Good bye...

It's already been a month. i had been thinking of this for a week now, and I just can't help but be sad. I have made so many friends already, and it hurt to say goodbye. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE I have met here has been so kind to me. I want to thank God for allowing me this experience. To all the teachers at SMA YP UNILA, thank you so much for talking to me during my free time, letting me try all kinds of Indonesian food, offering me a ride home almost everyday, and always being kind to me.  You have given mo so much.

Me with the teachers and the Headmaster of SMA YP UNILA (Pak Pitoeas, at the leftmost side). I'm wearing my traditional costume from the Philippines. We are doing the "L" sign which represents Lampung.

To my student buddies, thank you. You have been the best. For always being with us when we need you, taking us to places around Lampung  and for being such nice friends, I owe you all a lot. May you be successful in your future lives. I'll really miss you guys. :)

To my new Indonesian friends, thank you for trying to speak English with me when I can no longer speak in Bahasa Indonesia, hahaha. There should be more people like you on this planet. I'm glad to have found you. 

To Raku and Sayaka, my Japanese friends, thank you for teaching me Japanese culture. I feel so honored! Arigato.

There are so many more experiences that I have not put on my blog because this blog is supposed to be about my teaching experiences here in Indonesia. That's the focus. Terima kasih banyak semuah! 

Fourth Week

Okay, now this is it. My final week in Indonesia. This week I can't help but think of saying goodbye but nit wanting to. I can't believe that in just a few days, I'll be leaving. I have become used to teaching here, that leaving this place breaks my heart. Can I have another week? Why is time so fast? Throughout this week, I made it a point to take final pictures of SMA YP UNILA and important documents as well, as needed in the student self report. Somehow I feel so uneasy. The thought of leaving just haunts me.

I found it hard to stay alert and happy because of my lingering thoughts. My students often asked me this week if I'm okay because I looked so serious. I guess I was really taking my departure seriously.


On my last day at the school, I saw so many students at the court during classes. I was wondering what they were doing.

I was told that they were having their shooting for their graduation video. When I went upstairs, this was the view:

SMANILA- short for SMA YP UNILA. Wow. And to think that this whole thing was just put together by the students themselves!

This is the man they hired to take the video with a drone. The students wearing green shirts are the ones in charge of the whole thing.

 Bu Linda went with me to buy "oleh-oleh" or "pasalubong" which are local products to take home to the Philippines. I was schocked when she told me not to pay for it because she told me that the school will pay for it. It was a lot!

Me at the store. Photo taken by Bu Linda.

After that, we went back to school and some students gave me a local attire. I felt so touched.

Thank you for this, SMA YP UNILA students!

Then, the teachers at the faculty room said their goodbyes. My heart was melting right then and there. I remembered all the kindness they have shown me. They woukd often treat me to lunch or breakfast, especially Bu Linda. They would also give me snacks during istirahat (break time). I will be forever grateful. Then, when I saw Bu Linda crying, I also started to cry. The thing is, I hate it when I cry because I know I look so bad when I do! But I couldn't stop myself, so I just let the tears flow. The teachers told me not to cry, but I cried the more. It was so hard. It's like I feel as if something's missing. Like I'm incomplete. My goodness, goodbyes are so terrible!

Me trying to smile for the picture with teary eyes. 

I spent that night musing in my dorm, trying to settle with the fact that goodbyes are aprt of life, no matter how heartbreaking they are. That you've never lived if you've never said goodbye. The next morning, Ibwoke up knowing that I must face it bravely. It won't kill me, right? I will truly miss everyone I have met here.

Third Week

NEW LANGUAGE
Oh wow. Time has flown by. I cannot believe that I'm almost at the end of my Indonesia journey. As of now, I am just so glad that my Bahasa Indonesia vocabulary has expanded. I have learned so many words and can already give instructions in Bahasa Indonesia, though not as fast as Indonesians speak, Thanks to Pak(Mr.) Alin, the vice headmaster who happens to be Bu Linda's brother-in-law. He's the one who has been talking to me most of the time and teaching me Bahasa Indonesia while doing so. He's been very helpful to me. I'm starting to like Indonesia very much.


