| Home > English Magazine > Past Issues > June 2006 |  |
KangGURU Magazine for June 2006
Welcome from Kaptain KangGURU
What's new from KGRE? For one thing, we are inviting readers to register
with KGRE via SMS. This will then allow KGRE to send you special SMS messages
including SMS quizzes and latest announcements.
The Grand Winner for 2006 is Heri Mulyo Cahyo from Malang, East Java. His story is about his experiences with Short Message Service (SMS). The Runner-Up winners are Herdawati from Muna in Southeast Sulawesi and Fajar Setiawan from Kertosono in East Java. The complete versions of their stories, amongst other wonderful entries from all over Indonesia are available on KGRE website on the KGRE Story Page. Short Message Service (SMS)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kang Guru and SMSOver the past few months KGRE has been experimenting and trialing SMS Quizzes and registration. Kang Guru Connection Clubs have been a part of the experiment and we would like to thank those club members who have helped us by registering their mobile phone numbers with us. We have also invited radio listeners to do the same thing via a Radio Quiz. Thanks to all those who responded to the SMS Quiz broadcast during KGRE radio programs 5107 - 5212. Now, we'd like you, our valued readers to register with us as well. Just send an SMS to 08123870479 before July 31st but be sure to give us your name, location and your KGRE registration number -if you have one. |
Idiot Box Dr Pintar was on KGRE's radio program last year
and he talked a lot about the idiot box.
The idiot box Boom Box Electronic audio equipment is popular these days
- CD and cassette players, iPods, Walkmans, MP3 players, etc. Many
of these items are very small - a popular modern trend. A few of
them can be very large though. Combo players however, are always
BIG. They are generally made up of a radio, cassette player and
CD player all in one unit.
|
Gig In the world of entertainment, music and concerts,
the word gig is often used.
A gig is a musical event On ya Bike!The bicycle is a wonderful piece of technology. I wonder how many millions and millions of bicycles there are in the world? I often wonder how many bicycles there are in Indonesia? In Australia there is an expression which means to go, get outta here, I don’t want to talk to you anymore – just leave! "Heh, I have had enough of you. Just get out
of here and leave me alone, Okay? On ya bike and don’t come
back!" |
'Lots
of young people in Australia send each other text messages using their
mobile phones. We use lots of ‘slang’ words to make the message
shorter, because we can send it quicker this way and it also costs us
less. We use similar slang words when chatting to each other over the
internet, using programs like MSN. We have conversations over the internet
using written words rather than talking. We also use this sort of language
in emails. We often leave out vowels in words and almost all punctuation.
Capitals are rarely used because they take longer to write. If possible
we substitute numbers for letters'. (Rosie)
| Here are some slang words we use: lol – laugh out loud (We say this when we are
joking or someone has said something funny |
SLANG SMS CONVERSATION… Emma, Nina and Yasmin, students from Darwin High School, sent
this ‘SMS conversation’ to KGRE. Can you understand
it? |
Science and Technology is a very large and very important topic. It always has been but even more so now as we enter the 22nd century. The subject is far too big to be covered by a magazine such as this one, but KGRE hopes that you enjoy the Science and Technology related stories and information spread throughout this magazine. Many thanks to all of those wonderful KGRE-ites who have helped us, especially our wonderful Fiona - KGRE's science expert. Fiona has researched technology and how it is such a daily part of life for almost everybody in Indonesia.
Mount Merapi, an active volcano in Central
Java, gets almost as much attention as the President of Indonesia.
