Throughout December as SMAN 1 Demak’s semester came to a close, ETA Sarah Wozniak helped several students and teachers prepare scholarship applications and interviews. Over the course of the past few weeks, Ibu Yulia Mufarichah, Bapak Baihaqi Aditya, and 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students prepared scholarship essays and interview questions. They discussed the potential for storytelling while writing applications, and practiced imagining and describing “future possible worlds.”

Right after semester exams finished, they also practiced expressing themselves orally through mock-interview questions. Though the interviewees at first seemed nervous, they overcame their shyness and soon enthusiastically shared their ideas for the future and how those ideas are shaped by the past, both by their personal experiences and by the history of their community. Sarah, the teachers, and students ended their interview prep meeting with a few tips. These included welcoming mistakes as signs of bravery and remembering to smile. Throughout December and its scholarship application process, teachers and students came to view their applications not only as a means to an end, but also as a journey: an opportunity to practice communication in English, and to explore their goals and aspirations for the future.

Sarah Wozniak is currently teaching at SMAN 1 Demak, Central Java