STUDENTS ARE NOW DIFFERENT!
My struggle this week was that I found out that students in here are easily bored. They just put up with me last week because I was new to them. This week they started to lose interest. The boys were starting to talk and play by themselves at the back. This happened for two days, and I didn't enjoy teaching then. I knew I had to change my strategy or the whole week would suck for me and the students, too.

LET'S HAVE SOME FUN
Wednesday came, and I turned my lesson into a more enjoyable lesson. Thanks to my mother who gave me this idea. I was teaching the Heaven and Earth Six Sinawali in Arnis this week, and simply demonstrating and letting the students follow me was clearly not fun enough. So, at the beginning of my lesson, I divided the students into four groups and explained that we will have a game (with the help of my translator). I said that they should pay attention to the rules and instructions so they'll know how to win. This instantly got their attention! :) It worked like magic, I'd say. Also, I taught the girls first, then the boys. After giving a short background on Arnis, I demonstrated the first 3 steps, then let them do it with me. After I let each group do it, I started the game and let them do it by themselves. I informed them that if one of the members of a group makes a mistake, I will subtract points from them. If not, they get 4 points. Thus, the game began. There was jeering, shouting, and fun!  I wrote their points on the board. I made it into 3 rounds and this is how it went:

Round 1: steps 1-3
Round 2: steps 4-5
Round 3: steps 1-6

It was definitely more effective and I'm so happy with the results. I held their attention for the entire period without appearing too strict. There were times when the teasing was too much and so I just told the students that if they get too noisy, I'll subtract from their group's points. This instantly made them behave better. Can I just say this: I love teaching!

They're more cooperative now!  ^_^

Second Week

TEACHING STARTS...

 I finally started teaching Arnis this week. The original plan was that I teach Pencak Silat, Indonesian martial arts, but then I explained to my Cooperating teacher that I didn't know anything about Pencak Silat, let alone training in the said sport. So, she said I will just teach martial arts from the Philippines. Thus, my subject matter became Philippine Martial Arts: Arnis. They don't have that here, so I was tasked to teach it. My Cooperating Teacher, Bu (Ma'am) Linda, was kind to make arrangements so I could teach Arnis although there are no Arnis sticks here. She required the students to roll up paper cartolinas and tape them closed to serve as a modification of Arnis sticks. So colorful!

"Arnis sticks"

I was trying to give instructions in Bahasa Indonesia.

Here I let them practice it with their partners so they can identify the target better than when they're just beating the air.

I was also asked to teach gymnastics. I only taught the girls though.

Preparation for forward roll.

Me explaining how the roll must be performed.

Candlestick position.

TEACHING DIFFICULTIES

I was so nervous when the class started. "What did I get myself into?" I thought. It was my first time to ever teach a class and I had to do it in a foreign country. Great. Anyway, I just lead the students in a warm up activity and became quite embarrassed when we had to count to 8 in Indonesian and I made mistakes. I shook it off, though. I proceeded to explain and demonstrate the basics of Arnis. But then, some students started to stop paying attention while I was teaching. Maybe that was because even if I made my voice loud, the student who was translating for me was not loud enough, resulting to boredom to some students, especially those at the back. There were also boys who seemed to lack attention and randomly said jokes that the class laughed at even while I was speaking. Also, throughout the week, some of the translators forgot to tell what I was saying and just nodded when I was explaining. I had to remind them to translate what I was saying. Another difficulty was that it was hard for me to let the students assemble in straight lines. Indonesian students talk a lot, even while their teacher is giving instructuons. It really does take more time and effort to teach in another country. I couldn't help but think, " Maybe I should have just stayed in the Philippines."

SURPRISE

This week, in the middle of my musings about whether I should have just stayed in the Philippines or not, I got a visit from the vice dean of UNILA (Universitas Lampung). He asked me if I liked SMA YP UNILA. Of course I liked it, and I told him so. He asked me if I had any trouble doing my lesson plans, and I said no. He also told me that he heard I was struggling with the food because it was too spicy for my taste. He added that I can order non spicy foods here. Of course, this conversation happened with the school's headmaster and my cooperating teacher present, and I thought, "Wow, they really care about their exchange students here." I couldn't believe that I just got checked up on, and without prior notice. This motivated me to exert more effort in my teaching and be more creative in my lessons. Surely there is a way to be an effective teacher here.