Merapi is watched night and day by a team of vulcanologists - scientists
who study volcanoes. Since the middle of April 2006, Merapi has
been showing signs that it might erupt. |
 |
Every year Merapi is measured using a network
of theodolites and reflectors. If there is a big change in the shape
of the volcano it is a sign that it is becoming more active. The
magma underneath the volcano bubbles and boils just like water in
a kettle. |
|
The vulcanologists are trying to predict when the eruption
will happen. The vulcanologists are using lots of different
techniques to measure the changes that Merapi is experiencing. They
use seismographs to measure the earth tremors (gempa) and rockfalls
(guguran) caused by the pressure of the magma building up underneath
Merapi. Earth tremors and rockfalls usually happen more frequently
and increase in strength just before an eruption. |
 |
This bubbling makes the surface
of Merapi expand and contract. Tiltmeters are used to measure these
tiny movements. The vulcanologists don't just use scientific instruments to monitor Mount Merapi. Every day a team of vulcanologists climb to the summit of Merapi to take photographs of the crater and to measure the gases escaping from the volcano. They know that if the amount of sulphur dioxide (a gas that smells like rotten eggs) increases, then an eruption is more likely. The vulcanologist's measurements all show that an enormous amount of lava is building up underneath Mount Merapi. The vulcanologists all agree that the volcano will erupt soon but cannot predict when it will happen, it could be in a year's time, or in a month's time, or in a week's time, or maybe it's already happened? |
| Some local residents living very close to Merapi would rather rely on natural signs than official measurements and warnings. They say those signals include lightning around the mountain's peak and animals moving down the slopes. |
Want to Fly All
of the aeroplanes that you see flying over your town are the direct
result of the hard work of two brothers - Wilbur and Orville Wright.
The Wright brothers ran an ordinary bicycle repair shop but they
had a very special hobby. They wanted to be the first people to
build a flying machine strong enough to carry people. In the nineteenth
century there was a craze for trying to fly. Lots of unsuccessful
inventors built... and crashed... flying machines, but nobody succeeded
until the Wright brothers came along. The first thing the Wright
brothers did was read. They read EVERYTHING that had ever been written
about building flying machines. Then they built models to test every
part of their flying machine. Their first successful flying machine
was a glider - it could twist and turn and be steered just like
a modern aeroplane, but it had no engine. The Wright brothers designed
a special engine for their flying machine (see front cover) and
finally, on the 17th December 1903, they made the first ever flight
in a powered flying machine - and that was the beginning of all
the airlines which we use in Indonesia today. |
|
Air Conditioning is useful both in summer and winter. It is used as for cooling during summer and as a heater during winter. It is a fallacy to think that aircon is only effective just for making air cooler. Air ConditioningAir Conditioning is useful both in summer and winter. It is used as for cooling during summer and as a heater during winter. It is a fallacy to think that aircon is only effective just for making air cooler. Willis Haviland Carrier was a very cool engineer.
He invented the world's first air conditioning system just one year
after he graduated from Cornell University in America. In 1902 Carrier
invented a machine to control temperature and humidity of the air
inside a printing factory. Carrier's invention was so successful
that soon other factories were buying his air conditioning systems
- goods produced in air conditioned factories were of better quality
than goods produced in non-air conditioned factories. It wasn't
until 22 years later that air conditioning was first used to make
humans feel cool and comfortable. In the summer of 1924, an American
department store installed air conditioning and customers loved
it! Soon shops, restaurants and cinemas |
Been shopping lately? Haven't got anything to carry your shopping home in? All you need to do is ask the shop assistant to get some ethene gas, heat it up with a little bit of oxygen and roll the product out into a thin flexible sheet. Well, that's what the scientists at ICI did in 1933 when they invented polythene - the plastic that plastic bags are made from. Plastic bags are great - they're light, cheap, strong, waterproof and they never rot or go mouldy. They're perfect for carrying home shopping, or for stopping your nasi bungkus from getting mixed up with your pisang goreng. But plastic bags have a negative side too - they never disappear! Polythene isn't degradable - this means that it never rots. It stays forever! |
|
| Scientists and environmentalists say that thousands of birds, animals and turtles are killed every year because they have eaten plastic rubbish and we all know that plastic rubbish makes our beaches and rivers look dirty and ugly. Scientists are now busy inventing a whole new range of degradable plastics. These plastics will be light and strong and waterproof but they will rot after a few months - just like paper. Until these new plastics are ready, perhaps we ought to copy our grandparents and take our own re-usable bag with us when we go shopping! | |
Paper Clips |
|
Television Can you imagine life without television? How many televisions do you see every day? There's probably one in your house, one in the cafe where you ate your breakfast, one in your local shop, there might even be one in your school staff room for the teachers to watch in between lessons! |
 |
 |
 |
It usually can be found in the kitchen. It does not make
much noise and is generally white in color. A refrigerator is a standard
feature in many houses in Indonesia and certainly in Australia. It keeps
food fresher for longer. It makes drinks cold. Refrigeration also allows
hospitals and medical centers to keep medicines at a constant low temperature
so that they remain effective. In fact, medicine was the key to the refrigerator’s
development when American physician, John Corrie, built on earlier designs
to make ice to cool the air for his yellow fever patients. That was in
in 1844. Every time you drink a nice cold glass of iced tea you should
also think of Australian James Harrison, because he invented the world's
first refrigerator in 1856.
