Kang GURU Travels
to Trenggalek and Tuban — March, 2007
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by Sue and Cheryl
Sue and Cheryl visited Trenggalek and Tuban to meet with KGCC members, present KGRE Teacher Workshops and
participate in student speech competition activities.
Sue's Report
I have been to East Java many times and always enjoy it. The scenery is so pretty and the food delicious!
The sun was shining when Cheryl and I landed in Surabaya and Pak Yudi was there to meet us and take us to
Trenggalek for a KGRE Teacher Workshop. The drive was anticipated to take about 4 hours, giving us a chance
to rest before our first meeting. However, the residents of villages submerged under the Lapindo Brantas
Inc mudflow were continuing their action of blocking roads and train lines to Sidoarjo. This made our journey
much longer. In fact it took three hours just to get out of Surabaya, despite Pak Yudi taking every Jalan
Tikus he knew!
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For the next three and a half hours we travelled through the countryside of East Java and after stopping for
a late lunch of nasi pecel, finally arrived in Trenggalek about six in the evening. I had already sent an
SMS to Nurul, from Gazebo English Course, to advise her of our late arrival and so Cheryl and I were able
to rest for a short time before meeting Nurul, and her team of assistants at 7:00. We sat in the lobby of
the hotel and chatted for an hour or so before heading off, by becak in the rain, to Radio ADS. Presenters
Nurul and Wawan have begun an interactive show which airs after the Kang Guru show. Despite the fact that
this was only their 6th interactive show there were five callers. They all tried really hard to practise
their English and asked Cheryl and I lots of questions. Before we left Monique from Radio ADS asked Cheryl
and I to record some jingles. We were happy to agree only to find out they were in Bahasa Jawa!! I hope the
listeners can understand us! It was still raining when we left Radio ADS at about 9:45 but the becak had
returned to take us back to the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel dining room had closed and as there were no
nearby warungs Cheryl and I had to be happy with tea and biscuits for dinner.
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Sue and Pak Achmadi, Deputy
Head of Education, Trenggalek
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Pak Yudi was at the hotel at 7:00am to take us to the workshop venue, which was quite close to the hotel.
The room was set up ready and a few of the participants had already arrived. The workshop was opened by Pak
Achmadi from the Department of Education and was underway by 8:30.
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There were about 35 participants mostly from the Trenggalek area but one lady had come all the way from Tuban!
She had attended the first workshop last year and didn't want to miss the second! The workshop ran quite smoothly
and the participants got livelier as the day progressed. Unfortunately Cheryl was ill during the afternoon session
but she soldiered on and completed her sessions. The committee did a very good job of organizing this event
and the English Olympiad which was to be held at SMAN 1 the following day. Unfortunately after the workshop
I had to leave straight away to return to Surabaya. It was a shame as I would have liked to have visited some
of the beautiful tourist attractions in the area that Wawan had told me about. In fact I didn't even visit the
town of Trenggalek itself! That's what often happens on KGRE trips. We are so busy conducting workshops, visiting
radio stations and attending other events the sightseeing has to be saved for holiday time! Thank you Nurul,
Wawan and the team for another great workshop.
Cheryl's Report
Sue has written about the teacher workshop we did together in Trenggalek. All I would like to add is a big ‘Thank
you’ to the committee and to the group of teachers who explained ‘masuk angin’ to
me and gave me eucalyptus oil when I was sick. After Sue left on Saturday evening I stayed in my hotel room
listening to the rain. Until recently it hasn't rained very much in Bali and I enjoyed the rainy weather for
a change.
On Sunday morning I went to SMAN 1 Trenggalek for a speech contest, carrying lots of KGRE giveaways. I went
by becak and on the way saw some beautiful scenery. The green of the ricefields and blue of the mountains
were very bright after a night of rain.
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There were crowds of students at the school when I arrived. In the office I spoke with some of the visiting
English teachers and gave them KGRE magazines. Later I sat at the back of the ‘Bupati's Cup’ contest
and was impressed by the courage of the students who were participating. It's not easy to deliver a speech
in English, especially with a native speaker in the audience, but these students were really making a great
effort.
