This month was filled with wins for ETA Ammarah Rehman. School competitions are constantly happening in West Sumatra and students are always practicing to bring back first place. This past month, Ammarah trained three students to compete in an English speech contest at SMA 2 Bukittinggi. The students were given five minutes to talk about Sumpah Pemuda, the Youth Pledge that took place on October 28, 1928. For several days the students practiced for hours at Ammarah’s house.

On the morning of the competition, the students were incredibly nervous and didn’t want to disappointment Ammarah. Ammarah reassured the students that they were already winners in her eyes and they will only improve on their skills by taking part in the competition. Ammarah registered the students in the morning, gojek-ed (motorcycle taxi) back to teach her classes for the day and then gojek-ed back to the competition just before the second round.

Once Ammarah arrived she found out all three of her students were amongst the eight finalists! MAN 2 Bukittinggi was the only school that had all of its participants qualify for the final round. The students were given 20 minutes to prepare a speech on the spot for the final round and Ammarah was not allowed to provide any words of encouragement before they began. Ammarah patiently waited outside the classroom for her students while peeking through the door to see her students were presenting. Once the round was over, the students walked out disappointed. Ammarah told them not to worry and wait for the results.

All the other events were wrapping up for the day and the English speech contest participants were called back in the room to announce the winners. Ammarah and her students anxiously waiting for the results. The judges announced the third and second place winners and the MAN 2 students were not amongst them. The students looked defeated and hopeless. Just before Ammarah could comfort the students, the judges announced the first place winner, a MAN 2 Bukittinggi student, Zulfadhli!

Ammarah Rehman is currently teaching at MAN 2 Bukittinggi, West Sumatra.