January marked the New Year and midway point in the grant for ETA Kush Mansuria. January was a very active and energizing month for Kush, involving learning new skills and reconnecting with other ETAs and friends.

School started on Thursday, January 2, but not all students were back yet. Kush and his teachers used these initial few days to catch up and practice describing their holiday break activities in English. By the time school was in full swing the following week, Kush and his co-teacher Bu Ristina were on their way to Jakarta for the AMINEF Mid-Year Enrichment Conference.

Having made it halfway through the grant, this conference served as a much-needed opportunity to see distant friends, catch up on their experiences at site, and have difficult conversations about challenges while working together to problem-solve them. Kush and ETA Joseph Miller led the first session to initiate the dialogue of sharing site experiences with guided and provoking questions. For Bu Ristina this conference also taught her new skills for lesson planning, and she began to apply new classroom techniques in class immediately.

On January 17, Kush along with ETAs Tessa Sontheimer and Maddy Mele hosted a workshop for teachers in Demak and Kudus. The focus of the workshop was implementing digital literacy techniques in English classes and Dr. Jayne Lammers, a Fulbright US Scholar in Indonesia, was the keynote speaker.

The workshop went well and teachers walked away with new activities and knowledge that could be applied directly in the classroom.

After the workshop, Kush, Tessa, Maddy, and Jayne spent some time exploring Demak and meeting their friend and teacher educator, Yuta Otake. 

January was a successful month for Kush and he feels energized for February.

Kush Mansuria is currently teaching at SMK Raden Umar Said Kudus, Central Java.