterns. Shannon even learned a few phrases like gōng xǐ fā.. Read More.
Cultural Exchange, Across Three Cultures!
In Salatiga, ETA Michelle Nguyen’s site placement, there is a large population of ex-pats and foreigners from all over the world. In an effort to not only produce cultural exchange between Indonesia and the United States, Michelle invited a Japanese exchange teacher, Maki, who is teaching at another high school in Salatiga to visit SMK.. Read More.
Morning Motivasi
It’s hard to believe that we’re already one full month into 2020, where is the time going? Perhaps the 12th-graders at SMAN 1 Seluma think the time is moving just a little too quickly, much as ETA Conor Jackman does. With National Exams just two months away many seniors, as we would call them in.. Read More.
Learning How To Make Bika
On January 22, ETA Jillian Castoro had the opportunity to learn about the process of making Bika from scratch. Bika is a type of coconut dessert that is very popular in West Sumatra. Traditionally, there are two types of bika. One is made solely with coconut, while the other includes coconut and banana. When driving.. Read More.
