Introduction to SMK NU 1 Faculty

If you have been reading my blogs, you would agree that this day has been one of the most awaited days of my stay here in Indonesia. It’s about time for me to introduce myself in front of the faculty of education and embark on a whole new field of teaching experience. We were gathered in the faculty room and were seated in front of the SMK NU 1 teachers, along with the UNISDA dean, Dr. Hj Irmayani M.Pd, the assistant headmaster of SMK Mr. Besar Handoko who works under Mr. Hafidh Nushrallah, three of the English teachers Mrs. Emy Widya Sari and Mrs. Uswatun Hasanah, Mr. Masbuhin and the rest of the faculty members.

My co-exchange student and I tried to speak in Bahasa in introducing ourselves. Kuddos to Dr. Irmayani for translating for us. I can tell from the looks of their faces that the faculty are really happy that we tried to assimilate into their language.

First Ever Encounter with the Students

Although this was the second time I entered a classroom, this was my first ever close and interactive encounter with them. The first time I entered was only to say “Hi!” but this time aside from introducing myself, I took 80 minutes to get to know the students I will be learning English with soon. The very first time I opened my mouth, all of them really looked interested and were very attentive in responding with the Bahasa Indonesian translation that I was doing every after greeting. This was an all-girl class, as I may have mentioned in my previous blog, most people separate boys from girls in their culture.

               I started introducing myself and then eventually asked them one by one in a random order. I made use of the white board while talking to compensate with the student who may be inclined to visual learning. We talked about their interests and hobbies which I thought was a good start to get them to open up and be comfortable with me as a foreign teacher. Then, I moved the conversation around their course or program and their future plans. This is the part where I lead them to understand how important learning English is in their program, banking and how English is the lingua franca in the business world. We had a good time getting to know each other and we are ready to start our new class next meeting.

The Day Goes on: Commemorating the Past

After the long day of talking, Dr. Hj Irmayani invited us over to show us around the town. Fortunately, it was also a day to commemorate the old times of Lamongan hence Lamongan Tempo Doeloe. Dr. Irmayani wanted us to taste the Soto Ayam Lamongan, an Indonesian traditional food but with the customize taste and style of Lamongan. It was actually flavorsome and tasty, I thought.

Also, this was the first time we meet Dr. Irmayani’s husband, Mr. Khoirul Anam who is the headmaster of SMP 1 Lamongan. After dinner, we dropped by to his school to get his traditional Indonesian attire and was surprised to witness what seemed like a promising and triumphant institution:

Mr. Anam has been the headmaster for about 10 years in his school and we learned from him that it takes a lot of love and dedication and passion to what you’re doing to be able to serve your purpose for that very long span of time. As soon as he got his own Indonesian attire from his office, Dr. Irmayani bought us the outfit and she gave it to us as souvenirs from their country. It was the outfit we wore for the whole night activity. We got a good feel of the culture through their clothing styles, food and with the people we had interaction with.

We had a good time understanding their culture and receiving bright and warm smiles from the Indonesian people who are celebrating around. I tried to copy the Javanese characters written on the board just to have a feel of how they write their language.

Some of the photos are shown below.