KGRE staff travelled
to Makassar for the second Makassar KGCC
Get Together on August 20th. All KGRE language clubs were represented
at the day long activity. Kevin and Ogi met with MGMP
SMA/MA based at SMA 1 Makassar with the view to future teacher workshops
and development of the proposed KGRE Teacher network. Geoff Crewes, CEO
of IALF joined in with the Makassar activities as did Ogi from KGRE. After
the Get Together,
Rachel drove to Wajo for a KGRE teacher workshop the following day
and Kevin went to nearby Gowa for a teacher workshop.
He met three young students there who had questions for Ello.
Kevin also called into BAKTI - a new and
exciting activity in Makassar. On Tuesday Kevin flew to Palu
for a teacher workshop and language club activities there.
KangGURU
Travels to
Makassar and Palu in August 2005 written
by Kevin
On Saturday the 19th of
August KGRE started a very busy trip to South Sulawesi. Ogi went to Makassar
early that morning to help with preparations for the second Makassar Get
Together of Connection Clubs from South Sulawesi. The Organizing Committee,
under the leadership of Pak Syahrir, has been working for many months
planning the day of English language activities. They had to make sure
all clubs were involved in the activities and that guest speakers and
special activities were timetabled. Sound equipment had to be hired along
with the venue. Committee members spent many hours decorating the venue
with posters, flowers and signs. Ogi joined them on Saturday to see if
they needed any last minute help.
| On Saturday the
20th of August Kevin and Rachel flew to Makassar together
with IALF CEO, Geoff Crewes. After checking into the hotel
Rachel and Geoff met with Syahrir from The Best Forum Club to do
an interview for his radio program. Syahrir has always been very
active with radio in Makassar and is currently a member of the newly
formed KGRE English Language Interactive Presenters Network. |
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In the meantime
Ogi and I went out to SMA2 to meet with 10 members of MGMP
SMA/MA , an very active and energetic English teacher
association in Makassar. KGRE has worked with this association before
and hopefully we will in the future. At the meeting we discussed
future workshop activities and the proposed formation of a KGRE
teacher association network. The association is very active with
40 members who attend meetings regularly. KGRE hopes to meet with
them in November or December this year. |
| The
2nd Makassar Kang Guru Connection Get Together (GTG)
was held on Sunday the 21st of August. The event was
held at Gedung Juang in Makassar. The Organizing Committee, under
the leadership of Pak Syahrir from Best Forum Club, had spent many
months planning the event. Their hard work paid
off – it was a really well organized and successful day for
everyone involved. The electricity went off - mati
lampu - from mid morning for the rest of the day but event hat
didn’t spoil the day – luckily Gedung Juang had their own electricity
GENSET.
After the official opening of the GTG it was one fun and interesting
activity after another. KGRE presented both a music and a language
activity. Individual clubs presented skits and English language
performances about their clubs and their activities. |
Makassar
Get Together Report from Pak Syahrir
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There were so many excellent
performances that it is difficult to choose just one to talk about
but the performance by the BPEC (Benteng Panynyua English Club) was
particularly good. It was performed totally in English. It was funny
and the English used was well written and presented. The
leader of the club, Ilky Hidayat, who was one of the funniest characters
in the performance, and he spoke to KGRE after the performance. He
said that the club really enjoyed writing and performing the play
and it was a terrific way to help them with their English - self help
he called it. |
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A more detailed report about the GTG will available soon right here from
Pak Syharir.
After the GTG, Rachel hopped into a car and went 6 hours north to Wajo.
She presented a KGRE Teacher Workshop there on Monday. More on that soon.
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Kevin,
Geoff and Ogi went to SMK 2
Sungguminasa - Gowa on Monday for a second KGRE Teacher
Workshop in South Sulawesi for that day. There were 60 teachers
at the workshop and they were all particularly active and eager
to talk. The workshop involved all the participants in many activities
and mini-discussions centered around KGRE classroom activities from
the Revised 2004 Teacher Package and KGRE Reading Class Sets. |
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After the workshop
I spoke with students from local SMA, SMK and SMP schools. We talked about
why they are so interested in learning English and how they plan to use
their English language skills in their future careers.
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Juminato and the boys
gave KGRE some terrific questions to ask Ello. That interview with
Ello took place on 28th August in Bali.
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Many
thanks to those students and to their teachers for organizing the
student meeting with Kevin.
Many thanks to a very keen KGRE teacher, Ibu Tuti from SMP
Neg 4 Sungguminasa for all of her hard work
directing and assisting the Organizing Committee to plan so well
for this workshop. I spoke with Edwin, Wilda and Juminato after
the student meeting and you can hear them on KGRE soon.