 |
Did you know that Australians and Indonesians are great inventors? Here are a few more useful ideas and gadgets that you may be interested to know more about. |
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
| AusAID, the Australian Government's Overseas Aid Program, aims to help reduce poverty in Indonesia by supporting sustainable development. The Australian Government will provide an estimated AUD$344.3 million (Rp 2.3 trillion) in aid to Indonesia in 2006-2007. As Kang Guru always says, and as AusAID is proving, "Good Neighbours Make Good Friends." |
While
dairy products are not a traditional part of the Indonesian diet, tourist
demand has motivated a small business entrepreneur, Mr Adi Kharisma from
East Java, to ask for help. The Australian Business Volunteer (ABV) organisation
brought in an experienced cheese maker from Australia to help him. Volunteer
cheese maker, Delvae Edwards from Queensland, says she spent the first
week of her ABV assignment investigating the local conditions and demand
for different kinds of cheeses. After confirming that a market did exist,
Delvae set up operations in a small cheese factory in East Java that had
been built by a Dutch company, but had been abandoned two years ago.
Local farmers supplied the milk. The first production attempt resulted in twenty kilograms of fresh mozzarella and four kilograms of ricotta cheese. These first products were quickly sold to clients in Bali. The word quickly spread about the cheese enterprise. A nearby small dairy owner, who owns seventy five cows, approached Delvae for advice on cheese making. "This set-up had a lot of potential," she says, "and by the time I left Indonesia they were making three batches of cheese from 360 litres of milk a day." Distribution and delivery methods have been established, with the cheese being kept on dry ice and delivered by trucks to a cold room in Bali, where the cheese can mature for two to three weeks before being delivered to customers.
As
part of the $15 million spending program on education in tsunami ravaged
Aceh, the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development
(AIPRD) presented educational reference books worth $206,000 (Rp. 1,5
billion) to the Library of the Education Faculty (FKIP) of Syiah Kuala
University and the General Library of the State Islamic University (IAIN)
in Aceh. These two institutions were badly affected by the tsunami. Around
4000 books will be distributed to the Education Faculty (FKIP) Library
of Syiah Kuala University and another 3000 books will be delivered to
the General Library at IAIN. "Aside from these contributions,
AIPRD is also providing rental assistance to more than 800 lecturers at
both universities, as well as providing tuition fees for 2000 IAIN students,”
Didi Marjimi said. AIPRD’s support is helping to improve teaching
quality and resources, particularly in these and other educational institutions
in Aceh.
KGRE Calling ALL Aussie Alumni Have you studied in Australia? Maybe at university or at high school?
Maybe an ELICOS course? If you have studied in Oz then KGRE wants
to know about YOU! KGRE is currently developing a special alumni
website page about people just like you. If you would like to be
a part of that new page, then please contact KGRE immediately- send
your alumni history and some photos to kdalton@ialf.edu |
"Australian Development Scholarships,
offered by AusAID, will open on the 19th of June and close on the
8th of September.
..... from ADS awardees, Shinta, Ayu and Ary who
work with AusAID's ACCESS project based in Bali.
|
|
|
|
Most students in Australia have a mobile phone - handphone. A text message costs around 25cents. PDAs - Personal Digital Assistants - are seldom used by teenagers at our schools though some of our parents have them. A lot of students have camera phones and use them to record their everyday lives, and then share the pictures with each other. Some students have their own digital cameras and they can put the pictures they take on their websites for friends to look at.
|
|
Electricity is surely one of the
most amazing and important discoveries EVER! What would we do without
it? Just imagine your day without it.
