During October, ETA Blake Lapin has been having lots of fun in the classroom. During the second section of Announcement, he and his co-teachers focused on listening activities. The beginning of the lesson allowed students to draw the answers to questions by using a graphic organizer. They were asked to draw an example of public transportation, private transportation, and transportation they do and don’t like. To present new information, the co-teachers placed slips of paper with new vocabulary written on them in a wired ball. Students stood in a circle and passed the ball around while listening to music. When the music stopped the student who was holding the ball needed to define the word in Indonesian. After presenting the vehicle-related vocabulary, the co-teachers separated the class into groups to listen to an announcement in English and then summarize it.

For the last part of the class, the students were tasked with creating their own announcements, arguing for or against a situation. Some examples: the school is banning all motorcycles whether or not you have a license. You are speaking at a school meeting and arguing your opinion. After each group wrote its announcement, the students recorded it on Blake’s phone and next class began with listening to all of their announcements on the speaker.

Blake Lapin is currently teaching at SMKN 1 Turen near Malang, East Java.