"You'll never know until you do."
DAY 01: January 24, 2019
Today, I made my first visit to SMP Pelita Nusantara School: “A Homey School for Future Leaders,” indeed. The School was like a little subdivision, classrooms were houses, and students wore a military-designed uniform.
I was able to observe grade 7 and grade 9 classes which had three and twenty-three students, accordingly.
At first I was a little shocked when I went inside the grade 7 classroom. I saw there my very pretty cooperating teacher, Ms. Hani. I immediately asked if there are only three students (because I was thinking, maybe the rest of the class just went somewhere else), then she answered: yes.
Then, when we went to the grade 9 class, I was both happy and scared, maybe a little. Because the students were much taller than me (maybe just a little, but still…)
Plus, they spoke English. Plus, they have such high levels of energy – I could feel it!
At the end of the day, I was excited and a little bit nervous about teaching there.
I thought: this is going to be a new experience for me, I can’t wait!
Back in the Philippines, I was able to teach classes with even 55 students in one class. This is why I was so shocked, and a little bit curious how I’m going to teach such a small number of students – three.
I noticed the same strategy Ms. Hani used as she taught for both grade 7 and grade 9.
When she came to the class, she will wear her beautiful smile, then greet the class with a child-friendly tone, and then maintain that cheerful aura as she goes on with the lesson.
Also, here, Bahasa Indonesia was used to deliver the lesson – even Cambridge Mathematics, an english-based math subject. With minimal use of English words, I was amazed that in Indonesia, they use their national language to teach different subjects.
Because in the Philippines, english is the medium used in teaching mathematics.
Maybe this is why Filipinos don’t usually love math, because it’s also a requirement that you speak Bahasa English.
I am this amazed because here, even mathematical terms have Indonesian translation, in the Philippines, math terms may have translations, but the english terms are the ones taught in school.
For example, addition in Filipino is pagdadagdag, but the Curriculum only requires us to teach the english counterpart: addition.
This is why I know my experience here is going to be an adventure I will never forget!