Hira Baig, an ETA at SMKN 5 Pontianak, had an exciting month restarting the English Club. On September 6, she hosted the first session, designing it to be an interactive day to enhance students’ conversational skills through engaging activities. Around 20 students from grades 10 to 12 participated, eager to practice their English in a fun, relaxed environment.

To start the session, Hira had the students take a survey about what they wanted from the English Club. The most popular answers (around 80 percent of students) were to learn the meanings of their favorite English songs and to improve their English to make more friends abroad. The most common answers (around 67 percent of students) were to increase their job prospects, improve their grades in English class, and enhance their opportunities to travel abroad.

For the first session, the students learned the lyrics and sang “When Will My Life Begin?” from Disney’s “Tangled.” Students could make a list of the vocabulary from the song and enjoyed humming along. In addition to music and learning that 70% of the club’s favorite singer was Bruno Mars, the students played a competitive vocabulary game using the whiteboard and markers. As a result of their efforts, each student enjoyed a piece of American candy. Between all the giggles and laughter, Hira was overjoyed to see the students’ enthusiasm for connecting their favorite music to learning English.

Hira Baig is currently teaching at SMKN 5 Pontianak, Kalimantan Barat.