The students at MAN 2 Klaten are used to moving about outside the classroom whether it be theater practice or playing basketball. During ETA Sophia Lockwood’s first week of teaching, the students were happily surprised to find themselves moving around in the classroom. Sophia has been working with her English co-teachers to introduce new interactive activities into the classroom.

In one of Sophia’s first lessons, the 11th-grade students played their first game of “I Have Never,” in a lesson about using the past perfect tense. While in another class, the students practiced matching conditional sentences. The co-teachers were hesitant to see the addition of interactive materials because it is a necessity that the students can learn and test effectively.

As the week went along, the co-teachers started to embrace the interactive methods as a key to promote motivation for English learning. As Sophia’s co-teachers have become more comfortable with activities they began to put their Indonesian twist on it. Both Sophia and the co-teachers are learning how to effectively bring more interactive materials into the classroom, but it is exciting to see the students moving about the classroom and engaging with their peers.

Sophia Lockwood is currently teaching at MAN 2 Klaten, Central Java