In September, ETA Catherine Krol has been busy with many English activities such as starting an ETA English Corner, beginning weekly English lessons for teachers and taking a prominent role in English club. Catherine has also been comfortably slipping in opportunities to bring music into lessons, from watching music videos to playing favorite American pop music for her classes. Music is a major part of the school and Catherine already has had the pleasure of being encouraged up the steps to a stage in the school courtyard to play guitar in front of the school for Islamic New Year celebration. In this event, there were many beautiful acts from the students themselves with school bands showing their stuff on stage and beautiful traditional dancers, with a notably sized group performing a well-synchronized dance from Aceh, Indonesia.

Catherine hopes to, firstly, in the coming month, add a lesson for English teachers, facilitate workshops and take a larger role in planning for October’s Language Month, a personal favorite event by all MAN 1 students. She also hopes to begin incorporating music more into extracurricular activities, by starting a band or beginning an English song club where students can sing and discuss lyrics from their favorite pop tunes.

Catherine Krol is currently teaching at MAN 1 Malang, East Java