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The final stage of the contest, for the top ten students, was held after lunch. They all spoke on the same
topic — the importance of science and technology for the young generation of Indonesians. I wasn't
surprised to hear mobile phones (HP) and television mentioned a lot, but I was surprised to hear an SMP student
talk about nuclear power. Finally the top three SMP and SMA winners received their trophies and KGRE prize
packs.
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The members of the committee set to work cleaning the room and before long the next activity was underway — a
meeting of Gazebo English Club, KGCC #007. It was a special
occasion as they had lots of entertainment for us, starting with a fashion show and then some dancing. The
last act was a very funny play involving a young man, the devil, a magician, a bottle of magic perfume, an
old man in traditional Javanese costume and six girls! Monic from Radio ADS Trenggalek also conducted a very
entertaining interactive discussion with the audience and gave away prizes from local sponsors.
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Finally it was KGRE's turn. The club members were very enthusiastic, although I noticed that the girls were far
more confident in using their English than the boys were. We enjoyed a couple of quizzes and I invited one girl
and one boy to tell the audience all about themselves. This was to give everyone an idea of what they could
write in a letter to KGRE. The speakers did very well and received special prizes for volunteering.
By 5.00pm I was saying goodbye to Nurul, Alin, Monic and Wawan. Soon Pak Yudi was driving out of Trenggalek yet
again, but this time with me and lots of keripik tempe. It started to rain heavily again and before long it
was dark. We passed through Tulungagung, Kediri, Jombang and Lamongan before arriving in Tuban just before 8
o'clock. You may think that it's easy sitting in a car while Pak Yudi does all the driving. He's an excellent
driver but I saw too many motorcycles, bicycles and becaks without lights to relax. The final part of the road
to Tuban was very busy with lines of large trucks and buses making their way from Jakarta towards Surabaya and
beyond, and going the opposite way too.
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The next morning Pak Muin and Ibu Christina met me at the hotel. Pak Muin teaches at SMPN 5 Tuban, helps to
run the Five Conversation Club (KGCC #006) and also has
an interactive radio show on Radio Pradya Suara in Tuban following the KGRE program. Ibu Christina is a lecturer
and Head of the English Department at IKIP PGRI Tuban and sometimes helps the IKIP
Conversation Club (KGCC #074). After the opening of the ‘English Competence Competition 2007’ at
the radio station they took me back to my hotel for a couple of hours while 150 students completed the written
part of the competition.
The top 21 students competed in the speech competition. Ten SMA students and 11 SMP students took turns to
speak about a topic taken from a box. (Numbers 10 and 11 had the same score on the SMP written test.) The
topics ranged from corruption to discipline in schools to early marriages. Although the students are probably
familiar with the type of topics encountered in competitions it's very difficult to speak ‘off
the cuff’ like that in a foreign language. Not surprisingly, some of them found it difficult
but they all tried very hard and did their best. I was very impressed, especially with the younger students
who perhaps hadn't done this before.
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After the presentations of trophies and KGRE prizes the next item on the agenda for the day was a club meeting.
Members of the Five Conversation Club and the IKIP Conversation Club arrived as the sky was getting darker.
(photo 6) One of the IKIP students was David who used to phone the interactive show I was involved with on Persada
FM in Paciran, Lamongan.
Pak Muin was first on the agenda with a talk and then some of the club members entertained us. However, before
we had a chance to do much more the rain and wind started and then the electricity went off. Imagine a club
meeting without a microphone! It actually went quite well but we had to finish earlier than planned because
it was so dark in the hall and Pak Muin thought it best that everyone went home.
After saying good bye I set off for Surabaya with another very good driver and some keripik gayam from Tuban.
Like the day before it rained and was soon dark, and the road all the way to Surabaya was very busy. Once we
stopped for petrol and a young man was sitting next to a petrol pump smoking a cigarette despite several very
large ‘Dilarang merokok’ signs. Another time we passed a truck without lights driving
along the road.
By the time I got to the Hotel Novotel I had decided that I would not leave the hotel until it was time to go
to the airport in the evening the following day. I'd had enough rainy season road travel in East Java to last
me for quite a while!
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