Semarang Presentation: By Doni Achsan in Magelang

A presentation by Risqika Edni Doni Achsan (Doni)

So, I did my first presentation on July 31^st. Several days before, when I was about going home, a woman called me. Her name is Mrs. Lily, an English teacher of a middle school in my town and my grandparents’ neighbor. She greeted and welcomed me since I’ve completed my year in America. She asked whether I had time to give presentations at her school. I thought it was a good idea since my high school had just begun and I still don’t have any hard subjects. So, I OK-ed her invitation.
I arrived at SMP N 12 Magelang (State Middle School 12 Magelang) at 7.30 am. It’s an “outskirt” school and the kids usually live in modest life. I was asked to give the presentation in both English and Indonesian. I started my presentation from the 8th graders. And I was so shocked to have them with me. THEY’RE AWESOME!

I always have this stereotype that those modest kids will be very quiet and humble. But they’re different! They were so active and gave a lot of feedback. I gave the presentation in English and they didn’t feel nervous to ask if they didn’t get what I said. It was a big triumph with a lot of questions and laughter. It was literally a great success! There was a kid named Axel that was really active in giving feedback. I was so thrilled to answer each of his questions. He’s definitely going to be someone great in the future!

Next were the 9th graders. They were quieter but gave “heavier” feedback. Some asked me about my religious life in America, while some asked me how to get the scholarship. I have to say that they’re really enthusiastic with my presentations. I had some postcards that I bought from Ellis Island in New York. I gave them some questions and for the ones who could answer it right would get one of the postcards. It was a big crowded place once again! 🙂

So I did presentations for 8 classrooms, to more than 200 hundreds kids in that school. Actually it should be just 2 hours to 2 classrooms only, but the other teachers asked me to do presentations to their classes too. I was out of postcards, and I kind of felt bad to my last classrooms because I have nothing to give for the prize. Surprisingly, Mrs. Lily came with a pack of ten notebooks. She then gave me the notebooks to be signed and to be given to the kids who could answer my questions. She told the kids that it wasn’t the price of the book, but it was the value of the book to motivate them to be better than me. I was so moved!

In the end, it was a really great day. Tons of things to learn, not only for them but also me. I learn a lot that there are a lot of “outskirt” schools out there. I used to grow and study in those-upper-level schools, which only smart and middle-to-rich people could attend. It really opened my eyes how education works in small schools like that. It was a huge deal for them to receive me as a speaker there, something that will not be considered as super important in my schools. Also, I have to say that no matter what school you attend, you can always dream big and “go international”.

In the end of October, exactly on the 28^th, I did a presentation in my school, SMA N 1 Magelang. This school is one of the best schools in my hometown, completely different with SMP N 12 I mentioned before. It was for English Speaking Club, a club that focuses in how to communicate using English. I used to be the member and the chairperson of this club before. This time, the audiences are the freshmen with some juniors as their mentors. I did an hour and a half presentation, telling them what I did in my exchange year. I told them what I did in every month, from Homecoming, Halloween, Christmas, and many more. They were surprised to know that there were way more things about America than the ones they saw on movies. They gave so many questions like how I can handle my prayers as a Muslim there, what are the obstacles I faced during my stay, and how I managed to get the scholarship.

I have to admit that my journey as exchange student didn’t end last July. I’m actually STILL an exchange student. I have the responsibility to exchange my experiences to them, to share and use it to motivate the youths. I’m overwhelmingly glad that I have the chance to open new doors of hope to them.

Semarang Presentation: Kartika and Nasita in Surakarta

A presentation by

Kartika Nugrahening Jati – USA – 2011/2012 – Arkansas

Nesita Anggraini – USA – 2011/2012 – Washington

To contribute in International Education Week, I held a presentation about United States in my English and Indonesian language classes which both were at October 9th 2012. I started the presentation by telling the general informations about US, such as its capital city, its currency, and its weather. I continued with sharing my daily life when I was in US as an exchange student, like the highschool life, transportation system, and my host families with my classmates. I also shared with them some of the school events like homecoming, prom, Day of Silence, and Breast Cancer Awareness Day while showing some of the pictures I took when I was there. Then I gave my friends and my teachers to ask some questions. Most of the questions were about how America differs with Indonesia. There were 3 questions that I thought was important in this presentation.

1. Is the lifestyle of highschool students in America really like what Americans pictured in their movies and TV shows, especially the party, drugs, and free sex parts?

My answers: The conditions pictured in the movies are not entirely represent the facts. There were some of my friends who like to party but that doesn’t mean all of them do. I had a lot of friends who were very religious and were active in school activities, and most of them don’t party or do drugs.

