Kang GURU Travels to Bandung for TNI Workshop

Sue headed for Bandung to present an English Workshp for students at the TNI's Pusdik Pengmilum, Kodiklat TNI AD Cimahi. It was something a little bit different for Kang Guru and for Sue.

I had hardly unpacked my bag from the Surabaya ELTIS trip and it was time to pack it again. This time I was going to Bandung, West Java.  The airport was busy with plenty of holidaymakers returning home after the holidays. An assortment of straw hats and lots of plastic bags and boxes were waiting in line at the check-in desks. The take off time was delayed slightly because of the amount of extra holiday traffic but before long I was once again airborne and leaving Bali.

When I arrived at Jakarta airport I followed Ogi’s excellent instructions and found the booking desk for the minibus to Bandung no trouble! I registered and was asked to wait about 15 minutes. Sure enough about 15 minutes later my name was called and I boarded the bus to Bandung. The journey was quite slow as there was heavy traffic on the toll road. Within about 15 minutes of leaving the airport only the driver and myself were awake – all the other passengers were fast asleep. It always amazes me how some people can fall asleep at the drop of a hat! After a couple of hours the minibus stopped at a service station and everyone entered the Padang restaurant for a snack. About half an hour later we set off again, towards Bandung.

About 10 minutes after we set off one of the passengers realized she had left her telephone on the table in the restaurant. Luckily that service station is a rest spot for all the Cipaganti busses so the driver telephoned to the crew working there and they went in search of the phone. A few minutes later the driver received a call to say they had the phone and would send it with the next driver. We traveled quite slowly for half an hour until the next bus caught up with us and passed over the phone. What a lucky lady!

I was lucky too as I was the first to be dropped off when we left the toll in Bandung as the hotel was near the toll-gate. I checked in and telephoned Major Hasanudin. He is the head of the English Department at Pusdik Pengmilum, Kodiklat TNI AD Cimahi. He apologized as he could not come and meet me at the hotel but informed me that one of his staff would be in touch shortly.  I waited for several hours but no one rang or called my room so I decided to go and find something to eat. Whilst I was out Ibu Tetti rang – Major Hasanudin’s assistant and she also apologised for not being able to come and meet me. But she assured me I would be picked up at the hotel in the morning.

Next morning I was met by Agus, one of the instructors from Cimahi and he drove me the 15 minutes to the training center. I received a warm welcome from all the teachers, and after a quick chat I was taken to the classroom to meet my first group of students. Almost 50 students were waiting for me. They were great. They practiced their speaking first asking me questions to find out about me. Then we played some team games and practiced their listening skills. Later I gave everyone a Kang Guru magazine and we had some Kang Guru quizzes. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I was very impressed by their standard of English. Many of them would have no problems interacting in English. After a short break I returned to the classroom. The next group were just as lively as the first and they also played some games and even sang a song. I was very impressed by the overall standard of English of members in both the groups I met.

One of my questions was why do army personnel have to learn English? Major Hasanudin explained that any member of the armed forces who would be serving along International forces such as the UN, or working with International guests, or as a military attaché or liason officers had to learn English. Also if they had been invited to study overseas  - (most of the teaching staff had already studied in Australia,) then they had to study English before they went. Apart from the classrooms the center has a multi media room and three language labs. In one of the labs I noticed the special text book called Campaign. It has been specifically developed for members of the armed forces who need to learn English for international cooperation. What a great idea.

Before I left the camp I was briefly introduced to Colonel M Sholeh at Pusdik Pengmilum. Then it was into the car with Major Hasanudin and Agus. They wanted to take me for lunch to apologise for not meeting me the night before. We drove back towards the hotel and nearly opposite we pulled into a busy lesehan restaurant serving Sundanese food. We chatted over lunch about life in the army, studying overseas and families. The food was excellent. All to soon it was time to say goodbye as I had transport waiting to take me back to Jakarta. It had been a very successful visit and I hope the students enjoyed it as much as I did. While they were learning English I also learnt lots about the army. I learnt about the different regiments and the badges and uniforms. It was a very interesting trip.

Back in Jakarta I had two interviews scheduled for Friday but unfortunately one of them cancelled. So I spent the morning working on articles for the September magazine and at 12 30 jumped in a taxi to meet Marusya Nainggolan.  Marusya was an ADS awardee many years ago. But she has never forgotten her experience in Australia and recently in the Alumni awards dinner she was awarded the prize for arts and music. A talented musician herself she is presently director at the Gedung Kesenian in Jakarta.

What a fabulous lady, full of life energy. We chatted about her work, her family and her memories of both the ADS scholarship and a Fullbright scholarship which she undertook in the USA.  Listen to Kang Guru radio to hear her interview and look out in the Kang Guru magazine for what she had to say about her ADS scholarship.