uess what? No one actually invented electricity but you could ask who discovered it. There are two types of electricity - one natural and one man-made. About 1400 years ago, a Greek man called Thales of Miletus, discovered static electricity. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin discovered that lightning was a natural type of electricity. Countries all around the world have to supply vast amounts of electricity to satisfy the increasing demand for it. Indonesia is the same, and over the years it has built a series of power stations all over the country. The YTL Jawa Timur power plant is one of three coal powered power stations in Paiton, East Java. They were first built during the 1990s. PT. YTL Jawa Timur supplies power to industries, businesses, offices and homes as far away as Jakarta and Denpasar. Coal, which is transported by ship from East Kalimantan, is crushed, refined and fired to boil sea water in enormous boilers. The YTL Jawa Timur power plant utilizes state-of-the-art technology in electrical engineering, and adheres to strict environmental emission controls and safety guidelines. It is owned by a consortium of Malaysian, German and Indonesian partners, and is operated by YTL of Malaysia. Australian engineers with experience in coal power plants were employed in the early phase of construction, and more recently in monitoring emissions from the boiler stack and the waste water treatment process. Australian teacher Julienne Welsh, a former ISELP
teacher trainer in Paiton, now works afternoons and evenings teaching
English to Engineering and Commercial staff at the plant. In the
international power company English is used extensively in the workplace
and she has many keen learners. |
Aussie teacher trainers have been working for over 18 months in pondok pesantrens with the ISELP program. They are very busy people. Their main jobs are to improve the quality of English used by English teachers and to improve the capacity of those teachers to teach English to their students. They arrange and conduct workshops for teachers and assist with the development of more effective teaching programs for schools. They arrange and encourage teachers to mix together from the different areas and to work together helping each other. ISELP is a joint program between Australian Volunteers International and AusAID.
 Cheryl
Reid works in Pondok Pesantren Sunan Drajat, Desa Banjar Anyar in
Paciran, Lamongan, while Prue Price is based at Pondok Pesantren
Qomar-rudin, Bungah, Gresik. Motivating teachers and students to
teach and study English has always been one of their basic priorities.
In April 2006, the ISELP teacher trainers, with special help from
Prue, invited her good friend TEAMO the Clown to visit their students.
TEAMO surprised everyone! He wore clown make-up, he performed tricks
and he sang songs. He only used English and you know what? Everyone
understood him perfectly - words and actions say a lot, don't they?
|
 |
It was a very hot day but that
didn't stop TEAMO from performing and entertaining the students
for almost two hours. There were at least 600 students, including
Cheryl's students, watching the TEAMO 'English For Fun' performance
that day at PP Qomarrudin. After the main performance, he conducted
several workshops with students. He taught them how to juggle and
walk on stilts. TEAMO has been teaching juggling in Australia and
overseas for over 25 years. He really knows what he is talking about.
During his 10 day visit to Indonesia, TEAMO also performed in Madura,
Malang, Probolinggo, Kediri, Banyuwangi and Jombang, where other
ISELP teacher trainers are based. He was a very busy clown indeed.
|
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
|
Alistair Welsh is an ISELP teacher
trainer working at PP Nurul Jadid in Paiton, East Java. However,
his first visit to Indonesia was on a school trip with Geelong High
School as a student in 1978. That Indonesian Language Study Tour
went to Jakarta, Bandung, Jogja and Bali. Then in 1984, when he
was 22 years old, he was a participant in the Australia Indonesia
Youth Exchange Program (AIYEP) with extended stays in Lampung and
Central Java. Then in 1989 he came back to Indonesia as a teacher
in Maluku province in Tual and Ambon. It was during his time in
Tual that he first experienced KGRE. He was sent a KGRE work booklet
and cassette recording which he immediately  used
with teachers in his teacher workshop sessions. The materials were
very interesting, very modern and at that time very appropriate
for teachers. Alistair is in East Java until late 2006 and he loves
Indonesia - and always has! |
|
"In the English Resource
Centre at Al Maarif, teachers and students can request songs. The
lyrics are all printed out for them so they can sing along. The
teachers in my English class have asked me to teach them songs and
dances. I tried to teach them a dance called the 'Heel and Toe Polka'
(a bush dance), but I didn’t have the music… and I’m
not 100% positive I remember it properly. But I did successfully
manage to teach them the 'Hokey Pokey' and 'Heads, Shoulders, Knees
and Toes'. These are quite physical and involve everyone looking
a bit funny. I always ensure that I leave the curtains open in the
classroom so that all the students can  have
a giggle at their teachers", said Jules at Al Maarif school
in Singosari, Malang - East Java at the opening of the The English
Learning Centre Al Maarif on April 29th, 2006. |
Congratulations to all the very active members of the Excellent Club
(KGCC #026) in Jombang and the Brownish Club (KGCC #048) in Purwokerto.
