ETA Natasha Anis has had a memorable first few weeks at her site in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, diving into co-teaching and tutoring. Her second week at the site, Natasha started tutoring two students who were chosen by the school to enter the Erlangga English Speech competition, hosted in Samarinda by the Erlangga book and educational material publishing company. Throughout the week, Natasha met with the two chosen 11th grade students to write and practice their speeches on the prompts “What contribution can the youths make for better and greater of Indonesia?” and “Our challenge against hoax, hate speech, and social media abuse.”

They met after-school in the library to brainstorm and learn new vocabulary relating to politics, the economy, and social issues. Students would first identify problems they had observed through the news and in schools, and then choose one or two unique and creative solutions to each problem. Vocabulary discussed included the role of protests, buying local and Indonesian-made products, becoming aware of screen-time on social media, utilizing social media tools such as blocking users, and ways to defend friends against bullying. Natasha was excited and curious to learn about how these issues pertained to Kalimantan, and often the after-school writing sessions would end in discussions of these issues in the US as well. The night before the competition, Natasha and the students met in the dorm to eat nasi padang together and memorize and rehearse their speeches.

Natasha was so proud to see the students present their hard work at the competition the next morning, and both students have expressed a desire to participate in more English speaking competitions later this year!

Natasha Anis is currently teaching at SMAN 10 Samarinda, East Kalimantan