Well I’m into my last two weeks here in Indonesia, 11 days remaining to be exact and it is with mixed emotions…Happiness with the prospect of new challenges and environments but sadness at not being with my fiancée and ‘some’ of my students. I posted on my Facebook status last week that I had however many days until I leave and some of my students (TB level) commented saying they didn’t want me to leave! That is one of the greatest things about teaching; having students tell you in different ways how much they like you…it really makes you feel good.
Yesterday (Tuesday) was another public holiday and our plans to go to Bogor were cancelled at the last minute and instead we had reflexology, to which I am officially addicted! And then met friends at the mall near us, later in the evening a new teacher from South Africa who has been posted to EF Puri texted me to meet up. Some of you may know her, so I would like to say a huge Welcome to Indonesia Lauren! Hope you have a great year here and take away lots of amazing memories.
I came into the school last Friday to confirm what currency I want my flight bonus to be given to me in and was presented with a huge barrel of stress. My DOS saw me and asked me to come to her office where she told me I have not actually got enough leave left to take next Friday off (19th), I told her that it was confirmed last year that I had six days and I have only taken five since then but she was adamant that it was only five. This has very nearly totally ruined my plans to go to Bangka as I was supposed to fly at 6am. I am not able to get a refund or change the flight as it was a promotional deal and now I have had to buy a new ticket for Saturday morning. Any other time I would have just cancelled the trip and not bothered but as it is a family trip with Astrid’s parents and we only have two weekends until I leave I decided to buy a new ticket, at least my return ticket is still good!
I ran a great activity today in class, It is used for remembering ordinals and for vocab (kind of); you get the students to stand on their chairs and give them a ball, they must throw the ball to someone and they must say something beginning with the first letter of their name, next person who gets the ball says something beginning with the second letter and so on. The students loved it and it could also be modified for use with descriptions by changing it to the person who throws the ball must say something about the person they throw it to and beginning with whatever letter of the other person’s name. If anyone wants to try it please let me know how well it worked and with what age, I used it with High Flyers who were 8yrs old and lower intermediate.
If anyone is planning to go to Indonesia or is already here you should try “Nasi Langgi” which is rice with an egg, chili sauce (the proper stuff, not like tomato sauce) and this kind of savory caramelized thing that I can only describe as similar to cornflakes but obviously not cornflakes, I will find out what it is and tell you all in my next blog but it was amazing. I had never tried it before and only tried it because the other two items I tried to order before were both out of stock!
Finally a great tip for lesson planning, buy some voice recognition software and talk your way through the lesson plan…a) it gets done on the computer for future use and b) you don’t have to type or write which has to be a positive thing.
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading and please leave a comment if you have any questions and remember to rate it!
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Hi ive been told your the guy to ask about Indonesia? Do you need a degree to teach out there?
@Jane, that is not UK! Ive been to Indonesia and I think any tools/games that would help the kids to learn English would be welcome. Im sure the balls are soft so not to injure but I would probably assemble the kids in a circle and not atop chairs.
@Robert, I am looking to teach in either Indonesia or South Korea, I have been to both locations. I lived in Korea 4 years in my 20's. Most recently ive had many trips to Jakarta/Jogjakarta with experiences. I speak a little of both languages. My question is which country would you reccomend as a first try. I would like to be safe, sane and monetarily compensated but it seems many teachers are only getting the kinder and pre-grade school assignments initially. Is it possible to be guarenteed a position with a corporation or government office prior to arrival of assignment?
I know, But this is Asia where there are 4 people including a baby riding 1 motorcycle!
Standing on chairs and throwing balls?! Health and safety wouldn't let you get away with doing that in a UK school!!!
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