They have won the very special Homophones Competition from the 'POUCH'
Connection Club Bulletin for Jan- March, 2006. Hakim, the chairman of
the Excellent Club, made a special trip to Bali to collect their prize.
Alwi, a wonderful KGRE staff member, went to Purwokerto 
in
May to deliver their special prize. Both clubs were full of smiles when
receiving the Polytron combo radio/cassette/CD players from KGRE. What
great prizes! 
If your club is a member of the KGRE Connection Club (KGCC) network then your club could win prizes just like these. So, get into action and join the KGCC, and enter the Transport Competition from the latest POUCH - April/June 2006.
Warung
TALK
At PP Qomarrudin in Bungah, the ESQOM English
Club (English Speaking - Qomarrudin) have had a wonderful idea.
When TEAMO the Clown visited their pesantren last April, the audience
of hundreds and hundreds of students and teachers needed somewhere
to eat. The club’s idea was that if people could speak, or
were willing to try to speak English |
Three
English language clubs in Bima - Bifi English Club (KGCC #044), Best Partner
English Club (KGCC#053) and Smart English Club (KGCC#025) - initiated
the idea of having an English Day for students and teachers in Bima. The
idea, welcomed by students and teachers alike, was to promote English
clubs to schools in Bima. About 200 students and teachers from 14 schools
participated. Krista, an Aussie teacher from IALF Bali, and Ogi from KGRE,
went to Bima on May 7th and accepted the invitation for KGRE to support
'Bima English Day'. There were great (and fun) English language activities
such as 'Where Am I', 'Unjumble Words', plus 'Skimming and Scanning Articles'.
Many students contributed songs and were very talented. It was obvious
they liked singing English songs. The highlight of the day's activities
was when KGRE presented the Music Quiz. Students just loved that quiz
and were all so eager to answer the questions. They were thrilled once
again when Krista taught them two famous Aussie songs 'Kookaburra Laugh'
and 'Home Among The Gum Trees'.
Although it is not always easy, schools and teachers sometimes need to be willing, and keen, to organize and develop activities in the interests of their students and their educational experiences. It is not always enough to wait for someone else to organize things. Do you remember Pak Hamzah from Makassar, KGRE magazine - August, 2004? He conducts regular student exchange programs to Australia for example. Hamzah knew that if he didn't organize these trips then his students may never have the opportunity to go to Australia. Ibu Wahyuning from Pasuruan felt the same way about a visit to a television station in Surabaya. Iffah, from PP An-Nuqayah in Guluk Guluk Madura has developed many new activities too for her school and for her students. Great job and well done to you both.
Teacher Organizing Excursions in East Java – fantastic!!!! Student motivation and interest are important
for successful learning. Based on my research, student motivation
and interest increases if they feel happy and if they enjoy learning
English. When I saw that many of my students wanted to become reporters,
I had an idea. Maybe it was time for a Study Tour. Where to go in
nearby Surabaya was my next decision. Number One was SCTV - a television
studio. Armatim and Bumimoro were also on our list. They are Indonesian
Naval areas. We did our study tour activities on Friday 7th of April
2006. We left at 7.30am and arrived at SCTV at 8.30am. Eight students
became reporters there. They reported on their friends' activities
in English and Indonesian. Mr Ismoyo Herdono allowed us to look
around the TV studio and sit in the presenter’s chair in the
studio. These activities made the students very happy. At 10.30
we continued our journey to Armatim. Armatim’s people allowed
us to come onto |
|
First of all, she decided to use teacher assistants who were An-Nuqayah university students hoping to become English language teachers and who could be called upon to be relief teachers in her absence. Secondly, Iffah introduced a peer mentoring program in which she trained some of her higher ability students to provide support and guidance to other students in the same class. This offers additional encouragement on aspects of school work, as well as helps build the confidence and self-esteem of the whole class. By Wahyuning Ariyani (Ayu), S.Pd., SMP Miftahul Alum Al-Yasini, Ngabar Kraton, Pasuruan. |
Anggun is one of the few Indonesian artists who is also an international
artist. In Europe, for example, Anggun is a superstar. Anggun
writes and performs songs in Bahasa Indonesia, English and in
French. Her CDs have sold in the millions. The latest CD is titled
'Luminescence'. The majority of songs on the CD are in English.