1. Related to Day of Silence, how do American citizens actually react to homosexual people?

My answer: Americans really differ in terms of their reactions to this issue. Some of them deny homosexuals but some also respect them very much. Some states in US have legalized gay marriage, including my hosting state, Washington. In my community, people are really open to homosexuals. This is because they uphold the idea of human rights, including the right to pursue happiness.

1. How do the process of teaching and learning in American school differ with our school?

My answer: The most distinct difference is the interaction between teacher and students. The relationship between teacher and students is almost like friend-relationship. Teachers don’t feel like they’re superior to their students, they really appreciate students’ opinion. Students will not hesitate to ask their teachers if they feel they need to know.

That was my presentation about America in my school. I hope I can contribute to make better understanding and create world peace.”

And this tidy-and-well-written report is from Kartika!

 

“Surakarta, Central Java–Kartika Nugrahening Jati, a YES Alumni 2011-2012 hosted in Sheridan, Arkansas, USA, did her presentation in two schools, SMA Negeri 1 Surakarta and SMP Al-Islam 1 Surakarta. In SMA Negeri 1 Surakarta she did her presentation in her class, XII IPA 1. The 32 students in the class were very enthusiastic listening to Kartika’s presentation. They asked a lot of questions about the city she lived during her exchange year, the school she enrolled, and even foods. She explained to them that she lived in a very small town in the middle of field and which surprised the audience because they never knew there will be such fields in USA. She also explained to them about her school system and the facilities she got while studying there such as free internet connection everywhere and how the school encourages the students to read a lot of books, which are still hard to find in Indonesia. They’re also curious about her experience practicing her prayer in USA and how long she had to fasting during Ramadhan. She said that it’s hard to practice the prayer in USA because she’s the only Moslem in town but people respect her really well. The audience cheered up when she shared her experience about her first day at school and how everybody at her English class laughed at her because she mispronounced several words in English. Even after the session ended, several students still asked her about her experience in USA. Several students said that they were motivated to go to USA because they thought their opportunity to get better education.

 

 

Her second presentation was in SMP Al-Islam 1 Surakarta. She chose this school because she’s an alumni of this school and also wanted to share her experience of becoming a Moslem in USA to the students and the teachers there. In this presentation she divided the session into two batches, first batch for 7^th graders and second batch for 8^th and 9^th graders. She was so surprised when a hundred students showed up for both sessions. The students were also curious about life in USA and asked a lot of things about social life in USA. One of the teachers who also became the audience in the presentation asked her why she took the exchange student program although she knew that she has to postpone her study for a year in Indonesia. Kartika said that everything happened during her exchange program was so amazing, and though she had to sacrifice her senior year, it’s really worth it. The exchange student program helped her to develop her knowledge about life in other country and also helped her to build the bridge of understanding all over the world.”

 

Semarang Presentation: Presentation By Very in Kudus

Presentation by Aditya Very Cleverina – USA – 2011/2012 – Alaska

The students of Very’s school

“Thanks God! I finally did my job well in “International Education Week”! We, the alumnus of AFS/YES/JENESYS 2011-2012, did this all together all over Indonesia this year. With full of spirit, finally I got to give seven presentations and sharing in classrooms, schools, school events, clubs, mosque near my house, and even in front of some officials and principals from all schools in Kudus! They were so enthusiastic and gave great feedbacks!

I would like to tell my story when I gava a presentation in SMP N 1 Kudus (Kudus 1 State Middle School). The audiences were “EAGLE NEST”, a prestigious club whose members are selected from the best students in that school. They were mainly from the eighth grade, and they were so enthusiastic! Their English were really good and they had broad knowledge about America. They gave some “innocent”-like questions like”is there any middle school there?”, “what’s the difference of befriending Indonesians and Americans” and many other questions.

The best thing that I got there in SMP N 1 Kudus is the fact that they’re starting to be interested in studying abroad. Their spirit to learn English increased more than before. I also got this one tweet from one of student there that really makes me happy. It was from Ika Oktaviani R. She tweeted: Ika Oktaviani R ‏@IkaIOR

@VeryCleverina kapan” dateng ke spensa lagi yah kak 😀 -untuk bisa ngajar bahasa Inggris lagi-.

(Next time come again to our school, sis 😀 –to teach (us) English again-)

Very showing the map of US to the students of SMP 1 Kudus

This time, she interracts with one of the student there.

The students of “EAGLE NEST”

On the other hand, I did a presentation in a different type of people. It was in SMP 1 Muhammadiyah Kudus, a private Muslim school. The kids were chosen by their teachers, usally passive kids and had not really high grade. I think that it was a great opportunity for me to motivate them to be better! At first, they were so shy. But after that they gave feedbacks like “Kak (sis), I really want to go to America” or “I want to live there like you too!” Hearing those feedbacks, I was so touched and hoped that they can have an urge to better after I told them my story.

