Kang GURU Travels to Nganjuk — March, 2007

by Sue Rodger

Every time I travel to East Java with KGRE I visit a different area. Over the past few months I have been to Kediri, Trenggalek, Genteng for KGRE Teacher Workshops and on 28th March I went to Nganjuk. This was the first time I have visited this part of East Java. The journey from Surabaya took about three hours. The Hotel Shinta in Nganjuk was very comfortable, clean and helpful. I was surprised to see an elephant in the garden, but quite relieved to find it was made of stone! It was lunch-time so I ordered my favourite, sayur asam, nasi and tempe for lunch. Just after three the committee arrived, almost an hour early. Dewi said she wanted to avoid ‘jam karet’ as she knows how foreigners like to be on time. I spent some time chatting at the hotel and ‘breaking the ice’ with Dewi, Midianto and Zufri, then we drove to POMOSDA (Pondok Modern Suba Daya at-Taqwa) to check the venue for the workshop the next day.

The room was brand new and KGRE was lucky to be the first to use it. Dewi introduced me to Pak Munawara Affandi the Kyai of the Pesantren and he shared his views on Pesantren today in Indonesia and then we went on a tour. I was surprised how big it was. There were many classrooms, dormitories, a language lab, a shop and a canteen. I watched lots of students playing badminton, in fact I was amazed at how many games can be played on one indoor badminton court! I think there were about six different games going on at the same time!

We ate a delicious dinner at the pesantren with Pak Hairul Arifin (the principal at POMOSDA) and his family before going to radio TASMA where Dewi is the presenter of an interactive show. Before the KGRE show went on the air we had a listeners meeting. Uut and Fitri were there with Amir and Asmi, later on they were joined by Candi and Kamsee. Candi won a competition and is the tourism ambassador for Nganjuk region.

They had lots of questions about how to improve their English and studying in Australia. They were very lively and said they enjoyed listening to KGRE every week. Pak Rizal from Radio TASMA asked me to record some jingles for his station and before long it was time to join Dewi in the studio for the interactive show. The phone lines were hot! The callers to Radio TAMSA and TAMSA English Fun in Nganjuk never stopped! Dewi and I spoke to about 12 callers about lots of different topics. It was really interesting and the people who called in were really brave. Many of them said that this was the first time they had ever spoken to a native speaker of English. Well done. While we were in the studio another guest arrived. He cycled a long way to join us in the studio. His name is Arief. Arief is a regular listener to KGRE and was very enthusiastic about speaking English with me. We finally finished just after 10:00 and I said goodbye to the listeners and Rizal and Wisnu from radio TASMA. I slept very well that night after a busy day.

The next morning I was picked up at 7 o'clock and we drove out to POMOSDA. The teachers had begun arriving and were taking their places in the hall. At 8:00 sharp we began the workshop with Pak Midianto as our MC. Pak Munir from the Education Department officially opened the workshop after a speech by Pak Hairul. Almost 160 teachers attended the event.

At the beginning of the workshop I asked the teachers how they felt about listening lessons with their students and the replies came back … boring, no materials, students don't want to listen etc. After several of the activities I asked the teachers if they still thought listening was boring and a loud NO echoed around the hall. They really enjoyed the activities KGRE presented and I was mobbed by teachers at both the morning break and lunchtime. Many of them had never spoken to a native English speaker and I felt like a real celebrity. The teachers were interested and active throughout the whole workshop. I hope you all go back to your English classes with new ideas and enthusiasm.

At the end of the workshop I had a surprise visit from Pak Agung, Ibu Dhianny and the Kediri crowd. They had been in the area and decided to call in and see me. That was very nice of them, always good to see their smiling faces. They came with me to meet the students who were waiting for me in the main building. The event was hosted by Uut and Fitri who had fantastic English. Well done girls and well done to your English teacher too!! There were about 6 groups of students and each group elected someone to ask me questions individually. They were a little nervous at first but they did really well. Again I was impressed their level of English. They were great.

I hope I can meet you all again sometime. In the meantime keep studying English and listening to KGRE.