|
|
Dewi says that she learnt her basic English language skills by watching endless re-runs of ‘The Muppets’. When she was young and living in Medan, Dewi and her family really had little to do at night so their father bought a video player. They recorded anything and everything they could, much of it in English, and then they started watching those videos over and over. Dewi went onto study English at school BUT she clearly says that it was The Muppets’ – Miss Piggy, Kermit and Animal - that got her into English. Such simple beginnings for sure, but these days Dewi’s love for, and use of, English is remarkable to say the very, very least. |
One Saturday night recently I was walking through my
village on my way to the radio station when I saw a couple of cats on
top of a wall howling at each other. The noise was deafening. As I passed
them, someone came out of the warung on the other side of the wall and
threw water at them. He missed the cats, but the water went all over me.
I automatically called out ‘Waduh!’ and everybody
who heard me laughed. I don’t speak much Javanese but I said that
word with a lot of feeling. Now when I walk down that street on Saturday
nights I keep an eye and an ear open for fighting cats. (Cheryl)
KGRE Note: Until mid-July 2006, Cheryl Reid was an Aussie ISELP teacher trainer in Paciran, Lamongan, East Java. As a part of her role at the PP, Cheryl also assisted her radio co-presenter, Pak Alimin, with their weekly interactive radio program on Persada FM 109.9 in Pondok Pesantren Sunan Drajat. Cheryl now works for KGRE. And don't worry Cheryl, there are no pussy cats fighting on the walls near KGRE office.
|
There are two pieces of technology in Australia that I found really amazing. The first one is a machine where you can get small change. In July 2003 I was about to visit Prof John Janes, former Director of Muresk Institute at Curtin University in Perth. I worked for him at the Indonesia Australia Eastern Universities Project back in Bali from 1994-1996. My friend was parking the car and I was looking for small change for the parking fee but unfortunately I only had bank notes and so did my friend. I was worried and asked, "How can we get the small change? We are in the parking lot. The canteen is far away." And then she pointed to the machine at one corner of the parking lot. I put a $10 note into the machine and within seconds got small change. How fantastic! In Indonesia I usually go to a petrol station to get small money or buy something at the nearest shop.
|
|
The other magic machine that I found very interesting
is the vending machine. It was on my first day in Darwin. I stayed
at the NT University campus |
 |
 |
 |
Welcome
to this latest edition of the Kang Guru magazine. Everyone here at KGRE
hopes that you find this June edition interesting, informative and most
of all, helpful with your English language studies. A lot of work has
been put into these pages to make sure they are varied and interesting
for you to read. It is always a big job producing these magazines but
we love doing it just for you! And special thanks to Andi Kusmianto for
his Science and Technology cover design for this magazine. Well done Andi
and all the very best for your graphic design career. h 
is an Aussie slang expression for the television. The general shape
of a television is sort of like a box, right? The word idiot is
used jokingly to describe the people who sit in front of the 'box'
being entertained for hours and hours. 
and usually from the perspective of the performer or artist. Artists
often say they have a gig on, or in other words they have a work
commitment to perform.
were
all installing air conditioning systems and customers have been
shopping, eating and watching films in comfort ever since!
What
can be used by punks and little girls to make chains and necklaces;
by untidy students to hold their shirt together when they lose a
button; and by organised teachers to keep sheets of paper together?
The humble paperclip, of course! An American called Samuel B. Fay
patented a bent-wire clip in 1867 but he used it for attaching price
tags to clothes in shops. In1899 a Norwegian called Johan Vaaler
was the first person to patent a bent-wire clip that was specially
designed to hold together several sheets of paper. Since then dozens
of people have invented dozens of differently shaped paperclips,
and millions and millions of paperclips have been produced and sold
around the World. So why is it always so difficult to find one when
you need one?
Something
very strange happened in Indonesian sitting rooms in 1963 - lots
of families stopped sitting facing each other. Instead they all
started staring at the corner of the room. No, they weren't angry
with each other - so what happened? In 1963 TVRI made its first
television broadcast in Indonesia and life changed for everyone!
The television was invented by John Logie Baird, a Scotsman, in
1923, but Indonesians had to wait for 40 years before they got their
own television programs. 
