Goducate is about to start a language center in Batam, Indonesia. The building has been acquired and is undergoing renovations.
The Goducate Language Center will train people from other countries who will be serving as community development workers in Indonesia. A working knowledge of the language is essential if these community development workers are to be able to help needy Indonesians effectively. Since English is also an important language to know, either for teaching the needy or to communicate more widely, the language center will also offer English lessons.
The Goducate Language Center’s three-storey building will be equipped with dormitories, classrooms, and a spacious area for more interactive learning.
Unpacking new furnitureAssembling new furniture
Guest writer Mel, Staff from Goducate Training Center
In January this year a Goducate friend started an informal English class in Batam, Indonesia. The class was held at the house of another friend, and it taught conversational English to 8-12 year olds.
During the course of these classes, some of the parents suggested that they would like a kindergarten. They belong to a poor community, many of whom came from other parts of Indonesia to seek work in Batam, and are unable to afford to send their children to kindergartens. Hence Goducate agreed to set up a kindergarten that would provide quality but affordable education for their children. The kindergarten was opened in July, and before we knew it, the class was full, and we had to turn away applicants.
A kindergarten class in sessionThe area in which the kindergarten students live
Students in Indonesia learn English from their kindergarten years right up to university level, but end up unable to speak fluently because the language is not used outside of the classroom. Batam is an Indonesian island that has become an industrial zone, with many foreign companies operating there, and a reasonable command of English is important for job prospects there. We have been helping children in some schools in Batam with extracurricular English lessons, to give them a chance of competing for jobs at the same level as students from better schools or those who can afford tuition in the language.
We have found that teaching through singing is a promising method. At first, songs were used to break the children’s inhibition, to get them out of their shell, and to set a fun mood for the class. Later, songs became more than just a mood-setter; it was used to convey the lesson and the words to be used for the day. We found that the children learned the English songs very fast even without understanding them at first. They enjoyed singing and could remember all the words of the song better than all lessons taught conventionally. So this gave birth to the plan to develop a curriculum to help Indonesian students learn English through songs and other activities. That is how we began started working on Sing Your English.
Having fun singing English songsStudents working on a writing activity
The lyrics to complement first-level lessons have been written and the music for these 24 songs has been commissioned. Sing Your English should be a complete extra-curricular English program that can be used in any Indonesian school to complement their English program.
