Suggestions for CLUB ACTIVITIES

Some Ideas to Develop Discussion Skills and Ability

Make sure that participants are interested and have opinions on the topic. This can be done by starting discussions in Bahasa Indonesia. If members find it hard to discuss topics in their own language then doing it in English will be even more difficult. Gauge the interest and knowledge of participants during this session. If knowledge or interest is low then it may be a good idea to change to a more suitable topic. If appropriate, move onto discussing the topic in English, possibly after some added input such as necessary or helpful vocabulary and ideas. This next session could be done immediately but maybe it would be better to do it at the next meeting thus giving members time to prepare their ideas and their expected input. Start the discussion off in a relaxed and easy manner perhaps with some simple questions or a survey related to the topic. Presentation of a practical problem associated with the discussion topic maybe a good idea. For example, the topic of ‘cannibalism’. The practical problem or dilemma could be that students are lost in the desert and the only thing to eat is the bodies of their dead friends. What would they do? Could they eat the body or not OR would they just die? How do they feel about that situation?

An Interesting and Regular Meeting Place

At 1.00pm on August 3rd 2003, Kevin attended the regular Sunday afternoon meeting of the Pioneer English Meeting Conversation Club of Makassar. Their meetings are held at Fort Rotterdam, a well-known tourist landmark opposite the port in Makassar. There were about 50 members there on that day. Kevin soon got down to business with Question Time. They have been meeting at Fort Rotterdam for many years. It gives them an opportunity to meet tourists and to practise their English. They take mats with them to sit on and they have a spanduk to tell everyone who they are. They are probably a sort of tourist attraction themselves! On that day the vast majority of questions concerned the Australian Development Scholarship program (ADS). Although Kevin knows about ADS he suggested that they should contact ADS Jakarta directly and ask their questions to the staff there. There was great interest in studying in Australia, the lifestyles of students there and there were also many general questions about education in Australia.
The Pioneer English Meeting Conversation Club is one of the most active clubs in the KGCC network. In one of their recent CARs they mentioned their KG Audio Show Activity. At their meetings they complete tasks which are based on activities suggested in the KG Reading Class Sets. The KG Audio Activity is one of their most popular. Great to hear that the Reading Class Sets are being used so well.