April was an eventful month. The annual WORDS competition was a major success and the 22 students who represented their city and their school enjoyed getting to know each other. According to Rahel, the group has a very active WhatsApp group that chats to this day! Rahel and ETA Catherine Krol had a wonderful time getting to know each other, playing guitar in the hotel and sharing meals.

In other matters, MAN 1 is busy finishing up the school year, putting on a host of events such as PORSENI (sports and cultural week) or Kartini Day and finishing up work in the classroom. April was a special month for Women’s History Month and Earth Day, so Catherine and co-teachers developed lesson plans and conversations about the subjects throughout April. Two classes presented their original proposal ideas for an environmental project and in May, the teachers of MAN 1 will be giving out awards to the best proposals of each class. Also, Catherine visited two final schools to wrap up the year, a Pondok Pesantren and an SMA where she talked about te weather in the US, the importance of English and sang songs with the students.

Finally, Catherine plans to spend the last of her time doing things she loves with her students, cooking food together, playing badminton outside, singing songs together and visiting the homes of friends as a wonderful way to close out the year and a lifetime adventure in Indonesia.

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