Very and the teacher of SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Kudus

A student of SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Kudus is telling his fellow friends about his opinion.

On September 20^th, I did a presentation in a mosque on my neighborhood. My main purpose is to answer their questions about America because we still have misconceptions about each other until now. At the beginning, they weren’t really active in giving feedback. But after several minutes, they started to be active. They thought that my decision to be an exchange student to America was really brave. They asked some questions like how I managed to do fasting there and many more.

Very showing her “Barrack Obama” Book to her audiences in the mosque.

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I gave a postcard from Alaska to a 4-th garder kid who asked a question in the session. After I finished my presentation, she came to me and asked “Sis, where I should put the address? Where to write the message? How long will it take to send this to America? Sis, would you like to help me to send this postcard back to America?”. I was really touched by this! She was really enthusiastic although she is only 9 years old.

Thus concludes my story!”

These are some pictures taken from her presentations in different places!

Very gave a presentation in her school, SMA N 1 Kudus

Very, on the bottom left, and a crowd of her schoolmates after her great presentation!

Semarang Chapter Province Wide Presentation

The Team! Aditya Very Cleverina – USA – 2011/2012 – Alaska Kartika Nugrahening Jati – USA – 2011/2012 – Arkansas Nesita Anggraini – USA – 2011/2012 – Washington Risqika Edni Doni Achsan – USA – 2011/2012 – Wisconsin Wardania Dewi Fitrotul Chusna – USA – 2011/2012 – Illinois

From September through October the Indonesian YES Alumni Association held a project named “International Education Week (IEW)”. As the alumnus of Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study from Central Java, the five of us did some presentations about our host country, The United States of America.

Because the distance between us makes us unable to do the presentation together, we came to a conclusion that we were going to do the presentations separately. On the other hand, we can give presentations to very large varieties of people in the province, not only focused in one place. We also believe that we should start from our hometown, the place where we started

Aditya Very Cleverina did presentations in some middle schools and high schools in Kudus, Central Java. Here is the report from her!

Very giving her presentation

 

 

 

 

For more stories from Very check out https://yesalumniindonesia.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/621/

After Kudus, we have two other students from Surakarta. They’re Nesita Anggraini and Kartika Nugrahening Jati. They did their job in their schools, and they did an outstanding job. Let’s check their story out, starting from Nesita’s!

Presentation by Kartika and Nasita

 

For more stories from Kartika and Nasita check out https://yesalumniindonesia.wordpress.com/2012/10/30/semarang-presentation-kartika-and-nasita-in-surakarta/

“Jawlaikit?” Introducing Southern Accent in Makassar Indonesia

A presentation about America from Ika Ma. YES Alumni 2011-2012, Hosted in South Carolina. Along with two current AFS Indonesia exchange students from German and Japan, also a native speaker from New Jersey State.

A picture after presentation with other
AFS/YES returnees, AFS current exchange students
from Japan(Miho) and German(Fabian), also a native speaker
from New Jersey (Paul)

On Saturday October 10^th  , the hall of SMA Negeri 2 Makassar was full filled by about 70 students who attended the USA presentation that I held. They were so excited and enthusiastic for the presentation.  I was supported and got helped by other formers AFS-YES returnee, the two current AFS Indonesia exchange students from German and Japan, also a native speaker from New Jersey State to succeed this event. Most of the audiences are the students in 1^st grade which is one of our purposes in order to encourage and motivate them to be an exchange student.

The materials of the presentations are consisting of the general information, School life, people stereotypes, traditions and Southern culture. I heard several of stereotypes that were delivered by couples of audiences. They were surprised that actually not all of part in United States have a lot skyscrapers and developed with hi-technology like what people have seen on television or other media. They got to know that United States and Indonesia have the same nation’s motto which is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika and E pluribus Unum. Both of them mean the same thing. That is united in diversity.  I also delivered some positive values I get from US which I hope could encouraged audiences to apply it in here as well.

I was hosted in South Carolina and found that the Uncle Sam’s country has many accents and different custom. It was such a pleasure to introduce to the audiences how the Southern culture is.  Couple of the students volunteered and challenged to pronounce some of the English words in Southern accent and idioms. Overall, this session was the most fun one because they just learned and listened to the different pronunciations. Such as “ Did you like it?” sounds like “Jawlaikit” and “Something” sounds like “Sum’t ”.

Me explaining my soythern root

Paul answering several questions
from the audiences about the social life of
US High School students.

In the end of presentation, we threw some questions to the students and US postcards for who could correctly answer the question about states. Delightfully, a lot of them raised their hands and so eager to answer those questions.

An audience hardly tried to answer the question

Last but not least, I feel so honored and excited to do more presentations in creative way to contribute on building the bridge of mutual understanding for both countries.