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KangGURU Travels to Batusangkar, West Sumatra in 2005 On this trip Kevin and Rachel presented a three day KGRE Teacher Workshop for English language teachers at STAIN in Batusangkar, West Sumatra for LAPIS and AusAID. Kevin also visited Padang FM with Diah and Wulan from the Australian Studies Centre at Andalas University, Padang. KGRE to Batusangkar April 24th - 29th, 2005
Pak Irwan, English lecturere from STAIN, picked me up at Tabing Airport. We then drove for about two hours to Batusangkar. On the way we stopped off for nasi padang (of course) in Panjar Padang just south of Bukittingi. That was delicious. Upon arriving in the township of Batusangkar we went directly to STAIN (Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri). We checked the venue for the teacher workshops, the schedule of events and I met with the Head of STAIN, Drs Syukri Iska, M. Ag.
Later in the afternoon Pak Irwan took me on a brief tour of the town including a rebuilt palace of a 13th century king. It was classic Minang architecture and was quite amazing. It was huge Nearby to the palace were more ordinary houses - homes to the local people. These homes were just as interesting to me and they ranged from quite new to quite old. Those pointed roofs are quite spectacular, aren't they? Next stop was to Restoran Kubang, a Batusangkar speciality. The martabak they are famous for is called martabak mesir. The Egyptian connection, if there is one, is hard to work out but it certainly is a local delight. The contents include meat and a variety of vegetables and as Pak Fazis told me, a secret ingredient known only to the owner of the restaurant. The martabak was delicious and there are two locations in Batusangkar for this special food. Next stop was the local market to buy some local music. You'll be hearing that on KGRE in June.
The first day of the actual workshop began at 10.00am with 75 teachers in attendance. The room was well set up and teachers were certainly keen to get on with the task at hand. Activities went well with plenty of teacher interaction and plenty of questions too. At the workshop KGRE made a great offer to the participants. If they send a letter to KGRE before the 5th of May, 2005 asking for copies of the December 2005 Reading Class Set then I would also include a copy of the latest Reading Class Set for April 2005. A great offer, yeah? Let's see how many of the 75 participants actually write to KGRE by the given date - May 5th.
Rachel arrived on Tuesday evening and was ready to go to her first workshop in Batusangkar at 8.00am on Wednesday. Teachers were all on time and the day's activities were well underway shortly afterwards. Rachel continued with her Follow-Up Workshop on Thursday. Kevin returned to Padang on Wednesday evening.
More details on on KGRE's radio page of the website - http://www.kangguru.org/englishradio.htm AusAID's Learning
Assistance Program for Islamic Schools (LAPIS) covered all costs
for the workshop including all KGRE costs, Teacher Packages to all
participants, breakfast, lunch and snacks plus transport and accommodation
costs for the participants from out of town. Thanks LAPIS - KGRE hope
we can work with you again soon.
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