A Day in the Life

Are you wondering what it is we do at a language school 5 days a week? Well we thought we’d give you a glimpse of one typical morning for us!

7:40 – leave the house for our 10-15 minute walk to school (Bethany with her trusty umbrella – for rain in rainy season and for the hot sun in dry season, and Joel with his thermos of coffee!!
8:00 – class begins by singing an Indonesian folk song or praise song (we go to a school specifically for “M’s” to learn this language.
8:15 – we each take turns telling about what we did the day before – all in Indonesian. It’s amazing how with each day we can say more and describe things better and more comfortably
9:00 – we go over the new text for that day. For example today we learned how to ask the following questions:
What does an Indonesian say when he goes to visit someone who is sick? Apa yang dikatakan orang Indonesia waktu menengok orang sakit?
What does an Indonesian do when he has a guest? Apa yang dilakukan orang Indonesia waktu ada tamu? Why do Indonesians open and close doors quietly? Mengapa orang Indonesia membuka dan menutup pintu dengan pelan-pelan?
Why do Javanese not like to talk or laugh loudly? Mengapa orang Jawa tidak suka berbicara atau tertawa keras-keras?
9:25 – Fluency practice. Basically for the next 50 minutes we say the text over and over with the same tempo and intonation of the teacher so as to learn to sound like a natural speaker. Sometimes this can be quite funny if our teacher is very animated and we aren’t hearing the correct intonation for say, a question. To emphasize the way it is supposed to sound, they will say it very exaggerated and then we all laugh and we attempt it again!
10:00 – Break time, and believe me we need one by now! Already, our brains are full and we find ourselves yawning!
10:20 – Pronunciation practice. Now is our time to learn how they pronounce certain individual sounds, letters or combinations of letters in their language. A typical class period may find us saying the following words consecutively:
nyonya, nyoba, nyapu, nyamuk, nyanyian, bunyinya, menyepak, menyakiti, bernyanyi, menyadari, menyatakan, menyembah, penyanyi, nyokap, Benyamin, etc…
10:35 – Vocabulary. During this class, we either learn the answers to the questions from that day’s text and thus learn new words in the process, or we learn the words for things like weather, numbers, mathematics, family, etc. On any given day, from when we begin class at 8 to when we finish at 12, we will have been given anywhere between 50 and 100 new words!
11:00 – Grammar. Again we practice the text from that day. Continuous drilling is the main method of teaching here. I find myself dreaming in the text sometimes or that it is going over and over in my head as I do the dishes! This class also gives us new vocab as we replace some words in the text with others to learn where the subject goes, the verb, adjectives and so forth.
11:40 – Text drilling. Our favorite time of the day other than when we see Jack’s smiling face at the door as we arrive home. This is when we get to role play with the text, one on one with a teacher. We make substitutions for words based on the situation we are role playing. For intstance in stead of asking what would an Indonesian do when he has a guest, we would ask what he would do when he is in an accident or at the pasar (market), etc. Yet another opportunity to learn and use new vocabulary!

Ok, so that is a look at a morning in the life of Joel and Bethany. What Jack does, well, someday we’ll have to ask him! For now, it’s Friday and I’m done thinking about school. Have a great weekend everyone!