Do
you love watching films? Have you ever seen the original "The
Story of the Kelly Gang?" It was the world's first full
length feature film and it was made in Australia in 1906. These
days, full length feature films are an everyday event for millions
of Indonesians and Australians either at the cinema, on TV or
on DVD.
Do
you have a radio in your car? Almost every car in Indonesia
has a radio in it. Did you know that Australians were the
first people in the world to be able to drive their cars and
listen to the radio at the same time? In 1934, Kelly's Motors
were the first company in the world to fit radios in cars.
Nowadays, there are CD players and even DVD players in some
cars.
What
happens when you ferment soybeans? The result tastes and feels
something like mushrooms. It's called tempe by the Indonesians,
who invented this use for the soybean. And what an invention!
Delicious! High in protein and fiber, low in saturated fats,
an excellent meat substitute not just for vegetarians. Soybeans
are the only food containing isoflavones, which are thought
to possibly reduce the risk of cancer. But soybeans also contain
phytates, which prevent the absorption of minerals. Cooking
doesn't get rid of the phytates, but the fermentation of tempe
does. And unlike most beans, including soybeans prepared in
other ways, tempe won't disturb anyone's intestines because
fermentation gets rid of the oligosaccarides that can produce
gas.
Full
information about ADS scholarships will be printed in provincial
newspapers during June and July. People who are interested in applying
for an ADS scholarship can get information from our website - 
Sandra
Irawanto is from South Sulawesi. He is Head of the Social Service
section in the kelurahan in Luwu province. He finished his 9 months
of English language study at IALF Bali in April 2006. Later this
year he will be in Australia as an ADS awardee. He told KGRE that
he loved studying at IALF Bali because he loved his fellow ADS awardees
and also working daily with IALF teachers. Sandra certainly worked
hard to improve his English language skills. Well Done! What do
you think he is looking forward to the most upon arrival in Australia?
He is most interested in making friends in Australia and learning
more about Western culture. The other thing he wants to do is to
travel and see more of Australia, especially the nightlife, the
cities and local society. 
Sugiono
is a well known teacher in the Probolinggo area of East Java. For
one thing, he has been very proactive in setting up connections
with KGRE. He really motivated students at Pondok Pesantren Nurul
Jadid to start an English language club - the Galilei Club, KGCC
#022. Sugiono has also been active with Radio SMANJA FM, based at
Nurul Jadid in Paiton. He managed the English language section of
the station for quite some time and now English is a really busy
part of the station's regular programming. Sugiono was at IALF Bali
in April/May 2006 preparing for his journey to Australia as an Australian
Development Scholarship student studying for his Master of Education
degree at Flinders University, Adelaide, specialising in educational
leadership and management. Alistair Welsh, ISELP Aussie teacher
trainer at Nurul Jadid told KGRE "I think he's a great
candidate. He's an excellent teacher. Students and his fellow teachers
recognise he's a very, very good English teacher. He's also a very
nice guy and a good operator."
We
use computers/laptops for MSN and emails, Myspace and other chatting
sites. At school we use computers for researching, typing assignments
and printing. Technology provides us with entertainment such as
Play Station and XBox. There are some students who don't have access
to technology at home but they are able to use the facilities at
school to complete tasks and assignments, so that they are not disadvantaged.
My
name is Tio and I'm a student at Teknik Informatika at Universitas
Islam Indonesia in Jogjakarta. I'm in my final year. I was blind
about computers before I went to university. I didn't even know
how to use word processing. But now I am addicted to computers,
especially internet. Internet really helps me with my studies. For
4 years now our school has used internet as a one-stop service for
students, parents and staff to find information such as school fees,
class schedules, and for book catalogs. Now we use internet as a
medium for long distance learning. Students can download school
materials and even do their exams through internet. Apart from school,
I use internet to help me with my daily activities: communicate
with friends, making friends, getting information, downloading articles
or tutorials, and for learning English. Technology may also bring
bad influences into our lives but as long as we use technology wisely
and properly we will get many benefits. 
then
they could order food and enjoy eating it at Warung TALK. The food
was sensational and the service was even better AND all in English.
Even work-ing out the bill and giving change – memberi kembalian
- was done in English. 
an Indonesian warship. We went on to Bumimoro. We had an interesting
experience there just like the others. The students learned about
the planetarium and naval history there. We took a rest and prayed
in the Al Akbar mosque, then we went shopping at the Giant Shopping
Mall. The day was full of great learning activities and we all felt
tired on the journey back to Pasuruan. 
