Students love to ask ETA Tineer, “So what is it like in America?” She usually answers that America is extremely diverse, like Indonesia, where different regions experience different lifestyles. Desiring to have discussions with students in a more intimate setting, she created the American Culture Corner in the library, where they compared customs and themes.

Evolving to project-based meetings, Tineer gave students travel brochures she brought from her home state of Maryland and prepared them to research and create their travel brochures.

The students had unique motivations for their state of choice. Surya said he remembers watching a cartoon about a ski lift in Minnesota. Hafid knew that Hawaii was the state most similar to the Indonesian islands. Nabilla was familiar with the Statue of Liberty, but when researching New York, she learned about the Hudson Valley. The students explored a variety of features of their state (popular tourist attractions, special events and festivals, iconic local foods, geography, and basic statistics). Students were excited to find extraordinary sites like Fransiscus dreaming of going to Disneyland in California and Adiesta obsessing over the Antelope Canyon in Arizona. Salsha discovered the different rivers and lakes in Washington. Zai focused on writing about the Gathering of Nations Powwow in New Mexico.

The students presented their artistic travel brochures on the last day of this multi-month project. Fajar revealed that the most prominent electric shovel in the world is in Kansas. Unlike the dry and wet seasons in Banjarbaru, Atika recognized four seasons in Pennsylvania. Rolin shared that she is interested in trying Nevada-style chili. When comparing native foods in Florida, Indri noticed that the Apalachicola oysters are similar to Indonesia’s kerang hijau (green mussels). Fundamentally, the American Culture Corner became a space for students to spread their knowledge.

Tineer Ahmed is currently teaching at SMAN 3 Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan.