There are several timelines to celebrate having crossed since the last blog post: May 12th marked fourteen months of service, May 22nd marked a full year since I swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and May 24th marked one year since I moved to permanent site. Additionally, I wrapped up my second semester of teaching—and first academic year overall—at the beginning of May. Service seems to speed by so quickly! The second semester of school was quite different from the first. While I relied on a relatively normal schedule during the first semester, I learned that the second semester resembles nothing close to scheduled orthodoxy that one might associate with school. Between the national holidays, and the frequent standardized tests, it was rare to have consecutive weeks of teaching. The unpredictable schedule was a large source of frustration throughout the semester, but it also provided opportunities for me to focus on a secondary project. During one of the first weeks of January, my counterpart Mas Wendhi and I walked into as many classrooms throughout the school as possible to announce our new project: English Club. We promoted the new Club as a way for students to practice their English outside of the traditional classroom setting. In each class, we left a flyer hanging on the wall with details for the club’s informational meeting. Tuesday, January 16th at 2pm was the introductory English Club gathering. We met in the large assembly room, because we weren’t sure how many students would show up. To our surprise, one hundred and seventy two signatures filled our attendance sheets that day. The English teachers were elated. We spent an hour playing introduction games, and sharing goals and ideas for English Club. The main purpose of the introductory gathering was to get a sense for how many students were interested. After we collected the list of nearly one hundred and seventy five names, the English teachers and I began to brainstorm how English Club could look: the structure, frequency of meetings, and topics. One of my biggest hopes was to structure English Club in a sustainable manner, in other words, to design the club to fit the desires of the school administration and teachers. They are the ones supporting it, after all; and I would like the club to continue on after my service. That means that the school administration’s priorities must be met first, and then any ideas I have are secondary. Mas Wendhi and I met with Pak Nurhasyim, the school principal, the week following the English Club introductory meeting. Just like us, he was impressed with the number of students who showed up. He mentioned, however, that the number of attendees would likely subside as the semester continues. I appreciated his enthusiastic support for this endeavor, which made it easy to agree with all of his thoughts. He also agreed with the importance of building English Club in a sustainable manner. The meeting concluded upon the agreement that Pak Nurhasyim would get back to us about final decisions within the next week. The following week, Mas Wendhi and I sat down to discuss the structure of English Club. Pak Nurhasyim decided to commit school resources (a.k.a. money) to help build the new club. The principal also agreed to designate English Club as an official extracurricular activity, which would go on student’s transcripts. Even though we were in agreement that the number of students attending in the future would diminish, Pak Nurhasyim still believed that there would be multiple students from each grade. For this reason, the money he designated for the club would be for four teachers to lead English Club: two for grade one (10th grade), one for grade two (11th grade), and one for grade three (12th grade). This was all great news to me. I was worried about keeping students in Club on a weekly basis, and furthermore, relying on English teachers to routinely help with English Club. Pak Nurhasyim’s plans appeared to address both of those concerns: designating the club as an official extracurricular activity would keep students returning, and the financial incentives for teachers would make them more reliable. Both of these steps would add to the legitimacy, and ultimately, the sustainability of the club. Pak Nurhasyim also laid out a general outline of what each grade of students would learn in English Club. He requested that grade three spend time preparing for the Ujian Nasional (national exam), that grade two focus on improving speaking skills for speech and debate competitions, and that grade one include “inspirational topics” that would spark their imagination and desires to continue learning English. This was kind of a disappointment in my eyes. I had envisioned English Club as way for students to learn English in a fun, non-traditional setting. Pak Nurhasyim’s guidelines for the two higher grades do not necessarily enforce that ideology. If anything, they will make English Club similar to their ordinary English classes. But considering that sustainability is the number one priority while building this new club, and meeting the school’s needs is the best way to achieve that goal, it was something that I had to accept. The students met for our next meeting on Tuesday, January 30th. At this point, we shared the basic English Club logistics for the semester. We met every Tuesday at 2pm. Initially the teachers wanted the grades to meet on different days; that would have entailed committing to English Club for four afternoons