It seems as though all of the recent discussion amongst my TGC travel mates has revolved around packing and clothing. As guests in a predominantly Muslim country, we have all been consumed with making sure that we are dressed in accordance with their cultural expectations so that we don't inadvertently offend anyone in our host communities or any other Indonesian people we have the pleasure of meeting. Though the amount that women traditionally cover varies by region and setting, general guidelines we were given are that women should cover their shoulders and knees, wear modest necklines, and wear closed toe shoes. However, one TGC Fellow shared that her host teacher said that long sleeves are preferred to 3/4 length sleeves at her school. My host teacher's words of wisdom were:
I was hoping to only bring one suitcase, but I was absolutely blown away by how many gift donations I collectively received from Naperville District 203, the Naperville Chamber of Commerce, and North Central College. As a result, I filled an entire suitcase ONLY with gifts to give to students, my host teacher and her family, and other people I meet in Kudus, my host community. Thank you SO much, District 203, for your generous donations! I couldn't even manage to fit everything you gave me into a carry-on; I'll be sure to return the "leftovers" to you. I'm so fortunate to work in a district that (1) offers such great support to its teachers and (2) values global education and international partnerships. All right, I'm off to go learn some Indonesian words and phrases --- something I should have started doing months ago. How embarrassing for a language teacher, but better late than never!
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Other than "Where in the world is Indonesia?", some of the other questions I've been frequently asked include "What exactly will you be doing while you're there? Will you be working in a school? Will you be traveling alone? Do you stay in the same place the whole time?" Here is my best attempt to briefly answer some of those questions.
The program is structured in a way that we begin and end the experience with our entire cohort of 14 U.S. teachers in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital city. In the middle of our Indonesian adventure, we branch off with one other U.S. partner teacher and travel to our assigned host site for 10 days. My partner teacher, Elicia, is an English Language Development Teacher at a high school in Portland, Oregon, so we teach comparable content but with a completely different aged clientele. You can imagine how thrilled I am to be paired with a high school teacher after finding out that SMA 1 Bae Kudus, our host school, is a secondary school! I will certainly be out of my element working with students who are double to triple the age of my beloved Scott School students. I tried to find a photo of the school that I could share with all of you today. Unfortunately, I did not have any luck finding one that would comply with fair use laws (and teachers have to follow the rules!), so you will have to eagerly wait on the edge of your seats for the photos I share after I arrive. :) Sri, our host teacher, is an absolutely lovely and gracious woman who has been so patient when it comes to answering all of our questions. Sri has carefully crafted an itinerary of what are sure to be enriching experiences for both Elicia & me as well as the educational community in Kudus. Sri is an English teacher at the high school, and I know we will learn so much from her, her colleagues, and her students. We hope that we can at least partially return the favor by helping Sri work on her professional goals of implementing new strategies for increasing student engagement and integrating technology to enhance and transform her classroom instruction. Sri's goals mirror the goals of many U.S. teachers, right?!? We cannot wait to meet Sri when we arrive in Kudus on July 21st. 3 1/2 days til takeoff... I truly cannot believe there is only one week left before I venture off to Indonesia with 13 amazingly talented, passionate U.S. teachers, several of whom are sure to become lifelong friends and prized colleagues. I feel like it was only a couple months ago that I shrieked with joy as I opened my international field experience placement letter on the last day of school before Winter Break and excitedly power walked across the building to one of my co-teacher's classrooms to gush about the thrilling news. Upon sharing my travel destination with her kindergarten class, she exclaimed, "How exciting! I am SO happy for you!!! ... And where is Indonesia located again???" For that reason, it only seems appropriate to dedicate my very first blog post to a little bit about the geography of Indonesia. As you can see if you explore the map, Indonesia is located just northwest of Australia. It borders Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other nearby countries are Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Over the course of the international field experience, I will be splitting most of my time between two main cities: (1) Jakarta, which is Indonesia's capital city and (2) Kudus, where my host school is located (indicated on the map below). Kudus and Jakarta are both on the island of Java, Indonesia's 3rd largest island. Other than questions about Indonesia's location, I've received many inquiries about how large Indonesia is. The Mercator projection world map that many of us have ingrained in our minds makes Indonesia appear much smaller than it actually is. Amazingly enough, Indonesia is wider than Canada and almost as wide as China! Check out this article if you don't believe me. Thetruesize.com is a really neat tool that allows you to overlay countries on top of one another to get a better idea of each country's true size. I highly recommend playing around with the website when you have a couple minutes to spare.
A few more fun facts about Indonesia are:
I hope you choose to follow my journey in the coming weeks and learn alongside me as I explore the Indonesian culture and educational system! |
Author
Mrs. Kate Boyens is a K-5 EL Teacher at Scott Elementary School in Naperville, IL. She is a 2017 Fellow in the Teachers for Global Classrooms Program. She will be using this blog to share her journey during her international field experience in Indonesia in July & August 2017. ArchivesCategories |