Iffah
Al_Batul is an outstanding English language teacher at Pondok Pesantren
An-Nuqayah, Guluk-Guluk, Sumenep and has been working constantly
with ISELP Teacher-Trainers John and Margaret Rollings, since their
arrival at An-Nuqayah eighteen months ago. During that time Margaret
and John have watched Iffah juggling her two roles, one as an extremely
busy and devoted English teacher and the other as a young Nyai with
demanding and unrelenting religious obligations and responsibilities.
Following courses at IALF Surabaya and PDA Malang, Iffah understood
that she could use more up-to-date teaching methodologies to enable
students to cope with the increased workload required by the new
Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi (KBK).
Kevin
met Anggun in Jakarta in late May 2006 and was lucky enough to
sit down with her at her hotel for a 30 minutes chat. When they
first met, Anggun immediately shook hands with Kevin and welcomed
him to sit down with her for the English language interview. Kevin
explained briefly about KGRE in Indonesia and how the interview
was not going to be quite what she was perhaps used to. Kevin
wanted to ask questions about learning languages for example.
Anggun already speaks French and English and she told Kevin that
she is now trying to learn Italian. She added that she was finding
it quite difficult. Be sure to listen to KGRE in July and August
to hear Anggun's interview and about learning languages. Check
the September magazine and the KGRE website for more news of Anggun
and KGRE.
As
for modern technology? Tommy is surrounded by it everyday at work.
However he told KGRE that his radio is his most important piece
of technology. He listens to the radio, especially FM in his car,
as often as he can. Tommy loves jazz, rock and heavy metal music.
Dewi
Lestari is quite an amazing person. She is a singer, songwriter
and a novelist. One of her most popular literary works is the ‘Supernova’
series of novels. Have you read them? Dewi is also a guest speaker
and presents seminars both here in Indonesia and overseas. Dewi
lives in Bandung but KGRE was lucky enough to meet her at Balai
Sarbini in late April 2006. She was there appearing in a concert
with her husband, Marcell. Dewi was so kind as to sit down with
Kevin for a few minutes to talk about her life, her work and her
amazing interest in English. It was hard to find a quiet place but
they eventually found a back corridor to do the interview in. In
fact Kevin was somewhat in awe of Dewi when they met. Kevin had
listened to Dewi’s latest CD while he was flying to Jakarta
a few days earlier. The CD, titled ‘Out of Shell’, is
nothing short of incredible. It may not be to everyone’s liking,
but without a doubt, the English language Dewi uses is simply fantastic.
Tracks such as ‘Simply’ and ‘The End’ are
two of Kevin’s favourites. The music and the words are quiet
and relaxing - a feast for the ears and the heart. 
Her
latest CD, ‘Out of Shell’ is all written in English.
Dewi says that sometimes ideas come to her in English and sometimes
in Indonesian. The songs on this CD came to her in English. Kevin
asked Dewi if the lyrics could be translated into Indonesian so
that the vast majority of Indonesian people could also enjoy the
CD. According to Dewi this is not possible AND she should know,
right? KGRE spoke with Shanty last year about her wonderful song
‘Di Belahan Langit Hati’. The song was written by Dewi
but in English. Shanty loved the song and wondered whether Dewi
could change it into Bahasa Indonesia. The answer? No! Dewi did
agree however to translate some of the lyrics into Indonesian BUT
not all of it. Dewi says that some words and concepts just can’t
be translated properly between languages.
accommodation.
In the afternoon on my first day in Darwin, I was hoping to buy
some snacks. But there were only books and souvenirs available.
As I was looking around in front of the shop I found a tall machine
just standing there. As I came closer I was surprised to see stuff
inside that box. There were many types of snacks, chocolates and
soft drinks. The prices were tagged below each of the items. "Wow,
what is this? A shopping machine? How can I get one of the crackers
out?" I read the instructions and put in some small change.
I pressed the buttons and suddenly a packet of Lays Potato Chips
dropped out in front of me! It was like magic! Days later I found
more of those magic machines in many places. However I don't want
that machine to be available here in Indonesia. Because that means
more people will be without a job and I don't want that to happen.