during the week, which was not the most appealing idea. I convinced the teachers that everyone meeting during the same time would be best, because it provided flexibility for us to lead separate English Clubs or the occasional group gathering. We announced what teachers were assigned to what grade level. It was decided that, since I was not in charge of any one class, I would rotate around classes every week to help lead fun games and other activities. We played one last game as an entire group before students split into their respective English Club groups. The first semester of English Club was officially under way! Since the weekly meetings started, there have been many bumps in the road. Most of the obstacles were expected. For example, it is still nearly impossible for the four different teachers working with English Club to prepare a general lesson plan before meeting with the students. This is an issue I have had throughout the year for our regular classes too, so this did not come as any surprise. Just like many of us predicted, the number of students attending English Club gradually declined over the course of the semester. Grade three students finished their national exams after the first week of April. No one from that grade attended English Club after that. Attendance numbers dwindled in the lower grades, too. I have discussed possible reasons with the teachers, and we have come to the conclusion that most of those students loose interest. That motivates us to come up with more creative, engaging activities for the next school year! Pak Nurhasyim designated Mas Wendhi as the leader of English Club. That was great news for me, since we already work so well together. Fortunately, creating an English Club at our school is his dream, and he is so excited to get things rolling. In order to build a sustainable English Club, Mas Wendhi and I decided to set up an English Club council, which will consist of student leadership roles. We decided to make the positions of President, Secretary, and Social Media Coordinator. The students that fill these roles will help with student recruitment for next year, organize attendance records, and help with event planning. If we can rely on students to help coordinate English Club matters, that will lead to less work for the teaches involved, and hopefully, a more sustainable environment. We shared the role descriptions with our English Club students several weeks ago. The deadline for submitting statements of candidacy was this past Tuesday, May 29th, with the intention of holding votes next week. Unfortunately, we did not receive any statements for any of the positions, which means there will be no votes held next week. I looked forward to student involvement next semester, but we will have to wait on that—another obstacle that we can get passed! Mas Wendhi thinks that we should wait again until the end of the next semester. He told me, “We need to make English Club very fun so that every student wants to be President!” I think that is a great plan. Class is no longer in session, which leaves me with a lot of free time. I am busy typing up last year’s lesson plans so they can be used again this coming year. I am also working with English Club teachers to include fun and interesting topics for our second semester. We are all thinking of ways to excite our students and create a sustainable club that lasts for years to come. This creative thinking requires more time, which is difficult for English Club teachers to give. We have set up a Google Drive to compile activities and lesson plan ideas into one centralized location. The idea is that English Club teachers can access these organized plans every year, making their work easier—and the club more sustainable. The hurdles continue to appear, and I keep trying to get passed them. Sometimes that requires a simple hop; occasionally I am crawling over the obstacle in the way; and other times a friend has to help push me past. What do I hope to find across the finish line? Sustainable change, of course! One thing I know is that the obstacles will help me keep busy this coming year! There is one other significant event on the timeline that I forgot to mention earlier. May 30th marked two weeks completed of fasting for my second Ramadan. My sleeping schedule is shot, boredom has reached levels unparalleled to ever before, and my hunger seems to never subside. Even as I finish this blog entry, I swear that I can smell pizza wafting from the kitchen. Can it really be? Did Ibu find me a supreme pizza with which to break fast? Doubtful. My imagination betrays me, because there isn’t any pizza for miles from here. My next post will provide you all with great insight of what my community is like during the holy month of Ramadan. Two weeks down, and only two more to go! Shout-Outs:
SO to the Caps for reaching the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1998. SO to my friends who finished graduate school, law school, or medical school. SO to my friends and family for sending mail. A special SO goes to my friend for sending bags of M&Ms! ASO for the package of candy arriving the day before fasting began :/ HSO to all the ID9s and ID10s who COS (Close of Service) this month! Your accomplishments seem that much more impressive after I’ve lived here for a year. Congratulations on sticking it out for the full twenty-seven months!
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May 2019
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