Kang GURU Travels to Sumbawa — September, 2007

Sue visited Sumbawa Besar in September 2007 to present a Kang Guru Teacher Workshop to English language teachers. Sue also visited Radio Oisvira FM and met many students as she visited schools and in student meetings.

Before I left on this trip Ogi organised my schedule: a visit to a new AusAID funded school, three KGCC club visits, a radio program and a visit to an AusAID ACCESS funded project in a small village. Tjok took care of the travel and hotel bookings, and Alwi and Nyoman organised for boxes of KGRE materials to be delivered to the hotel in Mataram. All I had to do was find someone to drive me around. Fortunately not long after I arrived I found Pak Oka. He turned out to be a perfect driver — he knows his way around, drives carefully, doesn't smoke, doesn't play music in the car and doesn't talk all the time!

Earlier in the year Kevin, Ogi and Ana travelled to Sumbawa to inform teachers and students interested in learning English all about KGRE. As a result the very efficient ASSET (The Association of Sumbawa English Teachers) invited KGRE back to Sumbawa to conduct a workshop and meet students and teachers so I went by plane early in September. The early morning flight from Bali was on a small plane and was rather bumpy, but a lot quicker than the previous KGRE team who travelled by ferry and overland. It took them about 13 hours! I left my house at 6:15 and arrived at the hotel 4 hours later at 10:15!

Unusually for a KGRE visit I had the day free till 4pm, when Pak Deden came to the hotel to meet me and took me to the venue for the workshop. Sumbawa Besar isn’t really besar and the hall where the workshop was to be held was actually close by at SMK 1. When we arrived there were many floral arrangements outside and I thought they were for the KGRE workshop! But Pak Deden told me the hall is available for hire and earlier in the day there had been a wedding there and the flowers and other decorations had been hired by the wedding party. The hall was a good size and one by one the committee arrived - and there were lots of them, each with their own job. It appears that many hands make light work and we soon had the hall set up ready for the workshop – except for the sound system – the most important part of a successful LISTENING workshop! It was no problem though. Later in the evening we went back to the hall and Pak and his son (who is studying computer technology in Mataram) set up a laptop and amplifier - perfect for our needs.

Before it got dark, Pak Deden kindly took me on a quick tour of the town of Sumbawa Besar. We visited the Balai Kuning, (where the relatives of the old Raja now live) the Bupati’s office and also the skeleton of the old Istana. It was a remarkable building now surrounded by modern homes. All that can be seen today are the 99 wooden pillars and a fantastic carved wooden figure leaning out from the front pillar. Renovations were taking place apparently with help of a donation from Japan.

The next morning Pak Deden was worried about jam karat but most of the teachers arrived on time, even though they had travelled from far away. The workshop was opened by Drs MH Muhammad Ikhsan the Kepala Dinas of Sumbawa Besar who reminded the teachers of the importance of English in today’s world and thanked KGRE for visiting Sumbawa to help the English teachers.

I began the workshop by telling the teachers about the different ways KGRE can help them – the radio, the magazines and teacher materials. About 10 minutes into my presentation the electricity went off. I carried on, but in the back of my mind I was wondering how we were going to complete the listening workshop – especially after I was informed the electric wouldn’t be on again till 2:00! This is not unusual in Indonesia and so I explained to the teachers that even though they did not have electricity they could still give their students listening activities. KGRE materials include tapescripts so the teachers and students can become the tape recorder. Pak Deden helped by reading the first script and in the next activity Pak Husni read the script.

Pak Husni later informed me that he had recently been elected as the youngest headteacher in Sumbawa Besar. Congratulations and good luck for the future. During the third activity the power came back on and we were able to continue the workshop with activities such as a Tina Arena song and introductions to a KGRE show. The teachers were active and enjoyed the activities and especially the games and quizzes. The workshop finished about 3 o clock and the teachers stayed on to vote for the new president of ASSET. After a secret ballot was held it was decided the new president was to be Pak Deden. He has a busy couple of years ahead of him, but I am sure he and his new committee will do a very good job.

Over the next couple of days I was busy meeting students at different schools in Sumbawa Besar. I met the lively students at SMP 1. We had questions, games, quizzes and some musical entertainment, as two of the girls sang traditional Sumbawan songs. They were a great bunch of students. I also held a similar session with English students from SMAN 1. They had a lot of questions for me and the time there flew by. Later on in the afternoon I met with more students, many of which were all wearing the same t shirts – from their science group. I also visited SMA Islamic High School and the members of the ECO or English club Organisation. At each school I was very impressed by the spoken English of the students. The teachers in Sumbawa Besar are doing a very good job!
My final meeting was with the students of Universitas Paracendekia NW Sumbawa. There I met Dr Iwan Jazadi a dynamic leader and MP for Sumbama Besar. I was amazed at the things he has achieved in his life. He began ASSET – The Association of Sumbawa English Teachers, he has studied in Australia twice - on ADS scholarships, once for his masters degree and then again for his Doctorate. He has written books, helped found the university, which is now in it’s second year and already has 800 students, he has also presented papers at conferences abroad and is married with children! A very busy man indeed! He is also a very forward thinking man with many ideas to improve the life of the people of Sumbawa. For example every student teacher studying at the university, no matter what subject they want to teach, must learn English in every semester. He wants people to look forward and to celebrate the successes of Indonesia and not just speak about the weaknesses. He stressed to the students the importance of networking and how this can add new dimensions to their lives and outlook on life.

Actually during my visit to the small city of Sumbawa Besar I met two other people who had links with Australia. Pak Husni who helped by being a tape recorder at the workshop has been to Australia with the AusAID AIYEP Program. I also met Pak Umar at the teacher’s workshop. He was one of the five participants from Eastern Indonesia who had been on a teacher exchange trip to Darwin and the Northern Territory - March KGRE magazine 2007.

Sumbawa Besar is not a big town and I had a few hours free one afternoon so went out to a local tourist attraction at a local beach – Batu Gong. Legend tells how the gong shaped hole in the rock has, in the past, provided a place for people to hide in. It was hard to imagine as the hole is actually filled with sand, but it was at a lovely beach side location so I relaxed for a couple of hours and enjoyed an iced kelapa muda while listening the waves lapping the shore. Quite a few locals were visiting the beach too. The kids were playing in the water with old inner tubes while the mums unpacked the masses of picnic food they had bought along with them – enough to feed an army!
I had a great time in Sumbawa and was lucky to meet some lovely people.