Kang GURU Travels to Bontang, Jakarta and Pangkal Pinang in March 2008

Kevin traveled to East Kalimantan and the city of Bontang for a radio visit to eSKa FM, a teacher workshop and student meeting. Then onto Jakarta for a series of meetings. My final destination was the island of Bangka, and the capital city of Pangkal Pinang for a teacher workshop and student meeting. An overnight stop in Jakarta on the way back to Bali was organized to interview Indonesian Olympic athletes and one of their trainers, an Aussie named Rob Ballard. I met with two of the Indonesian Olympic athletes - Eko Yuli Irawan and Suryo Agung Wibowo.

Flight schedules over the holiday weekend (March 20 – 23) were bound to be disrupted due to many tourists, mainly domestic, in Bali for Easter, AND possibly bad weather. Kevin was booked on Sunday evening to Jakarta in preparation for an early flight to Balikpapan on Monday instead of doing the two ‘legs’ on Monday morning. Kevin stayed overnight in Jakarta, not far from the airport.

Here’s Kevin’s Travel Report for Bontang in East Kalimantan, Jakarta and Bangka Belitung.

The trip to Jakarta was on-time which was amazing considering the Denpasar airport was teeming with travelers and the fact that rain was pouring down – really heavy rain. The flight left at 8.30 and I was in my hotel in Jakarta by 9.45. Don’t forget the time difference! Next job was to find an ATM as I didn’t have any cash on me. No problem as it was directly opposite the hotel.

On Monday morning I flew Jakarta to Balikpapan arriving there at 10.45. Pak Maskut met me at the airport. I had originally met him at the TEFLIN Conference in Jakarta in late 2007. He had also completed a C-CELT course at IALF Bali and although he dropped into the Kang Guru office I must have been away from the office at that time. Anyway we had lunch and caught up on schedules, etc. while we waited for the aeroplane from PT Pupuk KALTIM to leave for Bontang. We spent the time in the Citibank Lounge. Maskut read a book and I used the internet to catch up on a bit of work.

The company village is huge and is made up of schools, shopping areas, recreation facilities, a hotel and even a golf course. To attract workers to this sort of remote part of Kalimantan, the company had to provide all the services that people need for themselves and their families.

In the afternoon, Pak Maskut and his fellow teachers took me on a tour – to the venue of the workshop (excellent), to the local shops and to a well-known village on the water – an interesting way of life for fishermen and their families. All of the houses are built above the water on stilts. They are modern houses with all facilities, including outdoor gardens, and they are connected by roadways made of wood on stilts too. Motorbikes only!

The teacher workshop was well attended and was opned by H. Abd. Azis Parani, S.Sos., the Head of the Department of Education and Culture for Bontang.

Attending were about 75 teachers in a well appointed room complete with air-conditioning and excellent sound system. The teachers were very active and interested in learning more about teaching English. The workshop went well and according to the feedback forms from the teachers, they certainly picked up a few ideas which they all say they plan to use in their classrooms as soon as they can. After the workshop we moved to another venue for the student meeting. There were probably 100 students there and although they were very passive/shy/quiet, there were probably 12 students who asked questions and participated in activities. That was good to see.

Then onto eSKa FM for a live on-air interview and talk-back session with Kang Guru's regular presenters of the weekly Kang Guru program every Sunday at 8.00am. Sugeng Riyadi and Yulia Hapsari assisted this time around however other teachers at the ETC English Training Center, Bontang are often interactive presenters too. We had quite a few callers live 'on air' and the questions were wide-ranging from how to teach young children to getting students to ‘want’ to learn English. Kang Guru gave away several prizes during the program and thanks a lot to eSKa FM for their support and for their cooperation. Eight callers phoned in with questions and we gave away quite a few prizes. eSKaFM is doing agreat job and thanks to all of the staff and volunteers from Kang Guru.

ETC English Training Center, Bontang were holding a week of English activiites and the Kang Guru activities were just one part of that. Pak Sugianto from ETC sent this information to Kang Guru recently -

Last week we held some activities to celebrate our ETC 16th Anniversary. The title of the program was ETC EDIFIED 16.
 
On March 24, there was Creative Writing Contest for SMA students (the participants of ETC Classes).

On March 25, the teacher workshop with Kang Guru.

On March 26, we held a Story Telling Competition for our students who are in SD level.

On March 27 was for SMP students. We  had an English Quiz.

