It’s not every day that English Trainer Yuta Otake greets you at the front door of your guesthouse or takes you to school on the motorbike he’d driven for four hours from Samarinda. Yuta had trained the ETA cohort during AMINEF’s arrival orientation, after which he began his journey around Indonesia. Given the lasting impression he’d left on them, ETA Janika Berridge and site-mate Lucy Srour were especially honored when Yuta visited their far-out town of Sangatta Utara, East Kalimantan.
For four days, the pair had the pleasure of sharing with Yuta some of what made Sangatta Utara a special place – to them. A mosque, as grand as its name suggested, from which they watched the stars on a quiet, Wednesday night. Thursday night’s English-speaking session with a community of local friends. The jungle conservation site located 20 minutes by boat from the town. And of course, their school communities.
The students in Janika’s Thursday morning classes were ecstatic when Yuta stepped into the room. Lessons on “Recount Text” and “Cause & Effect” could not have been more fun. Sangatta Utara was the first place in Indonesia where Yuta visited an ETA’s classroom (he visited two!), as well as the first place in Indonesia where Yuta had Korean BBQ and saw orangutans in their natural habitat. It was not, however, the first time he’d collaborated on an English Teacher Training workshop. Alongside Yuta and their co-teachers, Janika and Lucy helped host a creatively energetic event – the perfect ending to a special visit.
Janika Berridge is currently teaching at SMAN 2 Sangatta Utara, East Kalimantan.
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