This is another installment of Cedar’s Digest, a series of poetic stories about the experiences my husband, Ren Ruslan Feldman, and I are having living for six months in Central Borneo. We are volunteer teachers in a small, innovative Indonesian school. The school is child-centered with a focus on hands-on learning and character development. Classes are taught in English and Indonesian.
INTERVIEWS with the 12th graders
6th graders interviewed the 12th graders
they were very nervous at first–
interviewing the 12th graders–their heroes!
we made up interview questions
they did the interviews
and had a good time
surprise!
they edited each other’s stories
with a red editing pen I gave each one
“Everyone needs an editor,” I said
“You should have seen how many red marks
from my editor that there were on my book.
I didn’t like it at all. Then I found out
that the changes made it a better book.”
Ren and I discovered that there are
typical Indonesian English mistakes
representing differences in
grammatical structure
we have names and symbols for these:
snake mistakes (under and over use of plural s)
skyscraper mistakes (capitalization)
clock mistakes (lack of agreement of verb tenses in a sentence)
envelope mistakes (other kinds)
we use the symbols and then they make the correction
they learned about the publishing process
it was a proud and exciting moment
when they delivered a copy
of their interviews to each class
as if it were a real newspaper
Here are two of the interviews
Kak Noko, by Journalist Syifa
Kak Noko’s full name is Tri Andi Sunoko, be we often call him Kak Noko. He was born on the 22nd of June 1994 in Central Kalimantan and his zodiac sign is Cancer. Kak Noko is living in Sukamulya that is located in front of Rungan Sari. His hobby is skateboarding and his favourite movie is Harry Potter because he said that Harry Potter’s story is adventurous. At school, Kak Noko’s favourite lesson is physics because physics is easy to understand. He also had a favourite teacher named Pak Gunardjo. In recess time, Kak Noko likes to play guitar and he wants to be a successful singer like Bruno Mars. Kak Noko said that being 12th graders is hard because the lessons are complicated. Kak Noko also said that when we are in 12th grade we should study hard to pass the National Exam. His dream after passing the national exam is going to the university called ITB (Institut Teknologi Bandung). Besides all this, Kak Noko can also speak French. He wants to learn French because the French language is awesome. I like interviewing Kak Noko because he is funny and friendly. I’m not nervous to interview him because he’s an easy going person.
Kak Hengky, by Journalist Shila
Hengky Susilo is his full name. He lives in Sukamulya on Tjilik Riwut Street. He was born in Pulang Pisau between Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan. His birthday is on the 2nd of November 1993. He will continue studying or working after 12th grade. “12th grade is cool and awesome, “he said. His favourite foreign countries are Australia, America, and Japan. He wants to go to Australia because he wants to take a picture of him with a koala. He wants to go to America because he wants to see the biggest museum, and he wants to go to Japan because he wants to study there. A time he felt scared was when he was about 5 years old and there was a big thunderstorm. He respects people who are younger than him. He has a big wish and it is to be a successful person. Something that makes him sad is that he lost a person he really loved. A time he felt angry was when he got a toothache and there were people disturbing him. He wants to be a doctor and a singer because he likes to study those lessons. He has a “girlfriend” but we don’t know who she is because he doesn’t want to say it. Now he is teaching primary students in public school every Saturday. He feels happy because he’s only 18 years old but he is already teaching and he said he is the youngest teacher. He was thinking about 12th grade and he thinks it is hard to be in 12th grade because he will get a National Exam. “I will feel successful if my dreams come true,” he said.
INTERVIEWS with the 12th graders
6th graders interviewed the 12th graders
they were very nervous at first–
interviewing the 12th graders–their heroes!
we made up interview questions
they did the interviews
and had a good time
surprise!
they edited each other’s stories
with a red editing pen I gave each one
“Everyone needs an editor,” I said
“You should have seen how many red marks
from my editor that there were on my book.
I didn’t like it at all. Then I found out
that the changes made it a better book.”
Ren and I discovered that there are
typical Indonesian English mistakes
representing differences in
grammatical structure
we have names and symbols for these:
snake mistakes (under and over use of plural s)
skyscraper mistakes (capitalization)
clock mistakes (lack of agreement of verb tenses in a sentence)
envelope mistakes (other kinds)
we use the symbols and then they make the correction
they learned about the publishing process
it was a proud and exciting moment
when they delivered a copy
of their interviews to each class
as if it were a real newspaper
Here are two of the interviews
Kak Noko, by Journalist Syifa
Kak Noko’s full name is Tri Andi Sunoko, be we often call him Kak Noko. He was born on the 22nd of June 1994 in Central Kalimantan and his zodiac sign is Cancer. Kak Noko is living in Sukamulya that is located in front of Rungan Sari. His hobby is skateboarding and his favourite movie is Harry Potter because he said that Harry Potter’s story is adventurous. At school, Kak Noko’s favourite lesson is physics because physics is easy to understand. He also had a favourite teacher named Pak Gunardjo. In recess time, Kak Noko likes to play guitar and he wants to be a successful singer like Bruno Mars. Kak Noko said that being 12th graders is hard because the lessons are complicated. Kak Noko also said that when we are in 12th grade we should study hard to pass the National Exam. His dream after passing the national exam is going to the university called ITB (Institut Teknologi Bandung). Besides all this, Kak Noko can also speak French. He wants to learn French because the French language is awesome. I like interviewing Kak Noko because he is funny and friendly. I’m not nervous to interview him because he’s an easy going person.
Kak Hengky, by Journalist Shila
Hengky Susilo is his full name. He lives in Sukamulya on Tjilik Riwut Street. He was born in Pulang Pisau between Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan. His birthday is on the 2nd of November 1993. He will continue studying or working after 12th grade. “12th grade is cool and awesome, “he said. His favourite foreign countries are Australia, America, and Japan. He wants to go to Australia because he wants to take a picture of him with a koala. He wants to go to America because he wants to see the biggest museum, and he wants to go to Japan because he wants to study there. A time he felt scared was when he was about 5 years old and there was a big thunderstorm. He respects people who are younger than him. He has a big wish and it is to be a successful person. Something that makes him sad is that he lost a person he really loved. A time he felt angry was when he got a toothache and there were people disturbing him. He wants to be a doctor and a singer because he likes to study those lessons. He has a “girlfriend” but we don’t know who she is because he doesn’t want to say it. Now he is teaching primary students in public school every Saturday. He feels happy because he’s only 18 years old but he is already teaching and he said he is the youngest teacher. He was thinking about 12th grade and he thinks it is hard to be in 12th grade because he will get a National Exam. “I will feel successful if my dreams come true,” he said.