This February until mid-March, I will be teaching
Bahasa Indonesia to international students from Kanda University, Japan, at Indonesian Studies Program of Malangkuçeçwara College of Economics.
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| Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program 2013: Instructors and students with the Rector of State University of Malang |
This is my first involvement in this program
despite I have been involved in similar program namely Critical LanguageScholarship (CLS) program sponsored by the U.S. State Department since 2011,
where there are several American students who learn Bahasa Indonesia at Center
of Indonesian Studies of State University of Malang.
Despite my major is English language teaching
(ELT), the foundation is just the same with teaching Bahasa Indonesia to these
students, teaching students with foreign (or second) language. I have been
learning both theoretical and practical concepts of this language learning.
As I am facing different students, from different
countries, the approaches are indeed different. For American students, a more
free and critical discussion are preferable; in addition, the American students
who participate in the CLS Program are mostly senior students and even doctoral
students who study Asian Studies or even Indonesian studies at their university
in America. Moreover, their expectation is very high! My passion in American
culture as well as experience in learning in the United States in 2011 allow me
to feel more comfortable being engaged in the language classroom activities.
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| with the students and instructors during the opening ceremony of Program Bunga 2014 at Malangkucecwara College of Economics |
On the other hand, Japanese students tend to be
more passive. This might be some factors such as the learning culture in Japan
or the students’ language proficiency level. As this is my first time teaching
Bahasa Indonesia to Japanese students, I need to adjust myself and my teaching
style into the more communicative one by inviting more students to get engaged
into in-depth analysis and discussion, minimizing the gap between the
instructors (sensei in Japan) and the students, standing on the equal position.
The other special thing being part of these
programs is how I am standing not only as language instructor, but rather being
figure who bridges the two different cultures. This is both interesting and
challenging. This is interesting as knowing different perspectives allows me to
be more tolerant, open-minded, as well as knowledgeable in terms of
international studies. It is challenging as I need to open my eyes, both
standing as an instructor as well as Indonesian ambassador to promote soft
diplomacy within these countries.
This soft diplomacy, for me, is more effective is
promoting more business as well as understanding within these countries in
international world. This is the moment when I can promote Indonesian cultures
to the international world as well as improve the cooperation within these
countries.
