Back to School, Back to School

A lot of people have been asking me how school has been so far, and have a lot of questions about my school specifically. Since the next two years of service are devoted to teaching, I want to devote this blog post to my new workplace. With some information about my school, along with a bit of info about the school system in Indonesia, I hope this sets a clearer picture of service here.

I teach at an SMK, which stands for Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan, or a public vocational high school. It’s a senior high school, which includes 10th, 11th and 12th grade. Other volunteers teach at SMA’s, which are regular senior high school, MA’s, which are Islamic high schools, SMP’s, which are state junior high schools, and MTs, or madrasah’s, which are Islamic junior high schools. There’s also other religious schools, like Catholic schools, which are state funded but not very common. Peace Corps volunteers only teach at SMA, SMK, MA, SMP and MTs schools. As I’ve learned, everyone's service is different based on their type of school, and the kind of site they are at. I’m in a more rural area, by Indonesian standards, while others are in cities. I have a little over 1,000 students, while other volunteers have less than 200.

Because my school is an SMK (pronounced es-em-kah), students are very much involved with their vocational tracks of study, which include TKJ (computer science), TAV (audio-video), TKR (automotive), TEI (electronic industry), and DPIB (architecture). Meanwhile, SMA students usually either study a social or science track. The vocational tracks usually take my students out of the classroom for a lot of activities and practice, and classes are pretty large compared to those in the States. My largest class has 36 students while my smallest has 32. The ratio of male to female students also varies, and because some classes have different tracks of study, some classes are only boys (no girls are studying to become mechanics), while some classes only have four to six boys. My counterparts insisted that I don’t teach the all-boy classes, because they are a little more wild than the classes with both girls and boys together. I was told, “They are very naughty, Miss”. I believe it though---last Monday I caught a pair of boys playing catch with the school cat...

The view of my school when you walk through the main gate. Not pictured is the brand new automotive building (to the left) and the mosque (to the right). Continue straight and you'll see the basketball and volleyball courts on your right.

The school day is typically over eight hours long, with the first period beginning at 7am and the school day ending at 3:15pm. I am required by Peace Corps to be at my school for a minimum of thirty hours per week, and to teach a minimum of twenty hours per week. That means I’m usually at school for about six hours a day. Extracurriculars are held on Saturdays during the day rather than after school during the week. Some clubs and activities include PMR, which is student red cross, traditional Javanese dance, gamelan (Javanese music) English Club, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and scouts. Every Monday morning, every school in Indonesia holds upacara bendera, which is the flag ceremony. Students line up, similar to military drill lines, listen to announcements, the flag is raised, and the national anthem is sung. Every Friday morning, at 6am, all the teachers of my school meet for senam pagi, or morning exercise, which is essentially aerobics. It’s…. interesting… and unique to my school.

My favorite places at school are the admin office, where I chat with colleagues, the basketball court, where I play a few times a week, the computer lab, where there’s AC and we play FIFA, and of course, the classrooms where I teach. When I’m not teaching, I’m chatting with other teachers, reading on my kindle (I'm currently reading There There by Tommy Orange, highly suggest it), having coffee at the canteen, or sitting with students and learning more about them.

Classrooms, and one corner of the teachers room, or ruang guru. Thumbs up!!

I made a questionnaire for my students earlier in the semester, and they all explained that they are very nervous speaking English. They also find speaking to be the hardest, and while they understand theory and formulas (for example, when to use present progressive tense, which is Subject + Am/Is/Are + Verb-ing + object complement) it is almost impossible for them to form their own sentences in conversation. I hope to help them with this as much as possible. I can also tell there’s a major gap between 11th grade and 10th grade skills as well. I don't teach 12th grade because their classes are only spent preparing for the national exam held at the end of the year. While students are happy and excited to have me, a native speaker in class, they are also nervous because they think I will correct them a lot more. When not in class, my students are very, very friendly though, and I am always greeted with “Miss Kayla!! How are you?” and I’ve already noticed a change in how they greet me since site visit in November. They were very nervous to say hello and now they are always going out of their way to talk to me and ask me how I am. For most Indonesian students, English is the fourth or fifth language that they learn. English is also hard. But I think because I am co-teaching and I am bringing some excitement to the classroom, they can get a bit more excited about learning it.

On teaching English specifically, the national textbooks are riddled with mistakes and are poorly made. Thankfully I don’t have CP's that follow the textbook directly. While the curriculum focuses on things like narrative text, or will include grammar components like simple past, or present progressive, we make our own material, vocabulary and activities.

As the weeks continue, I feel more and more part of the community here. Even looking back at my post on culture shock, I’m so much more comfortable with my job here than I was just a month ago. I’ve already noticed my students are much more comfortable with me being there, rather than there being a bule at the school. One of my students, as I walk past her classroom, sticks her head out of the window and screams, “MIIIIIIIIIIIIIS KAYLA!” and even the “naughty” automotive boys are kind, friendly and talkative.

My schedule (notice I only teach 10th and 11th grade, and only TAV and TKJ classes), photos in the admin office, and learning about procedural text by writing Indonesian recipes.

If you have any more questions about my school, or about school in Indonesia, let me know in the comments!