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BAKTI is a part of the
new World Bank project for Eastern Indonesia. The project is called
the
Eastern Indonesia Information Exchange or or Bursa Pengetahuhan
Kawasan Timur Indonesia (BaKTI).
|
On Tuesday
Kevin visited BAKTI. This wonderful building in Jl. Doctor Sotomo
No. 26 is a proving to be a wonderful resource center for Makassar.
It is open to anyone and provides facilities such as computers with
free internet, a library, several very well appointed meeting rooms
including an outside garden styled meeting area. Kevin met with
Adi who showed Kevin around the building and explained about the
facilities available. Hopefully KGRE will be working more closely
with BAKTI in the future as KGRE heads further out to Eastern Indonesia.
For further information on the BAKTI contact Petrarca or one of
his staff at
Jl. DR. Soetomo No. 26, Makassar Sulsel 90113 (Phone
0411
– 3650320-23)
|
In the early
afternoon Kevin flew to Palu in Central Sulawesi. It was my second trip
to Palu. Kevin went there in 2004. Kevin was met by Yusri, an ex AIYEP
student he had met the during his earlier trip to Palu. Yusri has been
a keen promoter of English and KGRE in Palu over the past year and has
started his own language club called Posisani English Club
It was KGRE’s Club of the Month last July. Yusri was also been
very important as a driving force behind the Palu workshop.
| First appointment was with 50 or so
students at the workshop venue. As Kevin arrived he was met by two
young men dressed in traditional clothes and shaking spears at him.
It was in fact a traditional welcome presented by 25 students from
the AMALIA ORPHANAGE in Palu. There is a KGRE Connection
Language Club at another orphanage in palu by the way - the NURUL
IKHSAN ORPHANAGE. It has been an active club for quite a few years
and is led by Pak Irfan. The traditional welcome continued with a
dance performance inside the venue. The students were beautifully
dressed – so bright and dazzling. The members of the welcoming
group also joined in our meeting with students from other clubs
based in Palu.
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These clubs are the Posisani
Club and the
Nurul Ihsan Meeting Club plus two clubs that so far have not joined
the KGCC. We hope they will soon though. The Dolphin Club is connected
to RRI Palu and KGRE’s long time friend, Jojo while the Welcome English
Club based at UNTAD in the Economic Faculty is the second one. The
‘question and answer’ meeting
lasted for over 2 hours as there were many questions from many of
the participants. That was great to see and Kevin really appreciated
the effort they all made. The final quiz activity was well received
as were the prizes! |
On Wednesday August 24th
the Palu Teacher Workshop got underway at 8.00am with approximately 110
teachers in attendance. This group of teachers were super-active. They
participated freely in all activities and had quite a few questions along
the way as well. The time flew as participants worked their way through
a few activities from the Revised Teacher Package and from Reading Class
Sets. Palu certainly is blessed with some excellent teachers and certainly
with a lot of enthusiasm.
| Pak Yusri and his Organizing Team
were particularly helpful and thoughtful as they helped Kevin during
the workshop in allsorts of different ways – handing out activities,
collecting Feedback Forms, checking to see if everything was okay
and making sure teachers understood what was going on. Many thanks
to Pak Arifin Hi Lolo from Kantor Wali Koto Palu for opening the workshop
and to his office for supplying the excellent venue for free to the
committee and the workshop. |
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After the workshop over 100 students
arrived at the meeting hall for the KGRE student meeting. It was great
to see so many there and they were also terrific just like their teachers.
They asked lots of questions and KGRE gave away lots of prizes. It
was fun and hopefully most of the students will write to KGRE soon. |
| In the evening Kevin went to RRI
Plau for an interactive experience with Jojo from Pro 2. The interactive
show was fantastic and Jojo certainly knows what he is doing. His
show is fun, lively and full of energy. Quite a few callers called
in and spoke with Kevin and Yusri about KGRE, teacher activities in
Palu earlier in the day and to enter the Odd One Out Competitions
that Kevin announced on the program. Callers Eni and Nur won the two
competitions and will collect their KGRE Gift Packs next week from
Jojo at Pro 2. After visiting the Head of RRI Palu, Badrus S Jamsi,
I returned to my hotel. |
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| Very early the next morning (5am
in fact) I was picked up at the hotel by for the quick trip to the
airport. In fact Ibu Nur Anggraini
had driven me all around Palu during my stay there and I want to thank
her for her effort. It was much appreciated indeed. My Lion flight
left on time and after a brief stop over in Makassar I was home in
Bali before lunchtime. |
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Return to Past Travels of KGRE in Indonesia
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