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Sue traveled to Jombang for a KGI teacher workshop and to meet the enthusiastic students of several former
Kang Guru Connection Clubs. KGI has had a long history with Jombang and it was great to see old friends again.
Sue also went to visit IALF in Jakarta and students from the English Language Club from Jendral Sudirman
University, Purwokerto.
Here's Sue's Report for you to read.
On the 11th March, I flew to Surabaya and was met at the airport by 2 members of the committee from Jombang.
We drove to PP Darul Ulum with the fastest driver in East Java – not sure he was the safest though!
I was glad when we arrived! I met with Ibu Afifia and we joined her sister in law, their husbands and other
members of the family for lunch. Then we went to the hotel and I checked in. The car returned an hour later
and took me back to the pesantren. PP Darul Ulum is huge! There is a TK, SD, SMP, SMA and university. And
everything is pink! Pink walls, pink chairs, pink curtains- pink, pink pink wherever you look! Waiting for
me at the auditorium were about 100 students from 11 different schools and colleges.
The students had bought along a couple of their teachers too. I told them all about Kang Guru and some of
the students told their friends how to get magazines. We had a question and answer session and what I really
enjoyed about it was there were no “SMP’ questions – no one asked me how old are you or
what are your hobbies! The questions were very interesting and included finding out about the daily lives
of Indigenous Australians, scholarships, comparing and contrasting schools in Indonesia to schools in Australia
and why I like living in Indonesia. The meeting was scheduled for one hour but no one wanted to rush away
as it was pouring with rain so we kept going for 2 hours!
The next day it was back to the Pesantren for a workshop. About 80 teachers attended including 9 who were
studying in Pare and were brought along by the KG champion Suryadi. It was a lively workshop and all the participants
were active. We played some games, sang songs and completed some activities from the KG teacher materials.
One of the most enjoyable activities was the running dictation using tongue twisters. The event started at
9:00 and finished about 2:30. After a photo session with the teachers and the committee it was time for me
to get back in the car and be driven back to Surabaya airport.
The journey took a couple of hours as the roads were quite busy, especially with large trucks. I was in plenty
of time for my flight as Tjok had said you don’t know what the traffic will be like and had booked me
a later flight. I was flying to Jakarta not back to Bali. I arrived in Jakarta at 9:00 and met a friend for
a cup of tea and a chat before going to the hotel.
The next morning after breakfast I checked out of the hotel and went straight to the IALF office. It was my
first time to the new building and I was very impressed. It is very spacious and modern. I was there to meet
a group of students from the English Language Club at Jendral Sudirman University, Purwokerto. They arrived
early and so we started the KG activities straight away. They were members of an established English Club
at their university and were from many different fields including law, agriculture, animal husbandry, accounting
and engineering. They also asked questions – this time about improving their club and I gave them suggestions
for different activities. We played some games and had a KG quiz. After a tour of the building and a snack
the students spent an hour learning about IELTS with Nigel, one of the IALF Jakarta teachers. All the students
went home with several KG magazines and some IALF souvenirs.
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