Teaching and Living in Pangkalan Bun
Posted by Nyoman Riasa (nriasa) on Nov 02 2009
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Three Volunteers sent to Pangkalan Bun

In 2009 ULearn International in collaboration with APBIPA Bali sent three Australian volunteers to teach English in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan. David Lucien Cooper (Lucien) arrived in Bali on October 18th from Sydney. Lucien just completed his high school and is very keen to explore the land and people of Pangkalan Bun. The city is the capital of Kabupaten Kotawaringin,  a transit city to visit Camp Leakey and Pondok Tandui, the orangutan projects.

On Monday 19th to Thursday 22nd Lucien was involved in an orientation program specially focused on ELT methodologies. He also received a cross cultural studies orientation in order to help him adjust himself with both school and community in Pangkalan Bun. He flew out on the 22nd to spend one night in Jakarta before he continued his flight the following day to Kalimantan.

During his assignment in Pangkalan Bun Lucien is assigned to teach at SMAN 2 Pangkalan Bun where he is an English language teacher assistant for a period of three months. In the afternoon he will also help Uang Centre, a local organisation that provides free English classes to children in the city.

During his orientation in Bali Lucien showed his keen interest in Indonesian culture and in helping Indonesian students learn English. The principal is confident that Lucien’s presence as a native speaker in the school ground, staff room and English classes will certainly strongly motivate students to learn the language.

ULearn International is expecting comments from Lucien and school next week to see how he feels about mixing with Indonesian students in a country town like Pangkalan Bun.

The other two volunteers are Catherine Sibly and Rebecca Sibly who joined the program in July this year for only two weeks. Unlike Lucien both Catherine and Rebecca could only spend two weeks in Pangkalan due to Catherine’s teaching commitments.

While Catherine is an experienced teacher of Indonesian in a high school in Adelaide, Rebecca is just a high school student. During the two weeks’ assignment the two volunteers taught at SMKN 1 and SMAN 2 Pangkalan Bun.

The important feedback received both from the two volunteers and schools is that the program is  beneficial both for Indonesian students and schools as well as volunteers but two weeks is too short for both sides.

In the next coming years we will expect more volunteers to join to bridge the friendship of the two countries through educational programs.
 

Last changed: Nov 02 2009 at 3:07 AM