On March 29 there were two activities: seminar and workshop. The seminar was for parents, teachers, and people in general which discussed about Fun English for Parents and the Children. In the afternoon we had a teacher workshop again. The participants were only ETC teachers and some teachers from Yayasan Pupuk Kaltim (YPK), an educational foundation under which ETC is managed. The workshop was on English in Bilingual Classrooms.

In the evening after the workshop I went out to eat the local favorite food - ikan bakar - in downtown Bontang with members of the workshop committee. Delicious it was! What a great suggestion from the (very hungry) committee.

On Wednesday morning I flew back to Balikpapan aboard PT Pupuk KALTIM’s plane so that I could then catch a Garuda flight back to Jakarta. It was very nice too – good weather, smooth and relaxing. However, the taxi from the Jakarta airport to my hotel took over 2 hours instead of the usual 45 minutes – traffic problems once again. Jakarta is famous for them. I booked into the hotel then raced off to Youth Affairs, Sport and Recreation to meet Ibu Adiati and her team to chat about exchange programs such as AIYEP. We plan to have all the latest news about all youth exchange programs available for Indonesian youth on Kang Guru soon.   Another important interview was with Drs. James Tangudung, Deputy Assistant of High Performance Sport and Sport Science & Technology, the man chosen by the Government of Indonesia to look after the Indonesian Olympic Team going to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games in July this year.

I aqlso interviewed Ibu Adiati and her manager, Pak Sakhyan Asmara about exchange programs from Indonesia to other countries including Australia but also to Malaysia, Japan and Canada. More about that on Kang Guru radio soon and in the magazines later this year.

Then it was lunch with the Deputy Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Ms Louise Hand and a chat about many, many things including her interest in sport and physical activity.

Next stop? The Australian Embassy for meetings with Felicity Pascoe from Australian Education International, Ineke from Cultural Affairs and newly arrived Ms Jenny Dee, Head the Australian Embassy’s Public Relations section. These were not interviews but discussions centered around how Kang Guru can better work together with these people and their departments at the Embassy so that Kang Guru-ites have more information and more opportunities relayed to them about all sorts of things – culture, education, scholarships, etc.

On Friday morning it was back to the airport for me and a short Sriwijaya flight (50 minutes) to Pangkal Pinang on the island of Bangka. I was met by Pak Ripul, Head of the Organizing Committee who welcomed me enthusiastically as the first native speaker to conduct a teacher activity in Bangka. After a brief stop by the hotel I was taken on a tour of the city and the beautiful beaches nearby. Bangka certainly has some nice beaches and on a Friday afternoon the local young guys really enjoyed the open beach spaces. They provided great entertainment as we had a mie goring and cold tea. They were racing motorbikes around a beach track that they had created. There was a lot of noise and a few falls as well. Perhaps they thought they’d be like Doni Tata Pradita?

On Saturday it was workshop time in Pangkal Pinang Bangka with 145 teachers all keen and ready for action. The workshop had been wonderfully organized by Pak Ripul and his team - excellent facilities, registration and support.

After the workshop about 60 students from local SMP, SMA and SMK schools attended a Kang Guru student meeting. They were really fun and very enthusiastic. I taught them the ‘G’day G’day’ song and they liked that a lot. There were plenty of questions and after the meeting so many of the students came up to chat and ask questions. It was lovely to hear them talk so freely and use English so well.

Indonesian Athletes in Jakarta

I stopped just overnight in Jakarta on the way home to Bali from Bangka. I met with two Indonesian Olympic athletes, Eko Yuli Irawan and Suryo Agung Wibowo. and their Australian Head Trainer, Rob Ballard. I interviewed them all at the Hotel Century Atlet. They talked about their sport, their plans and their successes in the past, dreams for the future AND all in English! Eko is the Indonesian champion weightlifter (56kg class) while Suryo is the current record holder for the 100 meters.

Eko is a champion! Eko, just 18 years old, won a Bronze Medal at the 2007 World Weightlifting Championships in the Men's 56 kg Class. A great effort indeed and Eko will do well in PON and in the Beijing Olympics later this year. Eko won the won gold medal for Indonesia in the weightlifting competition at the 2007 Southeast (SEA) Games, as well as breaking the Games record here Saturday. He lifted a total of 284 kilograms in the men's Under-56 kilogram event to claim the gold, followed by his close rival Anh Tuan Hong of Vietnam with 281kg and host lifter Pongsak Maneetong with 256kg. Eko lifted 126kg in the snatch and then 158kg in the clean and jerk to break the Games record of 150kg created by compatriot Jadi Setiadi in the 2003 Games in Hanoi, while Anh Tuang Hong lifted 128 in the snatch and 153 in the clean and jerk.